Mark Solomons, CEO of School Wellbeing Accelerator - an acclaimed wellbeing expert with over 12 years’ experience developing leadership and culture in schools and creator of Welbee a highly effective online evaluation and staff wellbeing improvement tool, winner of the ERA 2022 Wellbeing Award and GESS Judges Commendation Award 2022 – discusses the impact of teacher wellbeing on student attainment.
We are nearing the end of the academic year, and time for the final assessments of student progress, but do we consider the impact of staff wellbeing on student attainment? We all recognise the importance of the relationship between teaching staff and their students. Teaching and learning is not just a straightforward transfer of knowledge, it is a complex social interaction. Where there is a strong rapport, clear expectations, communication and trust, students flourish. Apart from academics, teachers help develop attitudes for achievement and excellence, motivating students, building self-confidence and skills for life.
So what happens when teachers are unable to give their best due to stress or anxiety? If a teacher’s wellbeing is impacted, how does that effect their students’ attainment and how can we address it?
If their teacher is constantly feeling overwhelmed, stressed and unsupported, the students’ experience is likely to be very different.
While research into staff wellbeing in education is limited, available studies show a statistically significant link, and in some cases a causal one, between staff self-reported wellbeing and the attainment and outcomes of students. The role wellbeing plays in improving results is also supported through wider research in business and more significantly in the health sector.
Research in business shows staff wellbeing has a strong and positive link with improved workplace performance, financial profitability, labour productivity, outputs and services. Evidence shows a connection between wellbeing and job satisfaction, and aspects such as training, skills development, opportunities and the level of staff autonomy.
Within the health sector, research has consistently shown staff wellbeing linked to patient care, welfare and mortality. Highlights from findings include evidence of a causal link between staff wellbeing and performance outcomes, and a relationship between staff wellbeing and staff-reported patient care, patient-reported patient care and hospital mortality rates.
In education there is a plethora of research on student attainment, but until quite recently, little focussed on the impact of teacher wellbeing. In 2019, a project carried out in UK primary schools by Professor J Glazzard and Dr A Rose, revealed the perceptiveness of students towards their teachers mood and wellbeing, and its impact upon them – children are masters of observation, especially of adult behaviours. The study showed:
‘…children were attuned to their teacher’s mood and could usually pick up when they were feeling stressed, even if teachers tried to hide it. Teachers were seen as ‘stressed’ by children when they were: unusually short tempered; ..they got upset when pupils did not understand the work they were given; classroom behaviour deteriorated; and less work than usual was completed in lessons.’
The study also showed the children’s high levels of concern for the teacher, and their attempts to accommodate the teacher’s mood by ‘behaving, doing something nice for the teacher to cheer them up, and giving the teacher time to get their jobs done’.
The teacher/student relationship is dynamic and reciprocal – the benefits flow both ways. This relationship is not only crucial to student learning and outcomes, but also students’ emotional wellbeing and classroom behaviour, and in turn, the teachers’ sense of fulfilment and job satisfaction. A healthy teacher with high job satisfaction and positive morale will be more likely to teach lessons which are creative, challenging and effective.
Symptomatic of low staff wellbeing and an unsupportive school culture, are high rates of staff absence due to mental and physical ill-health and exhaustion. This results in an over reliance on substitute teachers, which in turn has a negative impact on student outcomes.
The absence of the regular teacher creates changes to classroom routines, teaching styles and expectations, which can lead to a deterioration in behaviour and disrupted learning. The potential impact on attainment is clear, especially for those students who require additional support.
With attainment such a high priority, why is it that we don’t warrant the importance of staff wellbeing, when it has such a direct influence on student learning? With the impact of staff wellbeing on student attainment identified, it’s time to ensure that teaching staff’s mental health is supported just as their physical health is.
Further research by the Teacher Development Trust (2021)3 found evidence to suggest that, ‘The quality of teachers’ working conditions has a clear, consistent relationship with student attainment that tentatively suggests a causal impact.’
Student attainment is a key indicator to a successful school – it would be inconceivable not to monitor it carefully and consistently. Schools carefully measure student progress through evaluations, assessments and results, and support students in areas where they experience difficulty.
A similar approach can be taken to building staff wellbeing: collect and analyse data from staff feedback; identify goals for improvement; and implement change to ensure wellbeing is embedded within the school culture. Just as with student attainment, this also needs ongoing attention and focus.
Using an effective survey tool as part of a continuous cycle of monitoring, reviewing and tracking progress, identifying goals and implementing actions to address areas of need, builds a workplace environment where everyone can do their best work. Providing professional development and personal access to high quality wellbeing resources and courses, gives individual leaders and staff members further mental health support.
Research undertaken by Queensland University, AU (2021)4 on wellbeing programmes, indicated:
‘Our current findings would suggest that educating teachers with strategies for managing stress will have positive top-down effects targeting the wellbeing of not only the teachers but also their students.’
The top priority for the leadership of schools and colleges is student attainment - ensuring students achieve the best they can, and develop to their fullest potential. As this is reliant on the expertise, dedication, health and wellbeing of their staff, this needs to be given at least equal priority.
For further information, support and advice about creating a culture with staff wellbeing at its centre, please contact welbee.international.
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Notes to editors
1 Worker wellbeing and workplace performance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
2 The impact of teacher wellbeing and mental health on pupil progress in primary schools (2019)
3 A culture of improvement: reviewing the research on teacher working conditions - Teacher Development Trust (tdtrust.org)
4 Frontiers | The Downstream Effects of Teacher Well-Being Programs: Improvements in Teachers' Stress, Cognition and Well-Being Benefit Their Students (frontiersin.org)
