5 ways to make teachers happy

The team at the Tes employer of the year, Longwood Primary Academy, give their tips on how to promote staff wellbeing
28th February 2019, 5:11pm

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5 ways to make teachers happy

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/5-ways-make-teachers-happy
Longwood Mediatation Pod Wellbeing

 

  • Workload reduction: If you want energised and focused staff, it’s important to think of creative ways to reduce their planning and marking. At Longwood, we’ve reduced our next-step marking by 50 per cent in English and maths, and instead focus on high-quality verbal feedback.
  • Learning opportunities: If you want your staff to be constantly developing their practice, provide dedicated time to observe peers. We use a four-for-four model in which teachers observe four colleagues within an hour and take a top tip from each.
  • Social committee: If you want to create a sense of family and belonging in your team, develop your own programme of staff activities. Make sure it is inclusive for all. A staff that plays together, stays together.
  • Holistic wellbeing: If you want to provide a holistic ethos in school, provide opportunities to promote staff wellbeing. We provide staff with a 30-minute session in the meditation pod every week; facilitate an after-school running club; and only send emails from 7am until 7pm, Monday to Friday.
  • Retention: Motivate staff and improve teacher retention by awarding “star days” for going above and beyond, gaining consistently positive feedback and attaining high attendance. At Longwood, we appreciate the importance of life outside school.

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