Teacher wellbeing builds collective resilience

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The culture at Waitati Primary School (Dunedin) has been transformed since teachers participated in a wellbeing programme from CORE Education, in partnership with the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience (NZIWR).

Last year leadership at the school took action to address supporting teacher wellbeing. They chose the wellbeing programme delivered by CORE facilitator, Anne Kenneally.

The programme is designed with evidence-based strategies that support maximum impact for whole learning communities.

“Our strategies are beginning to be embedded. Resetting our classroom culture is the greatest benefit for our ākonga. We take a strengths approach, building the language of wellbeing so that it’s spoken, seen and caught. Enabling ākonga to be their best selves is our shared goal.” says principal, Tara O’Neill.

Anne worked with the school to customise and develop personalised strategies that worked to build collective resilience. The course design helps teachers find ‘aha’ moments, giving permission to focus on ‘self’, slowly putting their own wellbeing into practise. The culture of the workplace is re-prioritised.

“I loved how practical it is. We found our walks groundbreaking. Buddying up with another teacher, going for an hour's walk to connect and share.

Leadership releases teachers for these walks and we now make it part of our routine,” says Tara. Participants found that ākonga benefitted as well. They discovered that observing teachers' modelling and living wellbeing is extremely powerful. The school’s advice for those considering this programme would be:

• We need to look after ourselves, treasure our ākonga and colleagues.

• It brings such joy to be able to prioritise wellbeing in our profession.

• Just do it – it is at the heart of supporting teachers as professionals.

On mindfulness, one research paper noted there is “growing evidence of the efficacy of schoolbased mindfulness intervention for improving mental health and social-emotional skills.” The study, conducted in New Zealand schools, found some evidence that even a short mindfulness intervention of eight weeks was enough to help students regulate emotion, reduce stress and increase self-esteem. Teachers also self-reported a decrease in classroom disruptions. Students self-reported using these mindfulness techniques in external relationships such as with parents and siblings, resulting in strengthened relationships.

Mindfulness strategies taught included breathing exercises, concepts of mindful eating and moving, and techniques for interpersonal interaction. The strategies were taught to ākonga over the intervention period, and monitored via self-assessment questionnaires, interviews with students and teacher observation. Integrating these mindfulness techniques into the school day, such as reminding students of mindful eating and movement concepts before meal-breaks and physical education respectively, could help to reinforce the hauora of the school community. Importantly, social connection and fostering a sense of community within the school is also integral to wellbeing. This could look like team-building experiences such as sports days, as well as creative practices like arts fairs, or promoting extracurricular activities for both students and teachers.

Beyond general integration of wellbeing practices into the school day, specific mindfulness and wellbeing interventions can involve external providers who specialise in teaching wellbeing strategies. In some cases, mental health and wellbeing strategies require extensive research and have been developed over time to ensure efficacy by external providers specialising in wellbeing strategies. Schools may therefore consider the use of an external wellbeing provider to ensure educators are properly guided to implement wellbeing strategies and ensure the optimal benefits for ākonga and the wider school community.

Even with all these methods of wellbeing deployed at a school or kura, one might wonder how to measure wellbeing. How can you track the progress of a community’s wellbeing to see measurable differences? One study came up with a student well-being model based on prior wellness research. The wellbeing model is based on seven domains, which can be used to create school-specific standards of wellbeing, whether that be a self-reported questionnaire or guidelines for teacher observation. External providers delivering wellbeing interventions may also provide guidance on wellbeing measures that schools can use to monitor community response over the course of the intervention and beyond.

Finally, schools might like to refer to the Ministry of Education’s “Wellbeing in Schools” webpage, which outlines the national youth wellbeing strategy and provides advice for bullying prevention and pastoral care in schools. Although not direct measures of wellbeing, schools may use these documents as guidelines for creating their own metrics with which to judge wellbeing in their community.