Research update Many of you expressed an interest in hearing more about our research and policy work via the survey that went out with the last issue. We thought it would be helpful to give you some information about one of our key pieces of work, the Teacher Wellbeing Index.
Background Education Support, in conjunction with YouGov, has run an online survey at the end of each academic year, for the past three years, to investigate the mental health and wellbeing of education professionals working in the UK. Staff from all job roles take part. The survey has expanded over time, from having 1,250 participants in 2017 to 1,502 in 2018 and 3,019 in 2019. At the present time, when mental health and wellbeing are at the forefront of people’s minds, this makes our evidence base an important tool to deliver meaningful and sustainable change.
Impact of the Index As with any piece of research, it is important to consider its impact. The 2019 Index had an audience reach of over 14 million people. Specifically it was mentioned 86 times in the media, with exclusive stories published in the Guardian/ Observer online and in print, by the Times Education Supplement (tes) and Schools Week. It also featured in the Sun, Star, Express, Metro and The Scotsman, the latter after a mention in the Scottish Parliament.
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The Index has also been useful in helping to secure the appointment of Sinéad Mc Brearty, our CEO, to a 26-member Expert Advisory Group, set up in July 2019, to advise the Department for Education, Multi-Academy Trusts and Local Authorities on the wellbeing of school and college leaders and teachers.
This year’s Index (2020) On 20 March 2020, all schools/colleges in the UK closed in order to try to combat the spread of the coronavirus whilst the country went into lockdown. However, during this period, many institutions did remain open in a limited way to look after vulnerable children and children of key workers. Thus, the working practices of staff could be very different to previous years. Therefore, for 2020 we are planning two publications. The first addresses the impact of the coronavirus on the mental health and wellbeing of education professionals, and this will be published in mid-September. The second, will contain the key benchmarking data (a slightly smaller publication than in previous years) and will be published in midNovember. We are currently working hard to analyse all the data for both these reports!
