How and Why to Look After Your Wellbeing as an Education Leader
Education leaders feel immense stress, and it can have serious impacts on headteacher wellbeing. Here's why that matters and what to do to improve your wellbeing.
It's no secret that education is a high-pressure field. Educators and school leaders tend to be perfectionists because they care about their students and want to help them. It might seem like the future of the world is resting on your shoulders at times. That's a big responsibility, and you probably feel like you have to be perfect to meet it.
At heart, everyone knows that perfection isn't possible. Teachers and school leaders are only human. There are times when they make mistakes or give less than 100% effort to a task. The good news is that imperfection isn't failure. You can be an asset to your school without being faultless. Being able to confront your inner perfectionist and grow from your mistakes is a strength.
The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) conducted a survey assessing educator mental health between December 2021 and January 2022. A staggering 91% of school staff reported that their job had negatively affected their mental health in the 12 months prior to the survey.
Your Welbee toolkit includes resources to help you deal with anxiety and recognise depression. Learning how to manage your inner perfectionist is important too. When you break the cycle of perfectionism, you free yourself from unrealistic expectations and standards. It's great for your wellbeing and empowers you to try new approaches and methods as an educator.
Making commitments to improve personal health and happiness can be hard for teachers. Educators are selfless, and they want to give their students the best classroom experience possible. Too often, striving for classroom perfection leaves education staff burnt out. It's important to have high standards and work diligently to meet student needs, but it's also essential to be kind to yourself.
You show up and support your students. You are a good teacher because you aren't perfect. All education staff and leaders want their students to be well-prepared in school and life. Strong lesson planning and engaging classroom activities can help you accomplish those goals, but it's okay if things aren't flawless. Making mistakes as an educator can actually help your students and colleagues learn. It also reveals opportunities to hone your skills and grow as an educator.
According to a recent study, 68% of education staff have considered leaving their jobs because of an overwhelming workload. Due to their nature, teaching jobs do carry significant work demands. Making unrealistic demands of yourself only makes that load heavier.
Learning strategies to cope with perfectionism can help improve teacher wellbeing and empower school leaders to better support staff. Of course, it's important to get help with your wellbeing if your feelings of depression, anxiety, or perfectionism have become overwhelming or unmanageable.
Perfectionism is characterised by black-and-white thinking, or the tendency to see things as all or nothing. When perfectionists adopt this all-or-nothing attitude, they find that they've failed and get discouraged.
Education staff can resist all-or-nothing tendencies by practising dialectical thinking instead. Dialectical thinking is seeing and accepting things from different perspectives. Educators who think in black and white tend to say things like, "My lesson didn't go well, and I've failed my students."
Teachers who practise dialectical thinking take an optimistic approach instead. They say things like, "My lesson didn't go as planned, but my students were still engaged and learned the material."
School leaders can support education staff wellbeing and their own mental health by encouraging teachers to adopt a growth mindset. This type of mindset insulates staff against perfectionism and helps them develop greater resilience.
Almost everyone has a voice in their head that criticises their work, appearance, and decision-making skills. This voice is known as your 'inner critic'. Turning down the volume on your inner critic can help you let go of perfectionism.
Education staff encourage their students to focus on the positive and try again when they get something wrong. It's time to practise that same compassion with yourself. Remind yourself that you deserve to be an educator and are doing your best for your students. The more you talk back to your inner critic, the less it will bother you.
School leaders can benefit from talking back to their inner critics too. Headmasters and school leaders face immense pressure, and they tend to be very hard on themselves. Take time to jot down your professional accomplishments and remind your inner critic that you are qualified for your position.
A mantra is a phrase or sound that you chant repeatedly. You can say a mantra out loud, or you can keep it to yourself. Mantras have been shown to help calm the brain so that you can stop perfectionist thinking before it starts.
Education staff can use positive affirmations as mantras. You can use a simple phrase like "I am a good teacher" or "My lesson plan is good enough" to get your brain back on track when perfectionism sneaks in.
School leaders can consider introducing a new mantra (or motto) to their staff for the school year or term. Examples include "progress not perfection" and "see the good."
Both education staff and school leaders benefit from practising compassion with themselves. We know it's hard, but it's essential to accept your shortfallings. Instead of beating yourself up when something doesn't go well, quickly identify what you'll do instead next time and let it go. Focus on forgiving yourself and growing as an educator instead of berating yourself.
Managing your inner perfectionist can be challenging. Why not sign up for your free Welbee Wellbeing toolkit today? You'll find tons of resources, videos, and courses to boost education staff wellbeing in your toolkit.Education leaders feel immense stress, and it can have serious impacts on headteacher wellbeing. Here's why that matters and what to do to improve your wellbeing.
The Education Support's 2023 Teacher Wellbeing Index has, once again, highlighted some of the key challenges facing education staff, but what can leaders do to help prevent workplace stress and improve the wellbeing of those they lead?
This guide explores how you can achieve excellence in people through the seven stages of the employee lifecycle.
Working in education and perfectionism often go together, but striving to be flawless can hurt teacher wellbeing. Check out our tips to manage your inner perfectionist.
Discover some of the key steps you can take to better protect and improve your own wellbeing in this useful guide.
Compassionate leadership is an essential component in creating the organisational culture for positive staff wellbeing. Find out more in our complete guide to compassionate leadership.
Take a look at our helpful guide containing tips, ideas, and resources for managing your finances.
Watch the video to explore the impacts that a lack of sleep can have on your physical and mental wellbeing.
Workplace relationships have an immeasurable impact on wellbeing. Learn more about repairing old relationships and building new ones today.
Discover the importance of setting boundaries for school staff, including the types pf boundaries, key principles, and how to sustain healthy workplace boundaries.
Discover how to create the foundations for excellent wellbeing in this useful guide.
Education staff are often with others all day, but loneliness still impacts teacher wellbeing. Learn more about how loneliness impacts you and what you can do to combat it
Discover how you can use Mental Health Awareness week to kick-start conversation around mental health and highlight the importance of staff wellbeing.
Compassion fatigue in education can lead to poor education staff wellbeing and job burnout. Learn how to recognise and combat it with this useful guide.
Read this useful guide to deepen your understanding of why boundaries for education leaders are vital and how establishing boundaries can help combat issues within schools.
Discover how you can help your staff avoid burnout in this helpful guide.
Although the terms are often interchanged poor mental health is not the same as having a mental illness. Watch this video to explore what mental illness actually is and how it differs from mental health.
It can be difficult to know how to start a conversation with a colleague or someone you manage about their mental health. Watch this video to discover 10 useful tips to help.
Watch the video to explore when a low mood may be a normal response life stressors and discover the evolutionary purpose of low moods.
Anxiety can both be a normal reaction to the stressors of day-to-day life, or a sign of a mental health illness. Watch this video to learn how to tell when anxiety is 'normal'.
What exactly is mental health and how does it differ from mental illness? Watch this video to find out.
Listening is a key skill for leading in an empathic way which supports employee wellbeing but there are many things that get in the way of listening effectively. Explore 7 of them in this video.
Recent UK-wide statistics on the wellbeing of school staff indicate the importance of feeling appreciated and supported in the workplace. Watch this video to discover why creating a culture of appreciation is important.
Watch this video to discover why sleep is so essential for positive mental and physical health.
Discover some of the most common sleep problems in this useful video.
Watch this video to explore the Interest Based Rational Approach to "principled negotiation" which encourages parties to use joint problem solving techniques, rather than positional bargaining.
Discover what burnout is and how to avoid it in this useful guide.
Saying no can be difficult! Read this useful guide to discover the importance of saying no and learn how to say no confidently and professionally.
Managing parents who are difficult or aggressive is stressful for anyone working in education. Use these tips to improve family relationships and protect teacher wellbeing.
Relaxation is crucial for positive mental health but how can it be achieved amidst immense pressure? Watch this video to hear 5 top tips.
This compassionately written guide explores the sensitive topic of suicide and suicidal feelings.
Secondary trauma has a profound impact on today's schools. Learn more about the symptoms of secondary trauma in education staff and strategies to cope with it.
Do you struggle with sleep? This guide will help you understand why sleep is important, the common causes of sleep disturbances, and how to improve your sleep quality.
Discover the powerful connection between physical activity and education staff wellbeing in this useful guide.
Watch the video to explore some quick tips for cultivating and maintaining a positive mindset.
In this video we explore The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80:20 rule and how this can help you manage your workload.
Delegation is a key skill for leaders, but what limits does it have? Watch this video to explore if authority, responsibility, and accountability can be delegated.
We often about the importance of being empathetic, but what exactly is empathy, and why is it important? Watch this video to find out and discover the 5 elements of empathy identified by Daniel Goleman.
