Wellbeing
Projects: Nurturing Potential - by Mark Edwards
In
1992, when I was still a Head Teacher, my School Support
Officer suddenly vanished, never to be seen again.
Actually to be more specific his title did. The same
chap remained, as affable and supportive as ever, only
now he was known as a Schools Officer. A seemingly
minor alteration but one that signified an important
change in the relationship between LEAs and schools.
A
few years later I wrote a letter to the Chief Education
Officer describing
a vision I had
for developing a personal support structure for
Heads and teachers. It was partly in response to the
increasing levels of stress that I and my colleagues
were experiencing, and I began working with a senior LEA
advisor on putting together a package that we believed
could provide necessary personal support for colleagues.
It was basically about stress management and creating a
healthy work/life balance.
Thus
begins Mark Edwards' article and it ends:
As
I write this, I hear that LEAs are being encouraged to
develop well-being programmes to avoid possible
litigation in the future by staff who might claim that
the authority did not fulfil its legal duty of
care obligation. I also hear that a senior Government
minister has resigned because he wants to spend more
time with his family.
Cynical?
Perhaps. Older and wiser? Definitely.
So what
happened in between?
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