An initiative of ASPEN (Authors' Self-Publishing Enterprise)

NURTURING POTENTIAL

in Education, Personal Growth, Health, Relationships, Business and others 


Volume 2 - No. 5 - 2003


Education

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest  
- Benjamin Franklin 
 
 

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?