A new expert advisory group to look at how teachers and
school leaders can be better supported to deal with the
pressures of the job will be announced by Education
Secretary today (15 March).
Addressing more than 1,000 school and college leaders and
teachers at the Association of School and College Leaders’
(ASCL) annual conference in Birmingham, Mr Hinds will say
that teachers always put the good of their pupils first but
should not take their own wellbeing for granted.
Earlier this year, Mr Hinds launched the first ever
integrated strategy to recruit and retain more teachers
setting out a comprehensive plan to build the status of the
profession and create more opportunities for teachers to
progress in their career. It also included an ambition to
transform the day-to-day experiences of teachers, and laid
out plans to create a positive, supportive culture in
schools.
The Advisory Group – which brings together head teachers
and principals, teaching and college unions, professional
bodies and mental health charity Mind whose CEO, Paul
Farmer, co-authored an extensive review for the Prime
Minister on mental health and employers – will work with
the government to look at how to promote better wellbeing
for teachers.
Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of steps
taken by Mr Hinds to address some of the concerns raised by
the profession and create a great culture in schools. These
include clamping down on excessive workload, simplifying
the accountability system for schools and helping schools
improve behaviour management in their classrooms.
Speaking to the conference, will say:
Teaching is one of the noblest professions in the world -
the chance to change lives and help young people build a
future is what makes it a calling not a career. Teaching
requires high levels of selflessness as teachers always
put the good of their pupils first.
Like any really important job, teaching comes with its
own challenges and, whilst rewarding, I don’t need to
tell you how stressful it can be. As a society there is a
much greater level of understanding about mental health
and wellbeing and it is something many of you raise with
me when I visit your schools. Whilst those conversations
are focused on supporting your students, I’m clear that
your wellbeing is also something we need to prioritise.
As part of the recruitment and retention strategy we want
to help you all provide supportive schools culture and as
part of that today I’m announcing my plan to set up an
advisory group on wellbeing. The group will provide
expert advice and work with us to look at how we as the
Government and school leaders as the employers can
promote wellbeing among our dedicated teaching staff.
Happy, motivated, well supported teachers are more likely
to have happy and motivated pupils in their classrooms
and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we’re all here.
Mr Hinds will also set out his ambition to help schools
follow the lead of other professions that are stepping up
efforts to champion wellbeing among their staff – including
the NHS, which plans to provide better mental health and
wellbeing support to frontline staff as well as employees.
Drawing on this, the expert group will listen to the
concerns of teachers and school leaders before making
recommendations to the Department for Education, local
authorities and multi-academy trusts to raise awareness of
the importance of wellbeing in schools and share good
practice, advice and support.
The speech follows the publication of landmark new guidance
– updated last month for the first time since 2000 – to
introduce compulsory health education in schools so that
all children are taught how to look after their mental
wellbeing and recognise when classmates may be struggling,
as part of the government’s new relationships, sex and
health education guidance.
General secretary of ASCL, Geoff Barton, welcomed the
proposals:
Teaching is a fulfilling and demanding job, and we have
perhaps been too ready in the past to regard the
pressures which are part of teaching as something which
goes with the territory.
We now have a much improved awareness of mental health
and wellbeing across society, and schools are well aware
of the importance of this issue for pupils and staff. The
establishment of an expert group to look at how schools
can be better supported in their work around mental
health and wellbeing is a good idea and we look forward
to its recommendations.
Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, the mental health
charity, said:
Mental health problems at work are common in all
workplaces, and although we have made great strides,
mental health is still a taboo subject. The ‘Thriving at
Work’ report led by Lord Dennis Stevenson and myself
found in many workplaces, opportunities are being missed
to prevent poor mental health, including the education
sector.
Through our ‘Whole School Approach’ programme, teachers
and school leaders have been telling us that they need
more support for their mental health and wellbeing at
work. That’s why we welcome the Education Secretary’s
commitment to support teachers and school leaders.
Teaching staff do an incredibly important and demanding
job, so employers need to support their staff so that
they can come into work at their best.
The first, and arguably most important step, will be to
start a conversation about mental health that empowers
teachers, and make sure they have access to the right
training and guidance to support themselves, their
colleagues and their students.
The recruitment and retention strategy was developed with
teachers, education unions and leading professional bodies
to boost teacher numbers, support the 450,000 teachers
already working in schools in England, and raise standards
for pupils, by:
- Creating an Early Career Framework, the biggest
teaching reform in a generation, backed by at least
£130million a year in extra funding when fully rolled out.
New teachers will receive a two-year package of training
and support at the start of their career, including a
reduced timetable to allow teachers to make the most of
their training. Extra investment will also be pledged,
through the £42million Teacher Development Premium, to
roll-out the Early Career Framework
- Extra financial incentives to encourage talented
teachers to stay in the classroom - Bursaries will be
reformed to include retention-based payments for those who
stay in the profession by staggering additional payments
throughout the first years of their career.
- Simplifying the process of applying to become a teacher
– introducing a new one-stop application system to make
applications easier for would-be teachers and making it
easier for more people to experience classroom teaching.
- Helping school leaders to reduce teachers’ workload –
helping school leaders strip away unnecessary tasks such as
data entry; simplifying the accountability system to
clarify when a school may be subject to intervention or
offered support; and working with Ofsted to ensure staff
workload is considered as part of a school’s inspection
judgement.
- Creating a more diverse range of options for career
progression – helping schools to introduce flexible working
practices through a new match-making service for teachers
seeking a job-share and developing specialist
qualifications and non-leadership career routes for
teachers that want to stay in the classroom, with
additional incentives to work in challenging schools.
Since becoming Education Secretary, Mr Hinds has made
championing the profession one of his key priorities. Last
year he provided schools with an additional £508million
teachers’ pay grant to provide a pay uplift for thousands
of hard-working teachers.
