Promoting the emotional well-being of teaching staff in secondary schools

The emphasis on schools to promote pupils’ emotional well-being (EWB) has taken prominence in Government initiatives over the last 10 years. Initially focused within primary education, more recent publications have drawn attention to pupils’ EWB within secondary education, as well as the promotion of teaching staffs’ EWB. The prevalence of occupational stress and its negative impact upon teaching staffs’ EWB is increasing. There has been little exploration into the views of teaching staff and pupils concerning the implementation of EWB initiatives and the associated impact on teaching staffs’ daily practice and their own EWB.

This paper is based on, and includes, extracts from research carried out during initial Educational Psychology doctoral training at the University of Sheffield (Salter, 2010). This research used a grounded theory (GT) methodological approach. Category themes emerged that outlined psychosocial processes involved in the whole school promotion of pupils and teaching staffs’ EWB in one secondary school. This paper presents a summary of themes arising from the research: the stressors teaching staff face and the impact on their EWB; benefits and barriers that staff experience when promoting pupils’ EWB; examples of current practice which promote teaching staffs’ EWB; and the role of the Educational Psychologist (EP) in supporting teaching staff EWB. All of these are grounded within the sampled views and experiences of pupils, teaching staff and EPs.

Recommendations are made for EPs and secondary schools regarding the implementation and implications of associated systems which promote the EWB of teaching staff.