Training session 5 - Teacher wellbeing and managing workload

Induction tutor materials

Duration: 90 minutes.

Outcomes

1. Learn that teacher wellbeing is essential to avoiding burnout, and has an impact on pupil wellbeing.
2. Know that the factors that impact teacher workload are complex and not entirely within the teacher’s control.
3. Understand that in order to deal with the high demands that teaching places upon teachers, they need to build and sustain resources to cope with challenges.
4. Know that building supportive relationships with colleagues helps build resources for coping with the demands of school.
5. Learn that rest and recovery are essential in building these resources.
6. Understand that when and how teachers rest and recover can have an impact on their wellbeing.
7. Understand that embedding a habit requires planning and practice.
8. Practise planning to embed a change in habit.

Preparation

These resources provide information to support the session plan options below:

• International journal of Wellbeing: The challenge of defining wellbeing
• Ofsted: Summary and recommendations: teacher well-being research report
• Department for Education: School workload reduction toolkit
• Improving Teaching: Accepting failure: managing time better as a teacher
• The importance of recovery from work: A review of where, how and why
• Improving Teaching: Forming good habits, breaking bad habits: what works?
• The Power of Habit tools

Before this session takes place, early career teachers (ECTs) should have the following:

1. Exposure to key knowledge from initial teacher training (ITT) Core Content Framework on relevant sub-standards.
2. School input as needed.
3. Relevant conversations with colleagues.

The following self-study materials provide context and exemplification:

• Routines
• Examining pupils’ responses
• Adapting teaching to meet pupil needs
• Feedback

Session structure:

Welcome and recap (10 minutes)

Provide a relevant recap on previously taught content. Set up the norms for this session.

What is wellbeing and why is it important to manage? (10 minutes)

You could:

• put wellbeing into the context of the teaching profession
• define the term ‘wellbeing’ as the ability to cope with social, physical and psychological demands through building and sustaining social, physical and psychological resources
• make the link between developing supportive relationships with colleagues (such as sharing resources, giving support to manage misbehaviour, or shared assessment approaches), and building resources for coping with the demands of school
• include information about recognising the complexity of wellbeing in the workplace, and its importance within teaching
• develop understanding of the impact that lack of wellbeing can have on the early career teacher's (ECT) own capacity to teach, as well as on the wellbeing of their students

Managing workload (20 minutes)

You could:

• discuss that the government has highlighted workload and wellbeing as priority areas for teachers
• recognise that teacher workload is a shared responsibility for schools and teachers
• cover how important it is for teachers to understand that there are strategies which they can adopt to help them manage their workload more effectively
• include a range of strategies to manage workload, such as an example of a prioritisation strategy
• ask ECTs to consider the implications these strategies could have on their time and workload management (for example, prioritising a non-urgent activity like discussing curriculum design with a colleague can help reduce workload)

Rest and recovery (35 minutes)

You could:

• explain that rest and recovery is an area where teachers have a greater locus of control
• reflect on what ECTs do in their recovery time, and when they rest
• explore key research indicating that breaks within work can have an impact on wellbeing, and that the type of activities carried out during recovery time can be more or less effective at building social, physical and psychological resources
• look at a range of effective activities and habits, then select a habit each ECT would like to embed

Action planning and next steps (15 minutes)

This section provides ECTs with time for reflection, quizzing, and action steps.

ECTs may want to analyse the components of habit formation and make links between embedding these rest and recovery habits. They can then create an implementation plan to help support embedding the habit.

You can also look ahead to the next training steps.

Related ECF strands

ECF ‘Learn that’ statements covered:

• 6.7. Working with colleagues to identify efficient approaches to assessment is important; assessment can become onerous and have a disproportionate impact on workload.
• 8.3. Teachers can make valuable contributions to the wider life of the school in a broad range of ways, including by supporting and developing effective professional relationships with colleagues.

ECF 'Learn how to’ statements covered:

Deliver a carefully sequenced and coherent curriculum by:

• 3c. Working with experienced colleagues to accumulate and refine a collection of powerful analogies, illustrations, examples, explanations and demonstrations.
• 3d. Using resources and materials aligned with the school curriculum (for example, textbooks or shared resources designed by experienced colleagues that carefully sequence content).

Support pupils to build increasingly complex mental models by:

• 3f. Discussing curriculum design with experienced colleagues and balancing exposition, repetition, practice of critical skills and knowledge.

Meet individual needs without creating unnecessary workload by:

• 5h. Making use of well-designed resources (such as textbooks).
• 5i. Planning to connect new content with pupils’ existing knowledge or providing additional pre-teaching if pupils lack critical knowledge.
• 5j. Building in additional practice or removing unnecessary expositions.

Make marking manageable and effective by:

• 6l. Recording data only when it is useful for improving pupil outcomes.
• 6m. Working with colleagues to identify efficient approaches to marking and alternative approaches to providing feedback (such as using whole class feedback or well supported peer- and self-assessment).
• 6n. Using verbal feedback during lessons in place of written feedback after lessons where possible.
• 6o. Understanding that written marking is only one form of feedback.
• 6p. Reducing the opportunity cost of marking (by using abbreviations and codes in written feedback, for example).

Build effective working relationships by:

• 8g. Seeking ways to support individual colleagues and working as part of a team.

Manage workload and wellbeing by:

• 8m. Using and personalising systems and routines to support efficient time and task management.
• 8n. Understanding the right to support (to deal with misbehaviour, for example).
• 8o. Collaborating with colleagues to share the load of planning and preparation and making use of shared resources (such as textbooks).
• 8p. Protecting time for rest and recovery.