Could you explain what #Teacher5ADay is in a single sentence?
It’s a community with the aim of improving teacher wellbeing, based on an understanding that teacher and student wellbeing are different sides of the same coin.
How did the campaign get started?
#Teacher5ADay was launched at the Schools, Students and Teachers network (SSAT) national conference TeachMeet in 2014, where I gave a presentation on staff wellbeing. I then asked volunteers to share their wellbeing resolutions for 2015, as part of a new-year blog based around the five #Teacher5ADay themes of #connect, #notice, #learn, #exercise and #volunteer.
These five areas come from the New Economics Foundation Centre for Wellbeing’s Five Ways to Wellbeing (see bit.ly/Wellbeing5).
More than 60 teachers shared their ideas in January 2015 and a community of mutually supportive teachers developed from there. Over the next few months, the contributions from teachers across the country were amazing - to the point where people volunteered to run themed months to raise the profile and awareness of the need for a positive approach to looking after ourselves as teachers.
How many teachers do you think are doing it now and has it expanded beyond Twitter?
It is difficult to understand the reach of Twitter, but with each month that passes, the awareness of the hashtag and the great ideas that people have shared seems to grow.
Beyond Twitter, I’ve had feedback from a variety of teachers about how it has developed in staffrooms across the country. Some schools have used it at a whole-school level as part of the school-improvement plans, some as part of the CPD programme and some on an individual basis to improve their personal wellbeing.
Teachers have shared amazing stories about the positive impact it has had on their health in a variety of ways, and a community of very supportive teachers now blog and share their ideas willingly to help others.
To learn and be part of #Teacher5ADay, a conference in the style of #TLT14 has developed. #PedagooHampshire17 has 75 presenters giving up their spare time on 16 September at Eggar’s School in Hampshire, with teachers sharing classroom-based ideas to improve their wellbeing and teaching practice in general. More than 250 free tickets have gone already.
The perception of teaching as being beset by stress and anxiety - is it a true reflection of the job?
With the constant changes in the education system and the prevalent accountability culture, I’m in no doubt that the profession is more stressed now than when I started in 1994. However, not all schools are the same, nor teachers’ approaches to dealing with it. With recruitment - and more importantly than ever, retention - a major issue, leadership teams might want to consider the use of #Teacher5ADay to empower their staff to take responsibility for their own wellbeing. The Chartered College of Teaching could make a real difference by creating a positive narrative for the profession.
