There is growing recognition that school staff make a crucial contribution to the social and emotional development of their students that has lasting effects on their lives well into adulthood.
Teachers influence their students not only by how and what they teach but also by how they relate, teach and model social and emotional constructs, and manage the classroom. Jennings & Greenberg (2009)
Self care is important for everyone to invest in. There are times we need to invest more in self care due to challenges, difficulties or changes we face in our lives.
We need to invest in self care if helping others who have wellbeing needs is part of our job. This is to keep ourselves as protected as possible from negative consequences of this role and be as effective as possible at this role.
Education Scotland wakelet on staff health and wellbeing
Forth Valley & West Lothian Regional Improvement Collaborative have provided a graphic with Health and Wellbeing Apps that are available.
The General Teaching Council for Scotland Wellbeing Hub provides a variety of resources, advice and webinars.
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) provides advice and guidance for workforce support and wellbeing.
Turas Learn – the portal provided by NES, NHS Education for Scotland have the following online training modules:
- Covid-19 Psychological First Aid module (presentation slides are also available here)
- Managing wellbeing: a brief (30 minute) module “Protecting the psychological wellbeing of staff and teams for managers and team leaders”
- Taking care of others: providing psychological first aid to others key components poster
Silvercloud Health have made their online CBT modules on stress, resilience, sleep problems and managing mental health during covid-19 freely available in Scotland.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (eis) have teacher health and wellbeing resources
The World Health Organisation (2020) have a booklet you can download called Doing What Matters in Times of Stress. There are also audio files provided for the sections of the booklet.
A free collection of resources from IRIS – improving teacher happiness and wellbeing website and a professional learning resource kit for improving teacher happiness and wellbeing.
Access Arrangements for Wellbeing Services (Falkirk Council)
Falkirk Directory Access Arrangements for wellbeing services, advice for professionals March 2020
Employee guidance (sits externally, which means all employees can access the information from their own personal smartphone, tablet or laptop, a council device is not needed to access the site). & includes advice related to coronavirus.
Still needing assistance?
If, as an adult, you remain concerned about your mental health and wellbeing and are not sure who to turn to, we would of course try to help. Please call the Falkirk Educational Psychology Service Number, who can put you in touch with an Educational Psychologist. It is likely we would recommend a particular local service to assist you.
References/Further reading
Jennings, P.A. & Greenberg, M.T. (2009).The Prosocial Classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes
Review of Educational Research, 79, 491-525.
Roffey, S. (2012). Pupil Wellbeing- Teacher wellbeing: Two sides of the same coin? Educational and Child Psychology, 29, 8-17.
