“… yet I don’t want to come across as a salesman”, I had replied.
The experienced, former Executive Head smiled, “Just ask them the question and show how you can help.” Here goes…
Are you a school that is known for looking after its staff?
Do you want to be known as a school that looks after its staff?
In the wake of our recent launch, allow me to draw your attention to an innovative and effective online resource from Edusense: Chalkface Check-Up. The reflective tool has been designed to support you in protecting, promoting and enhancing wellbeing among your staff. It equips your teachers to prioritise their own mental health and wellbeing, and gives leaders the means to support the wellbeing of those they oversee. The potential implications for staff retention, recruitment and pupil outcomes are self-evident.
Prioritising Wellbeing: The School's Role
The DfE Education Staff Wellbeing Charter (2021) gives a working definition of wellbeing as: ‘a sense of how we are doing’. Yet, research from Education Support (2021) reveals a disconcerting reality – the majority of schools remain uncertain about their own staff's wellbeing status. Due to a lack of surveying, the ‘’norm’ is rarely placed under scrutiny and too often symptoms are not flagged until it’s too late.
Edusense: Supporting Your Existing Wellbeing Provision
Edusense provides a safe space for individuals to routinely check-in, giving them permission to prioritise self-care and nip things in the bud. The Chalkface Check-Up Self-Reflective Tool derives from my doctoral research. First and foremost, it serves as an efficient and effective mechanism for teachers to process the intricacies of their day. The tool allows emotions, unresolved thoughts and uncomfortable memories to pass through a cognitive filter. This creates a healthy boundary and a sense of agency. I invite you to take a moment to bring to mind colleagues who might benefit.
Furthermore, in alignment with Education Support's primary objective (2021, p.7), we’ve carefully package this support in a digestible format so that people can access it in their own time and on any smart device. A Chalkface Check-Up reflection takes approximately 30 - 40 minutes. The tool allows the user to pause and resume as required. For your convenience, the audio option, automatically transcribes spoken responses into text.
Rebalancing
The Edusense Reflective Tools can be used flexibly to meet individual needs, for example, an ECT might use Chalkface once a week for their first half term, and then, perhaps, once every half-term as they settle into the academic year. Our Mini-Bundle offers six reflections at a discounted £124.20, providing enough reflections for an entire year or, as illustrated, one per week for a full half term. In addition, it provides all staff, regardless of experience, with a platform for informed professional conversations should they choose to share aspects of their reflections.
Food for thought ...
- Does your school align with the 34% who regularly survey their staff's wellbeing? (Education Support 2021, p.88)
- Does your school align with the 15% that provide robust support for their staff? (p.27)
- Would your school be part of the exclusive 14% that specifically equip those new to the profession to manage their wellbeing as an integral part of ITT provision you offer? (p.29)