Educator wellbeing has always been important; it is an integral part of a mentally healthy learning community. It has close links to children and young people's wellbeing and educational outcomes.
Given the recent challenging circumstances, Danielle Marsh the Director of Arncliffe Preschool has been planning for educator wellbeing. Margaret, her Be You Consultant, asked her a few questions about their journey.
A focus on educator wellbeing
Arncliffe Preschool became a participating Be You service in 2019. In 2021 Danielle connected with her Be You Consultant, Margaret.
Margaret: Why did you start planning for educators’ wellbeing?
Danielle: As a Manager, I began to explore how we as a community could better support our team members and also how they could support themselves. I wanted to be proactive with the team so they might feel confident asking for support, in caring for their mental health and wellbeing.
Discussions with the Management Committee led to three paid half-hour time slots being made available to team members for wellbeing activities each week.
Danielle: Our Management Committee has been supportive and worked with us to provide flexibility in our scheduling and to change established work practices, to invest in educator wellbeing.
Arncliffe’s approach
After trialling a number of different approaches that did not always work for the team, Arncliffe Preschool decided to prioritise the connection between physical and mental health.
Margaret: What are your educators currently doing to support wellbeing?
Danielle: Currently some team members will go on walks together, some participate in cardio exercise - it all happens here at work. In that way, the team members are already at work, away from home caring responsibilities, released from their caring role at work, and are provided with an opportunity to get active.
Support from Be You
Margaret: In particular, what Be You supports have you found most helpful?
Danielle: Consultant emails, as I have been able to share the links and information electronically with my team through both emails and through our internal electronic system.
Danielle: The Munch and Move session aligned with my own personal philosophy on the relationship between physical activity and its beneficial impacts on wellbeing. From this session, I explored the Mental Health Continuum and the Planning for Wellbeing: mine, yours, ours resource. Currently, the educators are exploring recognising and reducing their own stressors.
What others can do to plan for wellbeing
Be You has a collection of resources that can support learning community leaders, like Danielle, to plan for wellbeing. The collection includes fact sheets, planning tools, event recordings and video.