Happy Schools Happy Teachers

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Happy Schools - Happy Teachers
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• Our Teachers Need More Beer
• Says Head Teacher

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Companies Have Put A Number On It

• The intangible capital of the world's largest 150
  companies was 7.5 trillion compared to 800
  billion in 1985.
• Companies spend an estimated 36 of their
  revenues on human capital.
• 5 year shareholder return for companies with
  strong human capital practices was nearly double
  that of companies with weak human capital
  practices.
• Annual economic costs associated with Employee
  Disengagement as high as 32 billion in the UK

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Can We Do the Same in Schools?

• Teacher Well Being Correlated to1
• Key State 4 Results
• Value-Add Between KS2 and KS4
• Effectiveness of Programs like SEAL and UKRP
  Moderated by the Teacher
• Strong Cost Argument
• Retention of NQTs
• Absence, Ill Health Retirement etc.

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Increased focus on Pupil Well Being

• SEAL
• Healthy Schools
• Mindfulness Study (Cambridge Institute of Well
  Being)
• UK Resilience Program
• Wellington College
• Well-Being Curriculums Developing in Schools

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Yet Some Evidence Suggests that the Effects are
Mediated by the Teacher2
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So What Gets in the Way?

• Secondary School Teachers worse off than Primary3
• NQTs most at risk, as are 40 and Head Teachers3
• Well-being declines dramatically after the First
  Year and Continues3
• Key Issues3
• Work Overload
• Communication and Management of Change
• Levels of Consultation
• Involvement in Decision Making Process

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But There is Good News

• 80 say Satisfaction is Helping Students2
• Positive Attributes3
• Informal Support From Colleagues
• Job Empowerment
• Being Part of a Team
• Support Staff and Senior Teams Happier

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And Theyve Told Us What They Want3

• Improve and Balance Workloads
• Get a Better Work Life Balance
• Improve the Physical Environment
• Closer Links Between Managers and Staff
• Greater Acknowledgement of Achievements

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Time Out - What Are we Talking About ?
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Nozicks Experience Machine
Suppose there was an experience machine that
would give you any experience you desired.
Superduper neuropsychologists could stimulate
your brain so that you would think and feel you
you were writing a great novel, or making a
friend, or reading an interesting book. All
the time you would be floating in a tank, with
electrodes attached to your brain. Should you
plug into this machine for life, preprogramming
your lifes desires? Of course, while you are
in the tank you wont know you are there youll
think its all actually happening. Others can
also plug in to have the experiences they want,
so theres no need to stay unplugged to serve
them. (Ignore problems such as who will service
the machines if everyone plugs in.) Would you
plug in? What else can matter to us, other than
how our lives feel from the inside? (1971)
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The Make Up of Happiness
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• Remember a Time When You were Happy in Your Work.
• Describe What was Happening, Who Else Was There,
  How you Felt, What You Did, Where you Were.
• Listen and Watch for
• Specifics, not generalities
• The Things That Really Made a Difference
• Energy and Enthusiasm
• The 40

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We Know That4

• A Sense of Control and Autonomy is important
• Relationships Matter
• Challenge is good - but so is the knowledge we
  have the Competence to Achieve

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Happy Teachers Revisited

• Reconnect with the Meaning in the Role (Control
  and Autonomy)
• Build Strong Relationships Across the Whole
  School (Relationships)
• Encourage real, meaningful Focus on Achievements
  (Competence)

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Why?

• Builds on the Strengths
• 80 say Satisfaction is Helping Students2
• Positive Attributes3
• Informal Support From Colleagues
• Job Empowerment
• Being Part of a Team
• Support Staff and Senior Teams Happier
• and on What We Can Most Easily Influence
• Closer Links Between Managers and Staff
• Greater Acknowledgement of Achievements
• with Tools that Seem to Work

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And Theres Some Evidence These Tools Might
Make a Difference

• Many Examples from Organisations and Schools
• Strengths Based Approaches (Peterson)
• Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider)
• Optimism and Resilience (Seligman)
• Positive Emotion and Creativity (Fredrickson)
• The Pursuit of Flow at Work (Csikszentmihalyi)
• BUT has to be Authentic and Sustainable

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The Leader - Just Being

• Resonant Leadership (Boyatzi)
• Compassion
• Hope
• Mindfulness
• Fundamental Leadership (Quinn)
• True North (George)
• Authenticity
• Personal Values
• Level 5 Leadership (Collins)
• Humility
• Will

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A Challenge for Leaders, Teachers and Pupils

• None of us will ever accomplish anything
  excellent or commanding except when he listens to
  the whisper which is heard by him alone
• Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Sources

• Drewberry,C. Briner R.B. (2007b). Staff
  well-being is key to school success A research
  studfy into the links between staff well-being
  and school performance. www.worklifesupport.com
• National Foundation for Educational research
  (2005). Professional Life Teachers views in
  2004 and 2005. www.nfer.ac.uk (n4000)
• Gillham, Brunwasser, Freres, (2007). Not Yet
  Published.
• Work Life Support (2006). The London we--being
  Program End of pilot report for the Department
  for Education and Skills (DfER).
  www.worklifesupport.com (n20,000)
• Ryan, R.M. Deci, E.L. (2000).
  Self-determination theory and the facilitation of
  intrinsic motivation and well-being. American
  Psychologist 55, 68-78.

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Resources

• www.reflectivehappiness.com
• (Interventions)
• www.positivepsychology.org
• (Literature)
• www.psych.upenn.edu/seligman
• (Literature Manuals)
• www.authentichappiness.org
• (Questionnaires)
• emma_at_positiveorg.com
• (QA)