Archive

• WEBINAR: A Taste of SMART: An introduction to mindfulness, self-care, and resiliency for educators

  May 25, 2020 4:17 PM Comments Off on WEBINAR: A Taste of SMART: An introduction to mindfulness, self-care, and resiliency for educators

  Cofounded by Heidi Bornstein and Stephen Chadwick in 2009, Mindfulness everyday is a diverse team of experienced professionals dedicated to educator well-being. Mindfulness Everyday offers various mindfulness programs and practices for educators to provide them with the skills and coping strategies required to support their own mental and physical health.

  This webinar first broadcasted on April 15th, provided an experiential introduction to mindfulness research and practices that benefit educators personally and professionally.

  Watch the full webinar below:

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  About Mindfulness Everyday

  At Mindfulness Everyday, we envision a society in which we relate to others, the environment, and ourselves with clarity and compassion. We promote mindfulness practices to enhance positive mental and physical health, compassionate action and resilience by providing stress reduction training and life skills for young people, educators, professional support staff and parents in the schools, and for organizations and members of the community.

• COVID-19: The Demoralization of Educators

  May 21, 2020 9:45 AM Comments Off on COVID-19: The Demoralization of Educators

• Teaching and Learning from home

  9:41 AM Comments Off on Teaching and Learning from home

• Trauma and the Post-COVID Teacher

  May 14, 2020 11:03 AM Comments Off on Trauma and the Post-COVID Teacher

  It was on the third walk of the day, a couple weeks into our COVID isolation norms, that it hit me. My little girl, at the formative age of five, was living in a global pandemic. We were pointing out the teddy bears that neighbours placed in their windows for children to spot during the pandemic. It warmed my heart that so many of my community members, many without children, found old teddies and dolls to place on display to join in the bear campaign. A couple walking their dog approached from the opposite direction, and my daughter, who was walking ahead, without hesitation or reminder took her long six-foot arc around them as we passed. She turned and mouthed the word “virus” to us and carried on. 

  As we all attempt to restore normalcy in our lives and jobs (whatever our “normal” may be) in the aftermath of a global crisis, there is much to consider. For teachers, this is above and beyond the daily challenges we already face. For some students, COVID 19 may result in, or amplify preexisting, anxiety, depression or trauma. For others the transition back to school and routine will be seamless. Coronavirus will become a distant memory for them, and life will carry on as it did before. I think about my daughter and her support system and how she’s been so fortunate in her life. Others aren’t as lucky, before or after COVID 19.

  Much is unknown about the circumstances in homes across this country during the pandemic. What happened in the months of isolation? We may never fully know. How did the long confinement affect homes where domestic violence, abuse or neglect was already present? Of course we know there were students and families who were struggling long before the global pandemic. Some children live within circumstances that are troubling and far beyond their control. Families living on the edge of poverty may have already been struggling with food and home insecurity, lack of childcare, stress over jobs, community violence and more. We know that along with increased risk factors from COVID 19, families have also been deprived of many of their normal coping measures. Spending time with friends and family, going to the mall, seeing a counselor or engaging in extra-curricular activities, among others, have been disrupted. And for many students, their place of refuge, connection or support, is school itself.

  Trauma has and will continue to be a pervasive and challenging issue for teachers and students alike. This global crisis has placed a spotlight on various aspects of society, including its multi-faceted inequities – trauma included. It also has certainly served as a reminder that children in schools need more than just their educational outcomes, and that schools serve as more than just educational institutions.

  Teaching students with trauma

  Students who experience chronic trauma (persistent and ongoing, such as adverse living conditions or abuse) are at risk for developmental deficits, attachment disorders and difficulties with learning and behaviour.¹ This causes problems for them in school as they attempt to navigate the social, academic and behavioural expectations for their chronological age, while potentially lacking skills in one or more of these areas. Teachers are faced with a multitude of challenges as they work to meet the needs of all their learners. It is challenging to give each child individual attention in addressing their needs while also managing the classroom and curriculum outcomes. This may result in compassion fatigue, feelings of being overwhelmed or exhausted, and a reduced ability to function as they normally would. Some identify compassion fatigue as the cost of caring.

  So where do we go from here? What is the teacher’s role in supporting students impacted by trauma? Teachers are not therapists, psychologists, counselors or social workers. Many therapeutic interventions do exist, that support students in one-on-one or in small groups. These are often beneficial and necessary for some students. However, due to limited resources and access, not all students have the opportunity to engage in such programming. Additionally, as Perry² and Bath³  have noted, research shows that the most healing for trauma-impacted children actually takes place in what some call the “other 23 hours” of the day. A supportive environment for children in all aspects of their day is essential. Equipping teachers with the understanding and strategies to provide this supportive environment can benefit both the students in need, and fortunately, also the teachers themselves.

  Knowledge of trauma

  Being trauma-informed requires educators to have a knowledge base about trauma itself. This does not require teachers to become experts in brain functioning or psychology, but rather a general understanding for the potential impact of chronic trauma for students they teach. This means understanding that trauma is a result of experiences that exceed an individual’s capacity to cope in healthy ways, and which render them unable to function normally. Chronic trauma may be a result of living in poverty, experiencing forms of abuse, experiencing racism, being witness to violence, experiencing significant loss, and more. While adversity is common (and often productive) throughout life, trauma results when our support systems and coping mechanisms for that adversity are not enough. Therefore, trauma is less about events themselves, but our responses to them.

  When a child has experienced chronic trauma, the result may be delays in various aspects of their development. This may affect their social skills and ability to form relationships, their cognitive, physical and emotional development, their ability to regulate, learn and cope with daily demands. Trauma-impacted children walk through their world with a heightened sense of danger and can be triggered into a fear response for situations that are perceived as threatening. School is a place where students not only learn, but navigate various situations, relationships and challenges. Children who are trauma-impacted therefore often struggle in many aspects of school. 

  Relationships are key

  Attachment is protective factor against trauma. Many children who experience chronic trauma, however, struggle with relationships and trust. They also may not have fully experienced secure and healthy relationships in their lives. Building positive relationships with students is therefore critical, for feelings of safety, acceptance and love. Giving unconditional positive regard and showing patience are ways to build this trust. This does not mean lifting boundaries and expectations. In fact, boundaries are more important than ever. Setting and sticking to limits is essential, but done with patience and compassion. Teachers have the opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time with their students throughout the school year. They can demonstrate and model positive and consistent relationships and establish new understandings of what a healthy relationship is. Child psychiatrist and trauma expert Bruce Perry talks about the power of small positive encounters and interactions for children throughout the day. “Therapeutic dosing”⁴ as he calls it, is a simple yet effective way for these new patterns to develop. He asserts that “just as traumatic experience can alter a life in an instant, so too can a therapeutic encounter.”⁵

  Safety

  Children impacted by trauma often are on high alert, ready to respond. Learning is virtually impossible for children who feel unsafe. Physical and emotional safety are essential in schools, as is the importance of felt safety. It is possible for trauma-impacted children to feel unsafe regardless of whether or not this is reality. Teachers are able to increase feelings of safety by creating consistent and predictable environments. This means creating a safe space where classroom community is a primary focus, and being cognizant of preparing children for transitions and change. Our responses and behaviours as teachers must also be consistent and predictable. We can recognize that some behaviours we are witness to, may be a response to feeling unsafe, versus a desire to misbehave. Behaviour is about communication. A meltdown or act of defiance, might be a fear response, or manifestations of a need. Maintaining a consistent and supportive role in responding to all behaviour with compassion and understanding, strengthens the teacher-student bond and establishes trust. We can be the calm they need, when they are not. Students will often mirror our reactions and behaviours. Keeping this thought in our minds can support us in our reactions and the way we assist students in regulating their emotions.

  Teach to strengths and lacking skills

  All children have strengths. Seeking them out and helping students to see them for themselves, as “inner-wealth,”⁶ is an important part of supporting growth and learning. As previously mentioned, students impacted by trauma may also have deficits in areas of development. Teachers can support all students by teaching to specific “lagging skills.”⁷ Lessons on social skills, problem solving, organization, self-regulation, friendship skills, mindfulness, conflict resolution and more, may be valuable in filling gaps in much-needed development. Social-emotional learning is a necessary component of trauma-informed classrooms. We can acknowledge and begin with student strengths that build confidence and engagement, and seek out the areas where more explicit teaching is needed.

  Self-care and community support

  An often-neglected focus for teachers, yet an essential component of trauma-informed practice, is self-care. As teachers, we simply cannot give what we don’t have. We must not only take care of ourselves through intentional self-care planning (exercise, leisure activities, support networks, eating well, etc.) but also be vigilant in noticing and identifying when we feel overwhelmed. There is vulnerability in reaching out to our colleagues and administrators when we require support, but it is a valuable step for our own wellness. As colleagues, we need to support one another and create a space where everyone feels empowered to reach out. This work is not easy and cannot be done in isolation.

  Returning to work after months of remoteness may bring new feelings of anxiety and fear, or heightened preexisting mental health issues. Let us name it. We must be patient with ourselves and check on our colleagues. Let’s debrief our days and take a breath. We are not alone, and the load should not be solely ours to bear. Focusing on strong working relationships and a team approach will be crucial. As teachers, we need to open our classroom doors and support one another. The feeling of pressure on the shoulders of the classroom teachers alone, increases the risk of burnout and fatigue. “Our” students are also part of the whole school community and the community beyond the school. We benefit from creating partnerships outside of the school, building relationships with parents and community members and collectively wrapping our arms around our students and ourselves. 

  TEACHERS’ DAYs are often a whirlwind. Decision-making is happening constantly, and our attention is split in many different directions. Teachers don’t need more on their plates. We do, however, benefit from new knowledge for making teaching and learning more successful. Fortunately, trauma-informed strategies, such as those listed above, are good teaching practices for all students – and many are already happening all through Canadian schools. If we keep relationships at the centre and have more understanding for our students through a knowledge of the pervasive impact of chronic traumatic experiences, we will be making a difference. We will be contributing to the supportive environment that children require, to reach their full potential. With this understanding, teachers too, can feel the positive impact of a trauma-informed classroom and school. Caring doesn’t always have to come at significant cost, but instead, can provide meaningful and effective experiences that leave teachers feeling more empowered and connected.

  As we transition into our post-COVID lives (whenever “post” will be), it is important to recognize how this virus may have impacted the lives of our students, and our own. We must also keep in mind that well before COVID 19, some of our students have struggled with trauma and adversity that will continue to impact their lives and learning. Our students who were accessing counseling or psychological services prior to school closures, and making gains, may experience setbacks. We may feel that impact throughout our schools. During these last devastating months, this virus has certainly opened the eyes of many to various societal inequities, in addition to forms of trauma. Those issues, however, were always and will always be present in the lives of many of our students. This unprecedented event has also taught us how precious life and time truly are. The entire world seemed to stand still at moments, causing many of us to reflect upon our jobs, roles, purpose and values. I was certainly one of them. It reminded me of how strongly I believe in our nations’ teachers and our ability to care beyond the curriculum.

  With small doses of kindness, intentional teaching, and a heightened awareness of trauma’s impact, we can add to the environment needed for all to heal and grow. Our students are worth it, and so are we. 

   Notes

  1. M. Blaustein and K. Kinniburgh, Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents:  How to foster resilience through attachment, self-regulation, and competency (New York, NY: The Guildford Press, 2010).
  2. B. Perry and M. Szalavitz, The Boy who Was Raised by a Dog: And other stories from a psychiatrist’s notebook – what traumatized children can teach us about loss, love and healing, second edition (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2017). 
  3. Howard Bath, “The Three Pillars of Traumawise Care: Healing in the other 23 hours,” Reclaiming Children and Youth Journal, No. 4 (2015): 5-11.
  4. Perry, The Boy who Was Raised by a Dog, 307.
  5. Perry, The Boy who Was Raised by a Dog, 308.
  6. D. Zacharian, L. Alvarez-Ortiz, and J. Haynes, Teaching to Strengths: Supporting students living with trauma, violence and chronic stress (Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2017).
  7. Ross Greene, Lost at School: Why our kids with behavioural challenges are falling through the cracks and how we can help them (New York, NY: Scribner, 2014).

  PHOTO: ISTOCK

• WEBINAR: Strengthening Resilience, Leadership, and Well-Being During and After COVID-19

  May 13, 2020 2:20 PM Comments Off on WEBINAR: Strengthening Resilience, Leadership, and Well-Being During and After COVID-19

  This webinar first broadcasted on May 12th discussed individual and organizational resilience in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this hour-long webinar, Dr. Graham Lowe explained:

  • The features of a healthy organization, especially its culture and inclusive approach to leadership, that can support your workforce now and prepare it for the recovery

  • How resilience is one of the defining characteristics of a healthy organization

  • How resilience is a psychological health and safety skill that can be cultivated within school and school district teams.

  • How resilience is part of a broader set of capabilities called Psychological Capital (PsyCap)

  • The ways that Psychological Capital (PsyCap) supports a transformational leadership style and contributes to K-12 workplace well-being.

  Watch the full webinar below:

  Want to watch upcoming webinars as they are released? Visit our webinar series to sign up today!

• How does teacher stress and burnout impact student achievement?

  May 12, 2020 2:38 PM Comments Off on How does teacher stress and burnout impact student achievement?

  The mental health and well-being of students in Canadian schools has become a growing concern – but it’s not just children’s well-being that’s concerning. Recent research demonstrates that the well-being of both students and teachers go hand-in-hand. In particular, increased teacher well-being leads to more supportive teacher-student relationships. Despite this evidence, a Canadian Teachers’ Federation survey shows that 85% of teachers find that poor work-life balance is affecting their ability to teach the way they would like to teach. 

  THE IMPACTS OF TEACHER STRESS AND BURNOUT INCLUDE:

  IMPACT ON TEACHERS

  • Poorer health outcomes: High blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, anxiety, and depression.
  • Increased absenteeism: In Canada, the average work days lost per educator (i.e. in schools, colleges, universities and training centres) jumped from 8.9 in 2014 to 11.9 in 2018.
  • Lower job satisfaction: There’s a close relationship between high levels of teacher burnout and low job satisfaction and commitment.

  IMPACT ON STUDENTS 

  • Reduced motivation and achievement: Teacher burnout and depersonalization (i.e. feelings of disinterest towards one’s job) negatively impacts teaching quality and student motivation (e.g. disruptive behaviour, low sense of belonging, weak belief in ability to succeed, lower grades).
  • Higher stress levels: Higher levels of teacher burnout is linked to higher cortisol levels in children, which is a biological indicator of stress.

  ON THE FLIPSIDE, HERE ARE THREE WAYS THAT LEADERS CAN CREATE A SUPPORTIVE SCHOOL CLIMATE THAT PROMOTES TEACHERS’ WELL-BEING:

  Promote mental fitness:

  Teachers who have a positive sense of how they feel, think, and act generally have a sense of relatedness (i.e. connectedness) with fellow staff, believe their strengths and skills are valued, and have autonomy to collaborate and provide feedback.

  DEVELOP TEAM RESILIENCY:

  School staff who persist, bounce forward, and thrive in the face of adversity usually demonstrate strong relationship practices and professionalism, positive attitudes, emotional intelligence, and adaptation skills.

  EMBODY POSITIVE LEADERSHIP:

  Administrators who are committed to helping teachers achieve their highest potential and succeed show compassion and gratitude, know the strengths/interests of their staff, clarify roles and expectations, and provide opportunities for growth. 

  ---

  The factors that promote student well-being are, in many ways, the same as the factors that promote teacher well-being. A positive school climate leads to reduced teacher absenteeism, fewer teachers leaving the profession, stronger teacher-student relationships, and improved student achievement. Targeted training for school teams and leaders on mental fitness and resiliency practices that foster teachers’ sense of relatedness, competency, and autonomy represent an important first step in improving school climate, reducing teacher stress, and enhancing student achievement. 

  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RESOURCES

     

  Work-Life Balance and the Canadian Teaching Profession by Bernie Froese-Germain via Canadian Teachers’ Federation

  Three key conditions to create a healthy workplace by Bill Morrison via The Globe and Mail

  Infographic: The Positive Workplace Framework (PWF) via Well at Work by EdCan

  REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

     

  Burke, R., Greenglass, E., & Schwarzer, R. (1996). Predicting teacher burnout over time: Effects of work stress, social support, and self-doubts on burnout and its consequences. Anxiety, Stress & Coping: An International Journal, 9(3), 261-275. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10615809608249406

  Briner, R., & Dewberry, C. (2007). Staff well-being is key to school success. London: Worklife Support Ltd/Hamilton House.

  Darr, W., and Johns, G., (2008). Work strain, health, and absenteeism: A meta-analysis. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology,13(4), 293-318. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012639

  Hoglund, W. L., Klingle, K. E., & Hosan, N. E. (2015). Classroom risks and resources: Teacher burnout, classroom quality and children’s adjustment in high needs elementary schools. Journal of School Psychology, 53(5), 337-357. doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2015.06.002

  Jennings, P.A., Brown, J. L., Frank, J. L., Doyle, S., Oh, Y., Davis, R., DeMauro, A. A. & Greenberg, M. T. (2017). Impacts of the CARE for teachers program on teachers’ social and emotional competence and classroom interactions. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(7), 1010–1028. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000187

  Laurie, R. (2019, December). Measuring school well-being: The mental fitness and resiliency inventory and the School Happiness Index (SHI). Education Canada Magazine, 59(4). Retrieved from:  https://www.edcan.ca/articles/measuring-school-well-being

  Laurie, R., Morrison, B. & Peterson, P. (2019, December). The Positive Workplace Framework (PWF): A strengths-based approach for thriving schools. Education Canada Magazine, 59(4). Retrieved from: https://www.edcan.ca/articles/the-positive-workplace-framework/

  McLean, L., & Connor, C. M. (2015). Depressive symptoms in third‐grade teachers: Relations to classroom quality and student achievement. Child Development, 86(3), 945-954. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12344

  Miller, R. (2012). Teacher absence as a leading indicator of student achievement: New national data offer opportunity to examine cost of teacher absence relative to learning loss. Washington, DC: Center for American Progress. 

  Miller, R., Murnane, R., & Willett, J. (2008). Do teacher absences impact student achievement? Longitudinal evidence from one urban school district. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 30(2), 181-200. doi: https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373708318019

  Molero Jurado, M. D. M., Pérez-Fuentes, M. D. C., Atria, L., Oropesa Ruiz, N. F., & Gázquez Linares, J. J. (2019). Burnout, perceived efficacy, and job satisfaction: Perception of the educational context in high school teachers. BioMed research international, 2019. doi: 10.1155/2019/1021408

  Núñez, J. L., Fernández, C., León, J., & Grijalvo, F. (2015). The relationship between teacher’s autonomy support and students’ autonomy and vitality. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 21(2), 191-202. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2014.928127

  Oberle, E., & Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2016). Stress contagion in the classroom? The link between classroom teacher burnout and morning cortisol in elementary school students. Social Science & Medicine, 159, 30-37. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.04.031

  Roffey, S. (2012). Pupil Wellbeing – Teacher Wellbeing: Two sides of the same coin. Educational & Child Psychology, 29(4), 8-17. Retrieved from: https://www.sueroffey.com/wp-content/uploads/import/32-Roffey%20ECP29-4.pdf

  Ronfeldt, M., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2013). How teacher turnover harms student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 50(1), 4-36. doi: https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0002831212463813

  Statistics Canada. (2020). Work absence of full-time employees by industry, annual. Retrieved from: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410019101

  WITH THE GENEROUS FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF: 

            

• How does teacher stress and burnout impact student achievement?

  9:25 AM Comments Off on How does teacher stress and burnout impact student achievement?

  The mental health and well-being of students in Canadian schools has become a growing concern – but it’s not just children’s well-being that’s concerning. Recent research demonstrates that the well-being of both students and teachers go hand-in-hand. In particular, increased teacher well-being leads to more supportive teacher-student relationships. Despite this evidence, a Canadian Teachers’ Federation survey shows that 85% of teachers find that poor work-life balance is affecting their ability to teach the way they would like to teach. 

  THE IMPACTS OF TEACHER STRESS AND BURNOUT INCLUDE:

  IMPACT ON TEACHERS

  • Poorer health outcomes: High blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, anxiety, and depression.
  • Increased absenteeism: In Canada, the average work days lost per educator (i.e. in schools, colleges, universities and training centres) jumped from 8.9 in 2014 to 11.9 in 2018.
  • Lower job satisfaction: There’s a close relationship between high levels of teacher burnout and low job satisfaction and commitment.

  IMPACT ON STUDENTS 

  • Reduced motivation and achievement: Teacher burnout and depersonalization (i.e. feelings of disinterest towards one’s job) negatively impacts teaching quality and student motivation (e.g. disruptive behaviour, low sense of belonging, weak belief in ability to succeed, lower grades).
  • Higher stress levels: Higher levels of teacher burnout is linked to higher cortisol levels in children, which is a biological indicator of stress.

  ON THE FLIPSIDE, HERE ARE THREE WAYS THAT LEADERS CAN CREATE A SUPPORTIVE SCHOOL CLIMATE THAT PROMOTES TEACHERS’ WELL-BEING:

  Promote mental fitness:

  Teachers who have a positive sense of how they feel, think, and act generally have a sense of relatedness (i.e. connectedness) with fellow staff, believe their strengths and skills are valued, and have autonomy to collaborate and provide feedback.

  DEVELOP TEAM RESILIENCY:

  School staff who persist, bounce forward, and thrive in the face of adversity usually demonstrate strong relationship practices and professionalism, positive attitudes, emotional intelligence, and adaptation skills.

  EMBODY POSITIVE LEADERSHIP:

  Administrators who are committed to helping teachers achieve their highest potential and succeed show compassion and gratitude, know the strengths/interests of their staff, clarify roles and expectations, and provide opportunities for growth. 

  ---

  The factors that promote student well-being are, in many ways, the same as the factors that promote teacher well-being. A positive school climate leads to reduced teacher absenteeism, fewer teachers leaving the profession, stronger teacher-student relationships, and improved student achievement. Targeted training for school teams and leaders on mental fitness and resiliency practices that foster teachers’ sense of relatedness, competency, and autonomy represent an important first step in improving school climate, reducing teacher stress, and enhancing student achievement. 

  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RESOURCES

     

  Work-Life Balance and the Canadian Teaching Profession by Bernie Froese-Germain via Canadian Teachers’ Federation

  Three key conditions to create a healthy workplace by Bill Morrison via The Globe and Mail

  Infographic: The Positive Workplace Framework (PWF) via Well at Work by EdCan

  REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

     

  Burke, R., Greenglass, E., & Schwarzer, R. (1996). Predicting teacher burnout over time: Effects of work stress, social support, and self-doubts on burnout and its consequences. Anxiety, Stress & Coping: An International Journal, 9(3), 261-275. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10615809608249406

  Briner, R., & Dewberry, C. (2007). Staff well-being is key to school success. London: Worklife Support Ltd/Hamilton House.

  Darr, W., and Johns, G., (2008). Work strain, health, and absenteeism: A meta-analysis. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology,13(4), 293-318. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012639

  Hoglund, W. L., Klingle, K. E., & Hosan, N. E. (2015). Classroom risks and resources: Teacher burnout, classroom quality and children’s adjustment in high needs elementary schools. Journal of School Psychology, 53(5), 337-357. doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2015.06.002

  Jennings, P.A., Brown, J. L., Frank, J. L., Doyle, S., Oh, Y., Davis, R., DeMauro, A. A. & Greenberg, M. T. (2017). Impacts of the CARE for teachers program on teachers’ social and emotional competence and classroom interactions. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(7), 1010–1028. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000187

  Laurie, R. (2019, December). Measuring school well-being: The mental fitness and resiliency inventory and the School Happiness Index (SHI). Education Canada Magazine, 59(4). Retrieved from:  https://www.edcan.ca/articles/measuring-school-well-being

  Laurie, R., Morrison, B. & Peterson, P. (2019, December). The Positive Workplace Framework (PWF): A strengths-based approach for thriving schools. Education Canada Magazine, 59(4). Retrieved from: https://www.edcan.ca/articles/the-positive-workplace-framework/

  McLean, L., & Connor, C. M. (2015). Depressive symptoms in third‐grade teachers: Relations to classroom quality and student achievement. Child Development, 86(3), 945-954. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12344

  Miller, R. (2012). Teacher absence as a leading indicator of student achievement: New national data offer opportunity to examine cost of teacher absence relative to learning loss. Washington, DC: Center for American Progress. 

  Miller, R., Murnane, R., & Willett, J. (2008). Do teacher absences impact student achievement? Longitudinal evidence from one urban school district. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 30(2), 181-200. doi: https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373708318019

  Molero Jurado, M. D. M., Pérez-Fuentes, M. D. C., Atria, L., Oropesa Ruiz, N. F., & Gázquez Linares, J. J. (2019). Burnout, perceived efficacy, and job satisfaction: Perception of the educational context in high school teachers. BioMed research international, 2019. doi: 10.1155/2019/1021408

  Núñez, J. L., Fernández, C., León, J., & Grijalvo, F. (2015). The relationship between teacher’s autonomy support and students’ autonomy and vitality. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 21(2), 191-202. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2014.928127

  Oberle, E., & Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2016). Stress contagion in the classroom? The link between classroom teacher burnout and morning cortisol in elementary school students. Social Science & Medicine, 159, 30-37. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.04.031

  Roffey, S. (2012). Pupil Wellbeing – Teacher Wellbeing: Two sides of the same coin. Educational & Child Psychology, 29(4), 8-17. Retrieved from: https://www.sueroffey.com/wp-content/uploads/import/32-Roffey%20ECP29-4.pdf

  Ronfeldt, M., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2013). How teacher turnover harms student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 50(1), 4-36. doi: https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0002831212463813

  Statistics Canada. (2020). Work absence of full-time employees by industry, annual. Retrieved from: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410019101

  WITH THE GENEROUS FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF: 

            

• Mental health: A private affair?

  April 30, 2020 11:09 AM Comments Off on Mental health: A private affair?

• 6 Words to Describe Life as an Educator during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  April 14, 2020 12:37 PM Comments Off on 6 Words to Describe Life as an Educator during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  Being an educator during a pandemic has brought many words to mind. I’ve been reflecting on this journey and it’s been a bumpy, curvy road. There have been challenges and celebrations. No day has been the same thus far, yet I’m encouraged and optimistic about what the near future will bring.

  ARGH! is a word that comes to mind when I reflect on being an educator at this time in life. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not technologically savvy. The technological changes my job is going through has created many challenges for me, and I’m sure that the learning and frustration I’m experiencing right now are similar or the same as that being experienced by caregivers, students, and other educators. When I think about my own technological learning curve, I can better empathize with what it must be like for some students to go through the process of learning a new concept in school. The frustration of learning something new and challenging can lead some students to shut down, throw their hands in the air, or cry, and I admittedly feel these ways at times when grappling with the transition to online teaching.  

  WHAT?! is another word that has resonated with me since the onset of the pandemic. As in, “What, a pandemic? What’s that? What’s closing? What am I going to do? What will happen to my health and my family’s health? What about my students? What will my students do? What will happen to my job?” We are on an unprecedented journey with so many questions and so few answers. My superintendent had told our administrators, “We are building an airplane in the air, and building it with some of the most committed and expert engineers.” The fear of the unknown is undoubtedly challenging as we’re being called on as educators to trust a process of which we know very little about.  

  

  ---

  TRUST is yet another word that’s resonating with me. We’re called to trust that the rules and regulations put forth are the best ones to keep us safe and healthy. We’re called to trust that other people are taking appropriate steps that will help society to be healthy. We’re called to trust our employers to make wise decisions. Most important of all, though, is the trust we’re being called to have in ourselves as educators – that we’ll be continuously able to share appropriate lesson plans and support our students as best we can through this pandemic. 

  TEAM means the world to me right now. In this pandemic, I’m constantly seeing people come to the realization that they’re on teams they never even knew they belonged to. Education staff are coming together in strength to support each other, and smartphone apps are helping educators support their own well-being and connect with each other like never before. A great example is my school district leadership team, who provides daily videos expressing on-going communication and genuine openness to ideas that will support and care for staff. I’m also thankful for my fellow staff and students, whom I miss dearly. We spend five days a week together and while nothing can truly replace our discussions in the hallways or informal chats, we’re nevertheless finding ways to stay in touch to the point that my cell phone usage has spiked to 112% in past weeks. Normally, I’d be shocked and appalled by excessive screen time, but instead I’m thankful because that 112% is made up of text messages and emails with some amazing individuals whom I’m glad to call my team. 

  

  ---

  THANKFUL is a big part of how I feel in this time of uncertainty as I see strangers and neighbours band together to manoeuvre through this rough patch in our lifetime. I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to exercise patience and understanding with each other through and post-pandemic, and I’m thankful to all those who are looking out for their fellow human beings. I’m also thankful for decision-makers who are making tough calls, for all those working in essential services, for technology which has allowed us to stay connected and productive, and for organizations who are finding ways to support everyone’s mental health and well-being. Overall, I’m thankful for all of the good that’s flourishing amid COVID-19. 

  

  ---

  ANXIOUS is my last and final word, and it refers to the new state of being that I’m trying to reduce the most. I’m anxious to ensure that my students and their families are able to access what they need. I’m anxious about knowing that everyone I know and love is healthy. I’m anxious about making sure I say the “right” thing in meetings or emails given that people are dealing with this crisis in so many different ways. I’m anxious about my fellow educators staying well and healthy. I’m anxious about people not taking COVID-19 seriously, as I want things to get back to normal as soon as possible. I’m anxious about all of the negativity that pervades social media. I’m anxious about not knowing what will come of this virus. When I reflect on all of these reasons to be anxious, I realize more than ever that this is a period where I absolutely need to focus on my well-being. It’s so easy to be overcome by anxious thoughts and worries over things that are out of our control. What I do have control over is myself, and while there are many more words that can describe how I feel right now, well-being is the word that I strive to prioritize over them all. 

  

   

   

   

  ---

  Photos: Adobe Stock

• Pandemic Pendulum

  April 7, 2020 1:54 PM Comments Off on Pandemic Pendulum

  This is a new world we are existing in right now.

  As an educator, counsellor, and parent, nothing about living day-to-day in a pandemic feels normal, nor is anything that I’m feeling, or thinking, or doing. My daily routines are being put to the test and I’m regularly feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, and unmotivated. But then I also have moments of gratitude, joy, and calm.

  ALL of this is okay.

  I have come to terms with this back-and-forth feeling and thinking through what I call the “pandemic pendulum.” Like a pendulum swinging back and forth, I’m never sure which side I need to be on and never quite sure what to feel, what to think, what to do, and how to proceed. This is exactly how I feel.

  

  My feelings, my thoughts, and even my motivation seem to be swinging back and forth. I’m joyful and hopeful then so quickly feeling impending doom. I’m thinking about planning classes and have ideas about growing my mindful self-compassion community, and then I’m also just wanting to curl up in a ball and watch Netflix.

  I want to give and then I want to do nothing at all – just like a pendulum.

  Are you feeling this way, too? I’m beginning to believe that it’s completely normal to feel like this right now. 

  Some of the significant feelings I’ve been having lately are worry and grief. My brain goes to worst-case scenarios and I start to worry: What if we don’t go back to school for months on end? What if my kids don’t continue to build healthy relationships with their friends? What if my students aren’t learning what they need to learn? What happens if I get sick and I can’t help those who need me?

  I spiral so quickly sometimes. 

  

  The good news, however, is that I have the skills and practices to manage my spectrum of reactions. When I go to these scary worse-case scenarios, I support myself by practicing a self-compassion break with three key components that slow down my pendulum of thoughts, feelings, and suffering:

  1. Mindfulness. I recognize and name the feelings that I’m experiencing: fear, overwhelm, anger, etc. Doing this means practicing mindfulness, where I acknowledge for myself that “This is a moment of overwhelm.”

  

  2. Common humanity. I remember that so many of us are going through this together and this helps me to not feel so alone. I remind myself that “I know I’m not alone in these feelings – other people have them, too, right now.” 

  3. Self-kindness. Lastly, I offer myself messages of kindness and love, or practice some form of gratitude. I offer myself the message: “May I be gentle with myself during these difficult times.” 

  I’m also feeling a lot of grief. There is a collective sentiment of loss in our world for all the things we are missing out on like hugs from our colleagues and students, laughter in our classrooms, school events like graduation, and many more. This huge loss feels heavy for many of us.

  

  My grief, however, is circular and not linear – one moment I’m angry, then sad, then bargaining, and then accepting. It goes round and round and back-and-forth. The pandemic pendulum strikes again.

  

  I’ve found that the most powerful thing I can do is just allow whatever feeling is there to emerge and to just let it “be” in the moment. By being present with whatever difficult feeling I’m having and softening into it with some tenderness, it begins to dissipate on its own.

  So, if you’re like me and are also feeling much worry and grief, then how do we cultivate some resilience and strength during these difficult times? And how do we make the practice of cultivating resilience feel easy and not like yet another thing for our already overwhelmed educators to do?

   Self-care practices are strongly associated with building emotional resilience – the ability to bounce back or react appropriately when life gets tough. These practices have never been more relevant in this world. As educators, it’s essential that we fill up our own cup first to be able to care for those around us.

   No self-care practice is going to be the same for everyone. However, the following practices are all core pieces that will allow you to build up your resiliency in your own way.

  ---

  Here are a few of my “Cs” of strengthening resiliency:

  1. Be courageous. Have the courage to slow down, ask for what you need, and be brave enough to know when you’re not okay. This is all about giving ourselves permission to prioritize our own well-being. Think about what it is that you really need right now and don’t be afraid to ask for it.

  2. Build community. We can’t do it alone – so let’s learn to ask for help and grow our community. There has never been a time when the idea of common humanity has resonated so much. You may be “socially distancing” but you can also be “distance socializing,” so find a way to connect.

  

  3. Cultivate care. Get down to the task of cultivating the care you need. What are the components of well-being that you need to attend to? Do you need more exercise? Should you eat something healthy? Do you need to call a friend? Is it time for a meditation practice? Do you need to improve your sleep habits? This is the time to truly care for your personal well-being.

  4. Have compassion. Lastly, let’s hold all of this – the world, our students, our colleagues and, most of all, ourselves, in compassion. Find ways to offer yourself kind and tender words.

  

  ---

  So, what do we do about all that comes with these difficult and challenging times?  Well, nothing. We let it ride. 

  We allow ourselves to feel whatever we’re feeling.

  We recognize that this is a time of pandemic pendulum and know that we aren’t alone in it all.

  We meet our moments of joy, inspiration, and motivation with gratitude, and we meet our suffering, our worry and our grief with compassion, kindness, and love. 

  Because in the end, worry and grief can exist alongside love all on the same pendulum.

   

  ---

  Photos: Adobe Stock

• Healthy organizational responses to the coronavirus pandemic

  April 6, 2020 1:45 PM Comments Off on Healthy organizational responses to the coronavirus pandemic

  I begin the revised and expanded edition of my book, Creating Healthy Organizations: Taking Action to Improve Employee Well-Being with a basic question: how can we make organizations humanly sustainable so they can succeed in the future? This question takes on new urgency now that we’ve been blind-sided by a global pandemic. Human resources, workplace wellness, and occupational health and safety professionals are confronting what surely will be the greatest test of their career. Following the principles of a healthy organization can be helpful.

  PERVASIVE PUBLIC PESSIMISM 

  First, here’s the backdrop to what’s happening to workers and employers. Unlike the 2008-2009 financial crisis and Great Recession, which resulted from weaknesses in the financial system, the coronavirus pandemic generates anxiety and fear on two fronts: health and economic.

  

  Evidence of this comes from EKOS Research Associates’ latest polling of Canadians (March 17-24, n=1,710, MOE +/- 2.4%, 19 times out of 20). Three-quarters of those surveyed believe the economy is already in recession and expect it to get worse in the next 6 months. Just over half think they will be worse off financially in 6 months. The typical respondent sees a 50% chance of them personally being infected by the coronavirus. Most (80%) are experiencing stress due to the pandemic. On an optimistic note, Canadians do grasp the severity of the crisis and understand what they need to do to stay safe. And they endorse governments’ responses so far.

  SHIFTING HEALTHY PRACTICES INTO HIGH GEAR

  Pre-pandemic, organizations in all industries operated in an environment rife with ever-greater risks and uncertainties, and sweeping transformations. More employers recognize that survival depends on getting the fullest commitment and energy from each and every employee. The goal of making the entire organization healthier moved into the mainstream of corporate wellness. Companies are striving to make workplaces psychologically healthier and safer. Expanded corporate sustainability frameworks have opened up discussions about the sustainability of a company’s human resource practices.

  

  This solid progress – coupled with strong economies in Canada and the US leading up to the pandemic – will enable many of us to weather the storm.

  CULTIVATING RESILIENCE 

  Healthy organizations cultivate workforce resilience. Resilient people don’t bounce back; they bounce forward, finding new strength and equilibrium. They move to a new normal that enables them to keep progressing toward a better future. Resilient people don’t just adapt to change, they find opportunities and renewed strength as they confront it. In the language of positive psychology, the goal is to help organizations and their members flourish and thrive.

  Workers need a supportive environment to be resilient. To do this, leaders must develop their own resilience. Resilient leaders skillfully and proactively respond to stressors, practice self-care, learn from failure, develop renewed strengths, and show others how it is possible to thrive when the going gets tough. In this way, they foster a resilient workforce that is prepared to deal with the unexpected.

  

  Individual and team resilience is a hallmark of a psychologically healthy and safe workplace. The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace highlights the key workplace features that contribute to resilience:

  1. Supportive managers and coworkers

  2. A culture that values individuals’ well-being

  3. Skilled people leadership

  4. Respectful working relationships

  5. Support for employees’ personal growth and development

  6. The resources needed to manage workloads and job demands

  7. Employee involvement in decisions

  8. Recognition for contributions

  9. The flexibility needed to achieve work-life balance

  Maintaining, and even strengthening, the above workplace features must be a priority. Building a healthy organization is a shared responsibility. While demonstrated support from senior leaders is a key enabling condition for change, equally important is the active participation of all the organization’s members, right down to the front lines. Ideally, all employees should feel motivated and encouraged to find ways to make their jobs and work environment healthier and safer. Now the bar is raised, because this has to happen virtually.

  LESSONS FROM RECESSIONS PAST 

  The change process can be designed to be healthy. We can derive lessons from research on corporate downsizing and restructuring during the recessions of the ‘80s, 90s, and 2000s. Here’s what’s well documented: 1) downsizing increases stress and diminishes the health of those laid off and the ‘survivors’ (who suffer from what’s called ‘survivor syndrome’); 2) poorly executed downsizing or restructuring reduces organizational capabilities, ranging from learning, reduced tacit knowledge, social capital (relationships), collaboration, and innovation.

  Survivor syndrome (the negative psychological and physical impact of remaining in a downsized organization, including guilt) can be avoided by empowering workers to redesign work tasks and processes to fit the renewed mission, responding to issues and concerns raised by employees, and supporting employees to individually and as teams actively manage the changes.

  During the 2008-2009 Great Recession, some companies came out stronger because they used the downturn as an opportunity to engage all employees to reinvent the business strategy and find better ways of working. Leaders in these organizations built trust by openly communicating with employees, involving them in the changes, and supporting them at every step of the way. The big take-away for employees: this company cares about me so I am committed to its future success.

  SIGNS OF MUTUAL SUPPORT

  As the Economist recently observed: “Downturns are capitalism’s sorting mechanism, revealing weak business models and stretched balance-sheets.” But there’s more to the survival story. Beyond balance sheets and the type of business (pity the cruise lines), it comes down to people practices, reinforced by shared corporate values. Values are the essential guideposts when the going gets tough. And rarely has it been tougher.

  Small businesses face more acute challenges. But from what I’ve seen locally, owners may be more inclined to treat their workers like family, knowing they will need them back as the pandemic threat recedes.

  I see signs of this today in my own community. A restaurant quickly shifted to a reduced take out menu, turning waiters into delivery drivers, and offering customers the option of buying an inexpensive meal for a family in need. Gyms offer free daily on-line workouts. Musicians stream live performances. A craft distillery now is producing hand sanitizer. My friend Todd Ramsay and his wife Ashley, who run Kelowna-based Yeti Farm Creative, an animation studio, proactively set up their employees to work at home in early March. Their team feels virtually connected (Todd’s accompanying graphic captures this) and are committed to coming out of this ordeal even stronger. The common theme here is people pulling together and helping each other. And just as with fires, floods and other natural disasters, people are engaging in acts of kindness. Local TV news images of empty foodbank hampers quickly resulted in a $10,000 donation, plus lots of smaller ones.

  

  Work and social life have been transformed in a matter of weeks into virtual experiences. Video chat service Zoom has, well, zoomed into widespread use. The lines between work and home and family life have dissolved. What about those workers faced with school closures and kids at home needing constructive activities? It’s time for your team to talk about what adaptations are needed to support these members.

  LET’S NOT FORGET…

  There are other groups of workers who desperately need help. Foremost are front-line healthcare workers. We’ve seen shocking videos of doctors and nurses working around the clock in Spain and Italy, risking their safety, tending to patients lying in hallway floors without proper equipment. How can we prevent that scenario from happening here? And as a New York Times editorial put it: “In this hour of crisis, those at the bottom of the economic pyramid are in the greatest need of help.” This includes low-paid workers and those in the gig economy. There’s an essential role for governments here.

  Yes, the coronavirus pandemic will end. The Chinese city of Wuhan, the original epicenter of the coronavirus, has reduced the number of new infections to the point that people are returning to work and some semblance of normal daily life. All the more important to ensure that today’s responses to the pandemic will ready us to resume our social and economic lives. So think of where you want to be one year from now.

• Staying Well at Home

  April 3, 2020 2:14 PM Comments Off on Staying Well at Home

  On behalf of the EdCan Board and Advisory Council, we wish our network members across the country continued safety and wellness during this challenging time. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the healthcare professionals and other essential workers who can’t stay home and are keeping the rest of us healthy, safe and well supplied with what we need to get through this. EdCan staff have been fortunate to be able to continue working virtually without missing a beat and have been strategizing how best to leverage our high-quality learning content to support your well-being through this overwhelming experience. 

   

  Your Membership Benefits – Shifting from Well at Work to Well at Home

  We know that you’re not only focused on ensuring the safety of your loved ones, but also care a great deal about how your colleagues and students are dealing with this crisis. Many of you are also being asked to deliver distance learning during extremely distracting circumstances. This is a lot for you to deal with. As you may already know, one of EdCan’s core initiatives is Well at Work, which aims to shift mindsets by showcasing research, policy and practice that results in healthier, happier, and more resilient K-12 staff. We’ve temporarily pivoted our focus to Well at Home, because there’s no better time for you to explore our current collection of podcasts, blog posts and magazine articles as well as the latest research resources that we will continue to update to help you focus on your own well-being to maintain your strength for those who need you the most right now. 

  

  Although our Pan-Canadian Summit on K-12 Staff Well-Being is postponed until November 2-4, we remain dedicated to continue providing you with relevant learning opportunities featuring the foremost experts on this topic. As such, we’re excited to announce that we will be hosting a series of free webinars over the next few months with the goal of maintaining momentum on this crucial issue. Our first webinar will take place on Wednesday, April 15th at 1:00 PM (EST) presented by Mindfulness Everyday. Heidi Bornstein and Stephen Chadwick will be in their homes and we will be in ours and hope you will join us for some virtual “me time” to recharge and refocus during this difficult period. They will be presenting a live public webinar and four small group community meet-ups for EdCan members. The second webinar, on Tuesday, April 30th at 1:00 PM (EST), will be hosted by The Behavioural Insights Team. Information detailing registration and other future webinars will be coming soon!

  Well at Work Professional Development Discussion Kit

  For those of you taking advantage of your PLNs to stay connected, I encourage you to use our newly-released Well at Work Professional Development Discussion Kit, which complements our Winter 2019 edition of Education Canada Magazine and offers group discussion and self-reflection guides that unpack how we can (and why we must) strengthen our social and emotional wellbeing to achieve healthier schools and better learning experiences for students.  

  

  Additional Relevant Magazine Topics to Explore

  Beyond the topic of well-being, we just released our latest Education Canada Magazine focus on The Greening of Schools where we take a closer look at environmental education and leadership around greener schools design and practice.

  We look forward to releasing a special web-exclusive edition of our May issue focusing on Education and the Skilled Trades to help counter the stigma and articulate the value of skilled trades and how our education system is fostering the skills and knowledge students require to meet the workforce needs of tomorrow. 

  Tell Us What You Need

  Of course, as you probably know, your EdCan membership provides not only our latest magazine articles, but also grants you unlimited access to our vast archive of evidence-based content to help you explore what the research says on some of the most complex issues facing educators today. If you haven’t already logged into our website using your institutional email address to take full advantage of the high-quality professional learning content that EdCan has to offer, we encourage you to do so. Please follow us on our Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram accounts and subscribe to our e-newsletters for the latest updates, and let us know how we can continue to support you and your colleagues. 

  Please stay home, stay safe and know that better times are ahead for all of us.

  Max Cooke
  EdCan CEO
  mcooke@edcan.ca
  @max_cooke

• The Ups and Downs of Co-Teaching

  11:35 AM Comments Off on The Ups and Downs of Co-Teaching

• I’ve Never Looked Back

  March 23, 2020 4:02 PM Comments Off on I’ve Never Looked Back

  “Tell me one thing you wish you knew when you were a beginning teacher,” Jodie asks, pen in hand, marking a math test, while also searching something on her laptop.

  

  I swallow my urge to say “That multi-tasking really, really doesn’t work”, and instead say something that wasn’t even on my radar 6 months ago…and this is after 25 years of teaching.

  “That doing circle with your class will help you as much as them.”

  Jodie crinkles her face. 

  “Really! Circles aren’t just for kindergarteners anymore. My grade ⅞ class loves them!”

  For the first time I have her attention. 

  “They wouldn’t work with my grade 5’s. Too chatty,” Jodie says.

  As a teacher, we both know that “too chatty” really means “the students are on the verge of taking over” so I nod. I’ve had classes that were too chatty as well.

  And I really wish I had done circle with them.

  “Try it Jodie. Really. You’ll like it as much as they do.”

  She sighs, and I know what that sigh means. I’ve had many a sigh like that after a workshop, or after realizing how little time I have to cover the ever-lengthening list of curriculum expectations.

  It means – great…one more thing I should be doing.

  I type out the template I use for circle and e-mail it to her.

  I love that silence in the teacher workroom can mean that just as much communication is being done as when everyone is talking at once.

  She gets the e-mail and I watch her face as she reads it.

  The widening-eyed, nodding, “now I get it” reaction does not come.

  Instead she looks over at me, head cocked to one side, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed. 

  

  “What don’t you get?” I asked, really interested. 

  I follow a simple circle itinerary.

  “What do newts and asses have to do with circle?”

  I look back at her, head cocked to one side, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed.

  We look like mirror images of every teacher half-way through a staff meeting.

  Then I look at my screen. Oh.

  “It should read news and issues.”

  “Uh-huh,” she says slowly, and I know from having three millenial-aged children that I need to get on with this or her attention will go elsewhere.

  And probably for good reason. Newts and asses, while having quite amazing adaptations (thank you grade six science) do not belong in circle.

  Well maybe newts. Anything that can regenerate an eye and limb has a place in any circle.

  “Okay – so get them to sit in a circle and then do a check-in. They have to say a number between 1 and 5 that reflects how they’re feeling. 1 is low – sad, tired, stressed. 5 is high –  happy, energized, calm. You say how you’re feeling too. It’s good for the students to realize that every so often you’re not feeling the best, but you can power through, or ask for support, or do things during the day to help you.”

  “Mmmm,” Jodie says, picking up her pen again. I speak quickly now.

  “And then we share news. What’s going on in the world, what’s going on in our community, what’s going on with us. This is the magic Jodie. They love to share what’s going on in their lives.”

  “Too much sometimes,” she adds.

  “Yeah, but in circle, you give them the permission to. The idea is that they talk. That’s what you want. You want them to feel safe enough to tell you about how they’re worrying about the environment, or their cat being sick or the fight they had with their best friend. And the other kids can relate with each other. They’ll ask each other questions, they’ll laugh when it’s funny, they’ll say “that sucks” when it does. And they will feel lighter for it. Really.”

  Jodie is looking at me, her pen has been set down, she leans forward.

  “But don’t they just get carried away? Talking all at once?”

  “No. And you lay down the ground rules. No private conversations. And if they continue talking to a neighbour, you tell them to leave the circle, and they’ll have a chance to rejoin during the next section.”

  “Okay…I guess that sounds good…”

  “In circle is when I learn the important stuff… whose father is sick, who’s looking forward to seeing their favourite Youtuber perform, who has a hockey tournament on the weekend…the stuff of their lives. The stuff I can bring up later in the day, or the week, one-on-one, to deepen the connection with each student.”

  

  “What else?”

  “Next we do issues. I have these conversation cards that discuss various issues that affect Canada and the world, like violence, lack of water, discrimination. I give them facts and statistics and then we discuss any questions they have, observations, experiences.”

  “Can I borrow those?”

  “Of course. And then we do a mindfulness activity. Again, I have cards with various activities. I have a student choose a card and we do whatever is on it. I never have any idea what activity we’ll be doing.”

  “Mindfulness? They won’t sit still long enough…”

  “Maybe at first some of them will find it difficult, but I’m telling you, they are longing for this information. For how to destress, get their anxiety under control, relax. The activities are short and focus on breathing, on noticing things, on being mindful…”

  “That sounds nice…” Jodie is smiling, and I know she’s decided to finish marking her math tests another time.

  “It is nice…really nice. The last activity we did was pretending we were blowing into a balloon. We had to take deep breaths and release them…by the end of four breaths, my shoulders were no longer hunched around my ears and my mind was relaxed.”

  A quiet second passes.

  “And the final activity we do is prayer intentions. I begin by praying for every child in the circle, and any classmates that are absent. And then they raise their hands and offer up their prayer intentions. And while praying for their sick aunt, or grandfather, or neighbour I’m learning more about what is on their minds. What they need to take off their shoulders for a while. And we pray, and that’s how we finish our circle.”

  

  Jodie takes a deep breath. “I guess I could try…”

  “Try it. You’ll be amazed at what you learn. At how much more deeply you can connect with them. At how much more supported they will feel.”

  “Okay…I’m going to do it.”

  “They’ll learn a lot from doing circle…but Jodie, you will learn more. Promise.”

  “Ok,” Jodie gathers her math tests and gets ready to carry her marking and laptop back to her class.

  “And Jodie?”

  

  She turns. She is a hard-working, 26 year-old teacher. She is caring and committed and wonderful.

  “By giving them the chance to chat…you’ll find they become less chatty.”

  We laugh. She’s not quite convinced, but is going to give circle a go.

  And just like me, she’ll never look back.

  

   

  Photo: Adobe Stock

• Dealing with a negative school environment as a new teacher

  March 18, 2020 12:12 PM Comments Off on Dealing with a negative school environment as a new teacher

  IN BEGINNING MY JOURNEY AS A TEACHER, I LEARNED THAT I HAD TO BETTER UNDERSTAND TEACHER WELL-BEING IN TODAY’S K-12 EDUCATION SYSTEMS. 
  

  When I began teaching, I decided to enroll in the Master’s of Professional Education program (M.P.Ed.) at Western University, with a focus on Curriculum and Pedagogy. To me, this was an easy decision given that the practicum placements I undertook during my pre-service teaching program had ultimately left me with more questions than answers about current policies and initiatives to support teacher well-being. From my experience, the majority of education policies and initiatives that are publicly available remain largely focused on student well-being and on how teachers can make various changes to their professional practice to inspire student success. I began to wonder, “Why are there such limited documents and resources available that focus on the value of teacher well-being and that show how teachers’ levels of well-being directly influence their professional practice? How are teachers supposed to support student well-being and success, if their own well-being isn’t supported by K-12 education systems?”

  

  It’s these types of questions that led me to conduct research during my M.P.Ed. program specifically on the value of teachers in today’s classrooms. As I began to scan the available research on K-12 teacher well-being in schools across Canada, I was able to confirm that there indeed wasn’t much research available that actually looked at the well-being of teachers. As a full-time student simultaneously teaching full-time, what I was finding through my research was backed not only by my personal experiences but by many of the conversations I had with fellow colleagues at the very first school I was teaching at. Ultimately, I began to notice that many of the stories I was hearing all had an underlying commonality — that teachers’ well-being was almost always linked to the quality of relationship teachers have with their school principals.

  

  TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS: WHY BUILDING UP THIS RELATIONSHIP IS SO IMPORTANT.

  Emotional exhaustion including low energy and consistent fatigue caused by workload or time pressure, fear of speaking honestly, and other professional frustrations are warning signs that teachers may be trailing along a path towards burnout. Much of the research that’s been offered in the past 5-to-10 years hints that negative school climate and classroom environments can take a toll on a person’s ability to teach effectively. Part of what can help create a healthier school climate is the quality of teacher-principal relationships, and we know that negative relationships between professionals can negatively affect the quality of instructional leadership and learning taking place within a school.

  

  After graduating from my pre-service program, I landed a full-time French Immersion teaching position in a school where I soon realized there was a consistent lack of open and positive communication between the staff team and administrative team. When trying to learn about how things worked in my school, as well as navigate what was expected of me, I often received different answers depending on who I asked. If I posed questions to other staff members, I’d get responses like, “I’m not sure…”, “I don’t know…”, “I think so and so knows that answer…”, and, “I think the admin said this, but I would go and ask them to make sure…”  I began to find myself constantly questioning my own confidence and purpose as a teacher because of the lack of trust and clarity I was often experiencing in my interactions with administrative staff. This isn’t at all what I’d envisioned for my first two years of teaching.

  

  As someone who had learned, while training as a teacher in university, the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between myself and school administration, I began to realize that this simply wasn’t a case of me being unprepared as a new teacher. More importantly, I knew I wasn’t alone in experiencing these communication problems. Over time, as much I would try to remind myself that my mental, emotional, and physical well-being were important to maintain in my profession, I became more and more discouraged each morning I returned to school. It became clear to me that the lack of clear communication between staff and administration, among other things, weren’t conducive to building a healthy, supportive school culture. It was also clear that this was taking a toll on everyone’s well-being. If I was dreading going to work, I’m sure both other staff and administration were, too. I knew for the sake of my own well-being, and that of my colleagues and administrators, that none of us could continue working in an environment like this. I was left wondering, “What steps could we all be taking to improve workplace satisfaction and the overall well-being of all K-12 staff?”

  THE TAKEAWAY: NOT ALL HOPE IS LOST WHEN IT COMES TO ENSURING HIGH QUALITY TEACHER-PRINCIPAL RELATIONSHIPS AND RESTORING THE VALUE OF ALL TEACHERS.

  My experiences during my first two years as a teacher were very eye-opening and served as a great learning experience in how relationships are so key to well-being in the workplace. A teacher, or any K-12 staff member (e.g. Educational Assistant, Principal, etc.) who’s treated as a valued member of the team not only by their administration – but by everyone – will feel supported and more engaged in their work, which benefits the entire school community and students especially.

  Through experience and further research, I hope to be able to find some answers and solutions to the problems associated with strained teacher-principal relationships. Far too many teachers and principals today are experiencing unnecessary levels of anxiety, confusion, uncertainty, and a low sense of well-being. My best advice for those who are also in their beginning years of the profession is to find strategies to build up your resilience at work and, most especially, to trust yourself. By reminding ourselves to follow our instincts on both personal and professional levels, we as teachers can build and maintain a sense of value and purpose in our important roles.

  

   

   

   

  Photos: Adobe Stock

  ---

   check out the following resources to learn more about:

  1. Empowering Modern Educators 

  This resource has been created to encourage and empower all educators. Much of the information presented in this resource is solely meant to highlight some of the major, and ongoing challenges that are experienced daily by educators. This resource is also meant to give educators the confidence to maintain the difficult, but necessary, dialogue about the added responsibilities and stresses which this profession, at times, places on us.

  Learn more here 

  2. Restoring the Value of Teachers: A Perspective on Quality Teacher-Principal Relationships

  A compilation of research that examines what makes a quality teacher-principal relationship.

  learn more here 

• Are Teachers in Trouble?

  March 5, 2020 6:09 AM Comments Off on Are Teachers in Trouble?

  What is the relationship between the emotional load of teachers’ work and individual manifestations of illness? We need to document and address clinical needs – such as pain, functional impairment, mental illness and social isolation– that go deeper than simple “wellness programs.”

  I first heard about the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace in 2017.

  That year, I was part of a small delegation of teachers who were attending (for the very first time) the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour Biennial Convention in Halifax, N.S. Of all the amazing insights I gained that weekend, learning about directly connecting workplace stress to worker wellness was a key moment for me.

  The “Standard” was originally launched in 2013. Supported by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, it is a set of voluntary guidelines, tools and resources designed to help organizations prevent psychological injury at work. The standard aims to connect overall worker wellness with more tangible ideas like stress and workplace absenteeism.

  As a union leader, my job centres around helping teachers navigate the increasingly complex world of public education. Naturally, my perception of that complexity is coloured by my role.

  My phone seldom rings when teachers are doing well, and my phone is seldom quiet for very long.

  However, I am also keenly aware that the angst I witness in my own members is not limited to my one small corner of the world.

  The global educational landscape is littered with stories of teacher shortages and excessive attrition rates.

  As I read more about psychological wellness, I began to question the frequently cited but hard to define platitudes often used to describe teachers in crisis. Words like “stress” and “burnout” are frequently associated with the teaching profession, but they are hard to pin down. The terms still have an almost ephemeral ring to them, much like PTSD used to. (PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder – struggled for years for definition, let alone acceptance.) I began to look for research, any research, that explored the connections between the stress being felt by teachers in the classroom and their overall health. Much to my chagrin, my searches were fruitless.

  “Students’ and teachers’ healthy minds and bodies are critical to quality public education.”

  Then, in another fortunate turn of fate, I met MSVU researcher Dr. Krista Ritchie, Assistant Professor at Mount Saint Vincent University and a scientist at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax. Her program of research makes connections across the fields of education and health. Through a multitude of research projects and collaborations over time, she has formed a strong commitment to applied research for the public good, framed by the central tenet that healthcare is an education issue and education is a healthcare issue.

  According to Ritchie, opportunities for clinicians, patients and care providers to learn about illness and new evidence-informed treatments are critical to quality healthcare. Similarly, students’ and teachers’ healthy minds and bodies are critical to quality public education. One of the keys to being able to approach this applied research effectively is the willingness to establish meaningful and trusting collaboration across stakeholders. As such, she has sought to collaborate with community groups, schools, hospitals, and most recently the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union (NSTU).

  NSTU President Paul Wozney says, “Ninety-one hundred NSTU members have expressed a clear desire to partner in research that illuminates the growing struggle teachers experience with mental health, and with mental health issues that develop due to workload and the evolving complexity of their jobs.” They view research as a way to delineate the negative impact mental health issues have on their personal wellness, vital relationships and ability to do their jobs. They voted in overwhelming support of this action at our Annual Council in 2018; our board of directors subsequently approved a proposal from Dr. Krista Ritchie to undertake collaborative research to this end.

   

  If your organization, school district or faculty of education is an EdCan member (see the list here), you can enjoy unlimited access to our online content! Click here to create your online account.

   

  Through this most recent collaboration, a team approach is being used to identify a way to do high quality research that explores the relationship between the emotional load of teachers’ work and individual manifestations of illness. This includes such things as pain, functional impairment, mental illness, and social isolation.

  Perhaps most importantly, the research attempts to find ways in which these factors influence the nuanced decisions teachers make every day that shape student learning and engagement.

  

  Certainly, what statistics we do have indicate a clear need for further examination of the impact of wellness on the classroom.

  Canadian statistics indicate that approximately 25 percent of adults experience mental illness at some point.

  Statistics Canada estimates that 4.8 percent of adult Canadians have depression.

  When it comes to the teaching profession, a 2012 report revealed that 25 percent of 745 teachers interviewed in Regina and Saskatoon were seeking healthcare for depression and 43 percent reported symptoms of emotional exhaustion.¹

  A thesis recently published from Western University reported that 72 percent (almost 3 in 4) of surveyed teachers identified as having either mental illness or symptoms of burnout resulting from stress, such as avoidance strategies and social disengagement.²

  Here in N.S., Dr. Ritchie and the NSTU have partnered on an ongoing study of public school teachers.

  Initial analysis of the data collected so far indicates that 63 percent of surveyed teachers reported that they currently have mental illness or emotional distress resulting in functional impairment of work and home responsibilities. Of these respondents with illness or distress, 71 percent reported that their health problems were interfering with their normal social activities with friends, family, neighbours, or social groups.

  This is concerning because social support is a protective factor against mental illness.

  Although it is too early to draw strong conclusions about whether teachers are experiencing higher rates of mental illness than the national average, these studies tell us that we need to be asking the question and generating valid and reliable prevalence rates.

  This area of research could be of tremendous value in directly informing healthcare needs and program planning for teachers. To even begin to consider the potential impact on students, we must generate population level statistics that can guide provincial and national conversations.

  Who helps the helpers?

  It is equally important to situate these statistics in the teaching and learning contexts where students are learning every day. As part of the effort to meet that goal, Ritchie has been joined by Laura Leslie, a St. Francis Xavier University PhD student. Leslie comes to her PhD studies with over 15 years’ experience as a teacher in Nova Scotia schools, and with a background in counselling. Her research interests are in the impact of trauma on students and schools – an interest sparked by her own experiences as a classroom teacher supporting students affected by traumatic and adverse life events. Community violence, illness, loss, poverty, abuse, witnessing or experiencing frightening events are just some of the experiences that can have a significant impact on children in our schools.

  During her years of teaching these students, Leslie came to recognize how supporting students with trauma was affecting the health of her teaching colleagues. She found herself going to the empirical literature and asking the question “Who helps the helpers?”³

  That question is one that is thankfully starting to be asked more often. New research is revealing the prevalence of secondary trauma symptoms in educators in today’s classrooms. Further research is needed to understand and support teachers with these ongoing, daily and often pervasive challenges.

  “Psychological health in the workplace needs to become a major focus across the educational landscape of our nation.”

  Within the teaching profession, we bear witness daily to human flourishing. Seeing students learn to read, gain independence and learn about themselves is a great privilege. This privilege is situated in trusting relationships with children – those very individuals upon whom society places so much value. Yet within the ranks of those charged with their care and academic development, there exists long documented evidence of high attrition rates, particularly among early-career teachers.⁴

  Psychological health in the workplace needs to become a major focus across the educational landscape of our nation. These efforts need to move beyond simple wellness programs that, although helpful, do not compare to documenting health needs that must be addressed by healthcare professionals.

  Whether it be among classroom teachers, university academics, community members or educational leadership, collaboration in addressing this issue will be key.

  We all do better by reaching across institutions and working together to generate high quality and relevant evidence to solve real problems.

   

  Photo: iStock

  First published in Education Canada, March 2020

  ---

  Notes

  1 R. R. Martin, R. Dolmage, and D. Sharpe, Seeking Wellness: Descriptive findings from the survey of the work life and health of teachers in Regina and Saskatoon (Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, Saskatoon, SK, 2012). www.stf.sk.ca/sites/default/files/seeking_wellness.pdf

  2 K. Marko, “Hearing the Unheard Voices: An in-depth look at teacher mental health and wellness,” (Thesis, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, 2015), 2-15

  3 H. A. Lawson, J. C. Caringi, R. Gottfried, B. E. Bride, and S. P. Hydon, “Educators’Secondary Traumatic Stress, Children’s Trauma, and the Need for Trauma Literacy,” Harvard Educational Review 89, no. 3 (2019): 421–447.

  4 L. Darling-Hammond, “The Challenge of Staffing our Schools,” Educational Leadership58, no.8 (2001): 12-17; B. Kutsyuruba, L. Godden and L. Tregunna, Early-career Teacher Attrition and Retention: A pan-Canadian document analysis study of teacher induction and mentorship programs (Kingston, ON: Queen’s University, 2013).

• Nature Calls

  6:02 AM Comments Off on Nature Calls

  Getting kids inspired by the natural world is good for their well-being – and critical to the fate of our threatened species. And it can start with school.

  When I visited a high school recently as a guest speaker, I was surprised by how quiet I found the crowd of students in the entrance foyer.

  There must have been a hundred students, but rather than the noisy, chatty hallway I was expecting, they barely seemed to speak at all.

  Instead they were looking down, apparently completely absorbed, at the phones in their hands.

  When I remarked to the principal who greeted me how odd I found it that the students didn’t talk with each other, she explained I was mistaken. They were talking. On their phones. They were texting. Or Snapchatting. Or WhatsApping – or some variation of these.

  “Convincing students to unplug and get outside? That can be challenging.”

  I’d been invited as a speaker to motivate kids to “unplug” and get excited about nature. I could see I had my work cut out for me. I’m a professional adventurer, the Explorer-in-Residence of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

  Normally, I’m out in the wild, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest other person, in some of the most isolated places on Earth. I get to spend months out of the year unplugged. If that’s your idea of paradise, then we think alike.

  My days are pretty simple: ploughing through arctic ice floes in a canoe, sleeping alone with polar bears, paddling across lakes that stretch beyond the horizon, trekking in places where there are no trails, coming face-to-face with wolves and muskox, and wandering across ancient lava flows. Pretty relaxing stuff. But convincing students to unplug and get outside? That can be challenging.

  

  According to a recent report, “Kids and teens age eight to 18 spend an average of more than seven hours a day looking at screens.”¹

  That data was from a study in the U.S., but there is little reason to think the numbers are any different here in Canada. Researchers have linked excessive screen time to increased anxiety, stress, difficulty concentrating, unhappiness, and other unhealthy outcomes.

  The American author Richard Louv has even coined the term “Nature Deficit Disorder” to refer to the growing trend of kids (and adults) spending too much time indoors.

  It turns out that a steady stream of social media, emails, online content, video games, and binge-watching shows, does not lead to a well-balanced, healthy life. (Which is not to say any of these things are bad in moderation.)

   

  If your organization, school district or faculty of education is an EdCan member (see the list here), you can enjoy unlimited access to our online content! Click here to create your online account.

   

  But how do we encourage kids to get passionate about nature? Maybe there is an app for that? Probably, although I think there’s a better way.

  When I cast a glance back at my own childhood and education, I count myself lucky. I happened to grow up with a forest on my doorstep. We lived on a country road without streetlights or sidewalks. My playground was the woods that surrounded our home on all sides. Out there, among the oaks and sycamores, the birch and basswoods, I learned about plants, tracks, birds and other animals. I developed a deep love for forests, nature, and the wild that has never left me.

  But I was also lucky that my interest and enthusiasm for the natural world was nurtured and encouraged by the Ontario public school curriculum and the teachers I had.

  In elementary school, we gathered leaves from our schoolyard and made rubbings of them, identifying the different species. Nearby was a conservation area where we learned orienteering and played predator-prey games about the food chain and web of life.

  I vividly recall learning about environmental issues in my Grade 3 class from Mr. Sibley, and how alarmed I was at the thought of forests disappearing.

  In Grade 4, our class did projects on endangered species (I chose the wolverine).

  In Grade 6, my teacher, Mrs. Stock, had our class do projects on an individual tree species. I did mine on tulip trees – towering giants found in the Carolinian forests of southernmost Ontario.

  I still have my Grade 7 project on “Canadian woodlands,” where I studied different types of forests in Canada and what makes each unique. For that project, I was able to do research in my own backyard.

  We had many other projects involving nature and field trips to nearby nature parks. All of this helped encourage my appetite for the outdoors.

  

  Now when I write about my expeditions in my books, I try to re-awaken people’s dormant sense of awe and delight at the mysteries and magic of the natural world, in the belief that doing so will inspire people to want to know more about the outdoors and then get active in working to preserve and restore natural habitats.

  That’s why I write about trekking alone through ancient forests of spruces and tamaracks, or meeting arctic wolves that look you in the eye, or wandering over weathered rocks that were already a billion years old before the first dinosaur ever walked the earth.

  At schools, I entertain students with tales of adventures in the wild, of sleeping under stars, of mapping northern rivers that snake across the land like giant anacondas, and of meeting bears and wolverines.

  Once I’ve stirred up a suitable sense of awe at the wild and eagerness to experience the great outdoors among screen-addicted students through adventure stories, my next step is to give them the mental tools they need to experience nature for themselves in an exciting way, in their own backyard or local conservation area.

  I think there’s a two-pronged approach that can do wonders to accomplish this in schools.

  The first is teaching more nature in the classroom – things like leaf rubbings and tree identification, and plant and animal ecology.

  The second is getting students outside more in the woods or wetlands. The crucial part is that these things need to be combined.

  A common mistake is only emphasizing one element, instead of both together. But just sending people out into the woods without any knowledge of how to interpret them is like assigning Shakespeare without first learning to read. On the flip side, learning about nature only indoors is like studying music theory without the music.

  So I place a lot of emphasis on both classroom learning and getting outdoors.

  For students, I like to begin with a focus on things that are immediately at hand and almost always visible – trees and birds.

  These are nature’s ABCs – the fundamental building blocks that will let anyone begin to “read” the woods. But then we go beyond just tree identification, to figuring out more about the character of each tree. How old is it? What are its traditional uses? How does the wood compare? Soft basswood is a wonder for carving, while hop-hornbeam is rock-hard. Why did that tree grow in a particular way? We compare the big spreading branches of the white oaks to the wiry understory witch hazels. Why do silver maples grow in swamps? Hemlocks in shady ravines?

  Then, suddenly, those generic trees around the schoolyard aren’t just “trees” anymore – they’re red oaks, white pines, and sugar maples. They begin to tell a story – the story of the natural world.

  “It’s not only that we need nature. Nature needs us. Now more than ever, the natural world is under tremendous pressure.”

  The other thing I like to focus on at first are birds. Birds, like trees, are almost always around – even in urban settings – and since many are migratory, they connect us immediately to faraway places, from the warblers that spend their winters in the Amazon to the snow geese that in summer migrate to the Arctic.

  Like the trees, each bird has a story to tell. As we learn about them, gradually the birds flying by or singing in the cedars aren’t just catch-all “birds” anymore.

  To borrow a digital metaphor, now the picture starts to come into High Definition, and we can make out white-breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, gray jays, tufted titmice or black-capped chickadees.

  The more we learn, the sharper the focus gets as the natural world becomes more and more intelligible, and ever more fascinating.

  Long after I left school, I’m still learning about nature. My expeditions for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society have taken me everywhere from exploring caves in the Arctic, to gathering marine fossils along isolated rivers, to tracking down and photographing Canada’s most elusive snake, the endangered blue racer. Currently I’m preparing for a new four-month solo canoe journey, in part to be based on following bird migration routes. When I return, I’ll have new material to share with the schools I visit.

  

  There’s another reason why I think it’s critical we re-awaken our sense of awe for the wild.

  It’s not only that we need nature. Nature needs us.

  Now more than ever, the natural world is under tremendous pressure.

  A landmark UN report last year laid out in stark detail the grave loss of biodiversity directly from human actions – chief among them habitat loss. The UN report’s key conclusion was that humans now threaten over one million species with extinction. The report found that over 100 million hectares of tropical forest were lost between 1980 and 2000 alone. Even more severe was the disappearance of wetlands: an estimated 87 percent of the world’s wetlands are already gone. All of this habitat destruction is driving sky-rocketing rates of extinction.

  That’s why I think it is so critical we reconnect with nature – not only for our own well-being, to live healthy, balanced lives, but for the fate of the plants and animals we share our world with.

  The first step is learning to care more about the wild all around us. In doing so, we’re not only helping students lead healthier, more balanced lives; we’re planting the seeds for a greener tomorrow.

   

  Photo: Adam Shoalts

  First published in Education Canada, March 2020

  ---

  Note

  1 Victoria Rideout and Michael B. Robb, The Common Sense Census: Media use by tweens and teens (San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media, 2019).

• What Does Teacher Well-Being Look Like?

  March 4, 2020 2:49 PM Comments Off on What Does Teacher Well-Being Look Like?

  As a researcher and teacher, I’ve often wondered “How do schools and the people in them look after their well-being?” It’s this particular question that sparked my interest in researching well-being in K-12 education. Together with my colleague, Dr. Keith Walker, we’ve collaborated with teachers and school administrators across Canada to get to the bottom of what teacher well-being looks like and why it matters. 

  

  There’s often a widely held assumption that well-being means you’re either mentally healthy or not. However, when we start to consider what well-being means and looks like, we begin to realize that it not only means more than just an “absence of illness,” but that the term itself is complex. Well-being is an elaborate term that includes attending to our mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

  

  Throughout our research, we’ve heard from teachers the stress they’ve often experienced within their role and how that’s put a strain on their ability to feel well at work. For teachers, well-being at work far too often means merely surviving the challenges and hardships that this work, at times, can bring. To address some of the concerns we were hearing, our research led us to write the book Teacher Wellbeing: Noticing, Nurturing, Sustaining, and Flourishing in Schools. We wrote this book because we know that teachers want and need practices and strategies for attaining and growing their well-being, and it serves as a starting point to provide staff with small opportunities for shifting how they nurture their well-being as a priority in their work. To give you a taste of what it means to truly be well at work, let’s go over WHY teacher well-being matters and what that actually looks like at school.      

     

  TEACHER WELL-BEING AND ENGAGED TEACHING AND LEARNING GO HAND IN HAND

  Teachers who feel heard and valued for their ideas, have opportunities to collaborate, and feel supported by colleagues feel a greater sense of well-being within the workplace. What’s more, staff need to be able to trust they have the space to be creative and are able to take risks in learning something new – just as their students need to be able to do.

  

  Creating opportunities for teachers to engage with their colleagues to reflect on and build meaningful teaching practices lead to teachers who are passionate and committed to the work they do, improving the overall learning experience for their students.

  Teachers are well when there is a sense of community. Schools are more than just buildings — schools are communities where there are trusting, supportive, and caring relationships between every member (e.g. teachers, students, parents/guardians), which creates a shared sense of belonging. Most importantly, members of the school community work towards the shared common goal of supporting the academic, social, and emotional development of children and youth who are entrusted to them.

  ---

  WHY DOES TEACHER WELL-BEING MATTER? 

  Teachers are increasingly faced with the pressure to provide educational experiences that prepare students to succeed in a rapidly changing society. In addition to meeting curriculum requirements, teachers are almost always expected to lead and implement numerous initiatives to better equip students and increase educational outcomes.

  

  While these initiatives are well-intentioned and provide moments for both personal and professional impact, they can leave teachers feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Heroically — and typically alone — teachers try to handle increasingly complex and challenging working conditions, all while trying to look after their own well-being and that of their students.

  

  ---

  WHEN TEACHER WELL-BEING IS LOOKED AFTER IT:

  →Creates a supportive working environment
  

  A supportive environment leads to teachers feeling safe to openly discuss and share their ideas, give and receive constructive feedback, and collaborate with each other to solve any perceived challenges in the workplace.

  Supportive school communities recognize the stresses associated with juggling the multiple demands that teachers often experience, while striving to encourage work-life balance by establishing clear boundaries between work and home life, coupled with supporting those who are experiencing stress and/or burnout.

  →Builds resilience

  Focusing on well-being can help teachers shift beyond a sense of merely surviving the challenges and difficulties in their work to seeing the ways they can thrive in their workplaces. Teachers who are well are equipped with skills and coping strategies to better manage and respond to stress.

  →Encourages innovative practice
  

  Teachers who feel secure to explore innovative teaching practices are able to provide students with deeper learning experiences in ways that promote their curiosity and creativity. What’s more, when teachers have the flexibility to try new things and adapt promising practices into their classrooms, they themselves are more engaged and excited about their work, which contributes to their own sense of well-being. 

  ---

  HOW TO ENHANCE TEACHER WELL-BEING IN YOUR SCHOOL 

  To support students’ learning and well-being, we need teachers who are engaged, innovative, collaborative, resilient and, most importantly, well. But how exactly do we accomplish this?

  Invite your school community to start developing a common vision about what well-being looks like for them. Ask each other, “What’s already working well? Where is there opportunity for growth and change?” 

  SO, WHAT NOW? 

  

  Try this activity:

  Get your team together and ask each of them to individually write down their observations of: 

  1. Moments when they and/or their colleagues are engaged and having fun at work.
  2. Things that they’re often grateful for at the end of each work day. 

  After time for reflection, share observations and discuss commonalities – these represent your school’s strengths. 

  

  As teachers begin to shift their focus towards what makes them feel well at work, they can then begin to identify what aspects contribute to their well-being — physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually — which can allow them to identify what’s going well and what can be improved in their school community. 

  ---

  are you looking for a resource to learn more about teacher well-being?

  Look no further! Known as the “purple book,” this rare find helps teachers reignite their passion for the profession and take charge of their own well-being.

  Continue here to read the Book preview for Teacher Wellbeing: Noticing, Nurturing, Sustaining, and Flourishing in Schools

• Extended Cut: What does it mean to flourish in your work?

  February 27, 2020 11:40 AM Comments Off on Extended Cut: What does it mean to flourish in your work?

• What does it mean to flourish in your work?

  9:23 AM Comments Off on What does it mean to flourish in your work?

  Looking for more?
  Check out our Part 2 Extended Cut here

  ---

  also available on:

   

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