Supporting staff wellbeing

Wellbeing, in a nutshell, is the point of balance between the pressures and stresses of life and a person’s capacity to deal with them (Dodge et al, 2012). It comprises of three strands: physical, psychological and social. These interwoven strands can’t be neatly separated out and neither can they be broken into handy categories, making the notion of ‘workplace wellbeing’ something of a misnomer (Paterson and Grantham, 2016). It is not a fixed entity either, but something that’s “dynamic and changes over time” (Paterson and Grantham, 2016, 93). During a period when school staff are facing increased pressure and stresses, the point of balance may well have tipped for many. The expectations teachers have of themselves make the social pressure felt by teachers an additional burden that affects the point of balance. Recent media coverage has a role, but this social pressure doesn’t only come from society ‘at large’. The school community, the children and their famili