2024: MY REFLECTION YEAR

February

 

Ahhh February has come and gone. The month of love and gratitude!

 

There was an interesting conversation I had this week whilst facilitating NPQs: “Does self-care mean being self-ish?”

 

We are doing a lot to empower our staff and governors across our trust, so they invest in their self-care. Wellbeing is so important, but as an employer, our main contribution is the control of workload and pressures, not controlling how people invest in their self-care and wellbeing. What we do is raise its importance, give access to great services, and listen to what staff feel they need so they can manage the workload and invest more in their self-care.

 

It was therefore interesting to hear how self-care is becoming a blocker to achieving the best outcomes for children and young people in some schools. Leaders in these schools are experiencing a more self-ish model of self-care which is stifling what makes a school community such a unique place to be.

 

They immediately respond without compromise such as:

“I do not have time to run a club as I need to focus on my self-care”

“I cannot help colleagues after school as I need to focus on my self-care”

“I feel my self-care is more important than planning my lessons”

 

As the employer, we must first listen to our teams and understand the why. Teaching and leadership are challenging and our understanding of mental health is the best it has ever been.

 

But working in a school does have unique benefits. By choosing to work in a school, we choose to work differently from other industries. The “13 weeks” holiday is there, way more than the typical 5-6 weeks in other industries. Direct contact hours are typically 8.30am-3.30pm, very different from the standard 9am-5pm. We work with children and young people and can finish each day with a sense of self-worth as to how we have made a tangible difference. There are challenges and pressures, but we can invest in self-care to manage these and supportive leaders reviewing workload. 

 

The benefits of going that extra mile, further enable staff to thrive in their relationships and sense of belonging in their school, and have the joy of self-care in their work day in and day out. Preserve “me” time, but remember a community thrives when we all do our bit together.