Auditing Staff Wellbeing in International Schools
GUEST WRITER: Hi, I’m Kirsten Pontius. I’m an International Wellbeing Consultant who has found that schools often take a band-aid approach toward staff wellbeing. Unfortunately, this approach negatively affects student wellbeing and the entire school community. I wrote this article to help raise awareness among school leaders that without auditing staff wellbeing to look at systemic ways you can improve your staff’s wellbeing, your school may continue to loose money and productivity due to stressed and burned out teachers.
How Do We End Up Believing One Thing, and Doing Another?
Auditing staff wellbeing can reveal some uncomfortable truths regarding what’s negatively affecting student wellbeing. Because teachers don’t just impart knowledge and skills about the subjects they teach. They influence their students in the ways they act and carry themselves in the classroom and in the world.
Teachers often tell their students to take care of themselves in ways that they themselves don’t. They encourage their students to find balance, eat their veggies, take a deep breath, and get rest. But at the same time, those teachers are working through their lunch break with a coffee and croissant and running sweaty and frantic to their next meeting.
The focus on wellbeing for students is crucial. The increasing access to mental health services, conversations around emotional intelligence, and more opportunities to grow, move, and develop as individuals is a worthy focus.
But is it being done in vain? Are teachers, the models, icons, and inspirations to these students, doing just the opposite?
Spending weeks on end with impressionable youth while struggling to maintain their own personal health and wellbeing means that teachers are sending mixed signals. Are teachers essentially leading their students to grind, and not live?
We know that good self-care results in happier, more focused, and more productive individuals. Shouldn’t that apply to the educators as well?
BECAUSE IT'S EASIER SAID THAT DONE
I was running a workshop for a group of teachers in the Netherlands. The focus was on examining the elements of their daily lives for spaces to add peace, breath, and to recharge. It quickly came to light that many of the teachers were on email from dawn until dusk, ready to reply to a parent or colleague as soon as possible.
Through that workshop, we recognized the need for a school-wide review and mutual understanding of email response time and expectations. This appears to be a simple way to lessen the stress of the teachers who felt glued to a device anytime they weren’t with students. But creating boundaries around work-life balance is nearly impossible when you are engulfed in an environment where everyone around you acts differently.
When your colleagues serve on multiple extra committees, “go the extra mile”, pour their time, energy and life into their job – how do you act differently? When your leadership exhibits a clear hustle, sends messages on the weekends, and runs from meeting to meeting in a flurry, how do you act differently?
A teacher client of mine who I coach privately shut down her classroom promptly when she said she would last week. It was the first time she’d drawn that boundary. She asked students to leave, and she went home and had time with her own children and did an exercise video. Her students came back the next day and said how they appreciated that. They respected her for taking care of herself.
BECAUSE THE PROBLEM ISN'T AS OBVIOUS AS IT LOOKS
In reality – our teachers are tired. Worldwide, data clearly shows that a significant number of teachers are grappling with “occupational burnout,” as outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO). This condition is defined by sensations of:
- energy depletion or extreme exhaustion
- a heightened emotional detachment from one’s job
- a sense of pessimism or cynicism concerning one’s work
- a decline in professional effectiveness.
In 2023 the International Journal of Educational Research published the first systemic review of teacher burnout and physical health. The researchers analysed data from 21 studies on 5267 teachers. What they found is that “teacher burnout was consistently associated with somatic complaints (e.g., headaches), illnesses (e.g., gastroenteritis), voice disorders, and biomarkers of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis dysregulation (cortisol) and inflammation (cytokines).”
The impact on staff productivity of more and more staff experiencing such somatic complaints is a real issue for school leaders. And while this data often comes from public schools in the US, UK, Australia, and India, the themes of stress and overwhelm in the International School population still ring true. The class sizes might be smaller, but the transitioning/moving/adjusting living abroad experience always adds a layer of complexity on top of an already difficult profession. This is inevitably going to impact the students from what they pick up watching the trusted adults in their lives suffer with too much on their plates.
The grind culture leads to tired and exhausted teachers, who are doing just enough in the classroom to get by. This is all too common. And it’s also not in school leaders best interests, long-term, because they then have to face the stress of loosing some of their best teachers, increased staff absences needing them to find more cover teachers to do substitute work, low morale among staff. All of these negatively impact productivity and school budgets.
Without taking care of the educators in our school community we’re doing a huge disservice to our students. Both through their power as examples, and through their inability to thrive as educators while battling chronic stress.
BECAUSE THE SOLUTION ISN'T SIMPLE, LIKE WE WANT IT TO BE
It’s not simple. In fact, assuming that there are simple solutions has done a huge disservice to International School Communities.
International Schools tend to focus on treating stress symptoms rather than reducing the stressors themselves. This makes the solutions appear simple. Examples include:
- Run a yoga class.
- Celebrate staff birthdays.
- Host a one-off workshop.
But without an appropriate look at the gaps in support and foundations of wellbeing, these efforts don’t address the complicated ecosystem that determines one’s ability to really live well. Utilizing best practices, and considering the sources of struggle that need addressing is imperative. Essentially, we’re looking for systemic change.
Systemic change requires auditing staff wellbeing to gather the information needed for effective problem solving. The teachers know that a rushed croissant at their desk for lunch isn’t healthy for anyone – them OR the students. But they can’t shift their behavior until the distressing school systems and culture begins to change. Instead of just bringing in patchwork help, do it in a way that is long-term, consistent, and intentional.
AUDITING STAFF WELLBEING IN SCHOOLS
In my Wellbeing Audit for International Schools, there are 10 areas of focus that set the groundwork for a thriving community. These areas of focus don’t bandaid the issues. They shift the culture and create systemic changes that actually allow for a thriving healthy school. Here are three that might surprise you when you consider the wellbeing of your staff and community:
- Communications and Transparency
- Environment
- Autonomy
Here’s a glimpse of what auditing staff wellbeing in 3 of the 10 areas I audit may like when hired by international schools seeking assistance.
1. COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPARENCY
Inconsistent and unclear communication, or even lack of communications, can be incredibly harmful to a school community. Because it’s human nature to link clarity and transparency to caring. If you omit information, I feel uncared for. If you forget to tell me, I feel forgotten. If say the school values one thing, and your actions as a school leader say otherwise, I feel you don’t truly care about your staff and students’ wellbeing.
With years working in the Communications field, I know that this is an often overlooked element of wellbeing in the workplace. For example, just cleaning up and clarifying your communications channels can make a significant impact. You don’t need to overhaul your entire school website to recognize when channels of communication are not clear or working well. It’s as much about methods and consistency as about content.
2. ENVIRONMENT
From the perspective of a physical space, taking a close look at the classroom, school grounds AND living environment for ways to offer choice, safety, and pleasure. For example, when setting up housing, consider proximity to fresh food, exercise options, the commute to school, all of which can enhance the daily life of your educators. Having access to hired help to come home to an uncluttered space can be a huge relief. Because our physical environment is a major contributor to how safe, secure and settled we feel.
Having time and resources to create a classroom environment that feels nourishing to them supports their teaching and makes a significant difference in their work life. It can greatly enhance the comfort and wellbeing of your staff. It can make a significant difference in supporting our health and wellness goals.
2. AUTONOMY
One of the top ways you can enhance work-place satisfaction and increase retention it to offer more freedom. Studies indicate that in addition to fair pay, employees are increasingly focused on autonomy as a factor in their workplace happiness. This is particularly relevant in a profession where it can feel like standards, schedules and expectations offer little room for personal choice.
This can look like offering a flexible schedule in areas when possible. Allowing teachers permission to run errands or leave campus when not teaching. Perhaps you offer options for professional learning, or support teachers in exploring other areas of teaching that interest them (as opposed to being dictated from the top down). If teachers are asking for more professional development training in an area that interests them, why not support them?
Other examples include flexibility in the benefits you offer. If teachers don’t need shipping, allowing them the cash payout. Find ways to make sure they feel as if the benefits you offer can be maximized to their benefit.
Time to Look at the Bigger Picture
From exercise and nutrition to relationships, creativity and environment – we know what contributes to our health and wellbeing. So many of these factors are greatly influenced by the International School in which educators are employed. It’s time to acknowledge this responsibility and embrace the opportunity to create a community that is healthy and well. This will not only enhance the productivity and impact of your teachers, but will save you money in recruitment and retention efforts.
REFERENCES
Madigan, D.J. et al (2023) “Teacher Burnout and Physical Health: A Systematic Review”, International Journal of Educational Research, Vol 119.
About the author
Kirsten Pontius is an International Wellbeing Consultant and Certified Integrative Health Coach. She specializes in holistic wellness for busy, overwhelmed and transient populations. Her work supports individuals through behavior and health sciences, and organizations to make meaningful systemic change to help their community to thrive whatever their season of life. Learn more at: www.kirstenpontius.com
