Start Well: A research project supporting resilience and wellbeing in early career teachers
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Symposium presentation by Dr Greer Bennett, Hunter Institute of Mental Health, for the Society of Mental Health Research Conference 2016. For more information visit www.himh.org.au
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Start Well: A research project supporting resilience and wellbeing in early career teachers
- 1. Start Well A Research Project Supporting Resilience and Wellbeing in Early Career School Teachers Dr Gavin Hazel and Dr Greer Bennett Ms Ellen Newman, Ms Elizabeth Kemp, A/Prof Frances Kay-Lambkin
- 2. Hunter Institute of Mental Health The Hunter Institute of Mental Health is a leading national organisation dedicated to reducing mental illness and suicide and improving wellbeing for all Australians. For more than 20 years we have been delivering successful, evidence-based mental health and suicide prevention programs from our base in Newcastle, NSW.
- 3. The Big Picture • The first years of employment are an important component of establishing a professional identity and building skills critical time • There is a perception that early career teachers are at an increased risk of leaving the profession prior to retirement (known as attrition). The possible factors influencing early career attrition seem to be multiple and interrelated • One key factor of concern is early career teacher’s wellbeing
- 4. The Big Picture • Early career teachers commonly draw on their family, friends, colleagues, mentors, and peers as formal and informal supports to help them in navigating their successful transition to the profession • Social and professional feelings of belonging, connectedness, support and acceptance are potential contributors to early career teacher resilience and coping, adding to overall wellbeing • Therefore, support systems that target relationships, skills and strengths are thought to be helpful to early career teachers in managing both professional and personal wellbeing
- 5. Snapshot of Australian education workplace mental health • Health issues are a growing challenge for the education community with the demand for mental health services doubling over the past five years among younger members in the 24-29 age group (Teachers Health Fund) • Safe Work Australia (2015) reports that the top three occupation groups by work related mental disorder claim numbers were school teachers (around 460 claims per year), health and welfare support workers (310) and personal assistants and carers (270).
- 6. Snap shot of teacher mental health: International data Internationally: • The mental health of teachers is of concern • Workload has been proposed as a significant contributor • Almost 2 out of 3 teachers turn to their partners for help • Many teachers go to their friends or family for support.
- 7. How can we help early career teachers? The culture of schools as a professional learning environment that promotes social connectedness, collaboration, formal and informal induction processes and ongoing learning opportunities, enables teaching staff to support each other and enhances early career teachers’ resilience (Johnson et al., 2012; Gibbs & Miller, 2014). By understanding both the risk and protective factors for early career teacher attrition, an effective and efficient support mechanism or intervention can be designed. Peer Support
- 8. “Teachers need their professional lives to be individually motivated, relationally connected and organisationally supported” Lieberman (in Day and Gu (2010) The New Lives of Teachers)
- 9. Study aims and methodology • To better understand the specific challenges and experiences of early career teachers in NSW, and; • To identify and recommend strategies to promote wellbeing, with a particular focus on the contribution of peer relationships. Literature Review Phase Quantitative Phase Survey of early career teachers Qualitative Phase Interviews with key thought leaders Recommendations for action
- 10. Research methods: Surveying early career teachers
- 11. Who answered our survey? 453 Teachers in NSW Age Relationship Status • 3% identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander • 97% said they were mainly a classroom teacher working with mainstream students (91%) • There were slightly more (53%) teachers from metro areas than rural and remote combined (47%).
- 12. Early career teachers’ experiences Teachers were asked to reflect on their most positive experiences so far in teaching. Almost all teachers noted that seeing students learn or building relationships with students were the most positive experiences they had. Peer support or collegiality were the second most commonly mentioned positive experiences in early career teachers.
- 13. What’s it like to be a early career teacher? Approximately 70% of early career teachers received induction and/or mentoring. “I have an experienced teacher who is my mentor who is next door. He is extremely approachable and assists with anything little or big.” “I was paired with an amazing teacher who taught me so much and who I respect beyond all others.”
- 14. What are the most challenging aspects for early career teachers? 1 in 3 early career teachers reported that managing the workload was the skill they felt least confident in.
- 15. How do early career teachers feel about their futures? “I have chosen teaching as a career.” “I hope to stay in the teaching profession but it is almost impossible to get full time work in teaching.” “Intended to, but losing confidence in ability to get permanent work.” “I am finding teaching very stressful. I don't know if I want to be in it long term.” “Have decided I will most likely leave at the end of the year, do some casual/part time work and transition to another field.”
- 16. Most teachers reported good levels of social support Key results: • Peer support and social support is important to early career teachers and may help to improve resilience • 94% of early career teachers said they had other early career teachers at their school. “Fellow teachers were my best support as they could identify with the issues and understand the importance of downloading about your day!”
- 17. Technological supports for early career teachers • Two thirds of all early career teachers noted that they would find support services available on a mobile phone or tablet helpful • 90% said they use their phone at least every few days, highlighting the potential usefulness of a support program using this medium. “It would be helpful in seeking information and advice related to the profession. It would also be comforting to engage with others who are in similar stages of their career who likely have common encounters and emotions.”
- 18. What can we do now? 1. Build awareness of mental health and wellbeing 2. Build capability for help seeking 3. Encourage self-care and teach skills 4. Reduce and manage stress 5. Strengthen social support 6. Activate and involve peer (formal and informal) support where appropriate 7. Promote work life balance. Start Well Be Well Stay Well
- 19. Early career teachers reflect on their careers
- 20. Thank you This project is supported by: Contact: Gavin.Hazel@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au
- 21. What were early career teachers’ work circumstances like? • Most teachers were from Government schools • Slightly more teachers were from primary • schools than secondary schools • About the same number of teachers were in • full-time employment, permanent employment and contract or temporary work • 1 in 4 teachers had relocated for their current job 84% of teachers reported permanent employment as their preferred type of employment.
- 22. • Generally, teachers were quite confident in their self-reported pedagogical abilities and their skills in making professional relationships: “Helping students to realise their potential, to develop a love and appreciation for learning and to actually want to come to school.” “I love the people that I work with, they are very supportive and I have lots of friendships. I like that they are a mix of ages – both similar to me, and older people I see as role models.” • Teachers also commented about the need for clarity around processes: “Providing training or awareness of expectations of registrations, paperwork and accreditation in the first 5 years needs to be clear and communicated openly. It should not be a ‘surprise’ moment when you are in a school.” What are the most challenging aspects of early career teaching?
- 23. Moving towards support Mentoring or collaboration were the most frequently mentioned support needed by early career teachers Other support themes mentioned include: reduced workloads, time to participate in professional development, help with pedagogy, induction into schools, support from school leadership, help with accreditation and job security.
- 24. What do the leaders in education say? "Leadership at a school level could actually reflect the value that early career teachers have, not just to other early career teachers, but to experienced teachers as well." “We need to get in early with our pre-service teachers while they are still training to talk to them about some of the things that could impact mental health and wellbeing for them, and their resilience in dealing with a whole range of things that sit outside of the mandated curriculum.” "One of the problems for early career teachers is that their problems are perceived to be the product of them being relatively inexperienced. We have to realise that they are dealing with the same sorts of problems that very experienced teachers are dealing with and they need at least the same support."
- 25. What do the leaders think is needed to support early career teachers? • Collaboration (especially at key times during the school year e.g. report writing) • Internal opportunities within schools including regular feedback from leadership • Funding for professional development • Mentoring and team teaching opportunities • Targeted support for casual of temporary teachers.
- 26. Key results: Ways to support early career teachers: • Early career teachers showed a preference for active forms of support including being given feedback, advice and information as well as practical strategies • Early career teachers in this study largely sought support from sources within school in the form of leadership and peers, or from their close relationships outside of school such as family, friends and spouses • 3 out of 4 early career teachers said they have provided guidance to other early career teachers and that this was important to them: “Once I have been through it, I can use my knowledge and experience to help others.” “I would like to share my experience so others are aware it is not an easy job but persistence pays off.”
Notas del editor
- Thank you for coming along to my talk today. As ** said, my name is Greer Bennett and I am presenting today on a relatively new research project titled Start Well which is focussed around supporting resilience and wellbeing in beginning (meaning early career) school teachers. Before I get started I would just like to mention that this project is being carried out by myself and colleagues at the Hunter Institute of Mental Health in collaboration with A/Prof Frances Kay-Lambkin from the University of Newcastle.
- Introduce HIMH
- So it probably comes as no surprise to most of you that the first few years of employment for a school teacher are really critical for shaping whether or not that teacher will stay in the profession long enough to achieve a peak in their performance and confidence. There are several studies showing that peak teaching performance increases rapidly over the first few years of a teachers’ career and plateaus out at around 5 years. One study even found that, on average, teachers with 20 years of experience are not much more effective than those with 5 years of experience, highlighting the importance of those first 5 or so years in shaping the skills and confidence that a teacher will carry with them for the rest of their career. Unfortunately, despite our knowledge of the importance of these first 5 years, some research estimates report that almost 1 in 2 early career teachers will leave the profession within this time. Now while we know that quite a few factors might influence a teacher’s decision to leave the profession, a significant proportion of those factors are actually of a mental health origin and they include: stress, burnout, job dissatisfaction, a mismatch of expectations between what is taught in University and what it is actually like working in schools, feeling overwhelmed and a potential lack of social inclusion at school among others. However, a lot of the data around this issue is unfortunately not actually Australia specific and there is a significant gap in the knowledge base about exactly why early career teachers are leaving. A good example is seen if you consider the increasing casualisation of the teaching workforce here in Australia, particularly for early career teachers who have a hard time finding permanent employment out of university. There are likely a large number of these teachers on casual or contract appointments that may have either not sought or did not receive a reappointment and therefore will have left the profession without any exit interview or data collected regarding why they have chosen to leave. This just highlights some of work yet to be done in this space. As a note here, I would like to mention that I will be using the terms early career and beginning teacher interchangeably referring to the first 5 years of service in teaching.
- So how can we potentially help these beginning or early career teachers during this really critical time in their careers? Previous studies have shown that the culture of schools as a professional learning environment that promotes social connectedness, collaboration, both formal and informal induction processes and ongoing learning opportunities can actually enable teachers to support each other and enhance resilience. Now resilience is a bit of a buzz word at the moment however in this context, we are referring to the ability of teachers to either maintain or re-establish mental wellbeing in the face of challenges and we propose that peer support as a protective factor in teaching is one way of doing this.
- To do this, we firstly undertook a literature review of the current evidence in the field and this work is ongoing throughout the project. Some of the evidence base I discussed with you a few moments ago, however this is a rapidly evolving topic in the research literature and also in the media, so we are keeping a close eye on developments all the time. To assess some of those underlying issues behind teacher attrition, we then began collecting our own data through the use of an online survey of early career teachers in NSW. We designed this survey in light of the evidence base and also in consideration of the major factors that may be impacting on the desired outcome data. I’ll discuss this in more detail in a minute. Lastly, we conducted targeted telephone interviews with key stakeholders in the education sector and although I can’t tell you exactly who we spoke with due to confidentiality reasons, these stakeholders include regulators and policy makers in the field and this was designed to contrast the responses that the teachers themselves told us and what the sector’s views were to try and identify commonalities and also differences in contributing factors to attrition.
- So we launched our online survey back in March and we had quite an overwhelming response with 453 teachers in total responding in just 3 weeks of our survey being open. After clearing the data 417 respondents were eligible for inclusion in the study and that’s the data I will be showing you this morning. As you can see here, the survey was about 20 minutes in length to complete and we asked questions about the teachers’ living arrangements, their training and education, the types and levels of support they receive from peers both at school and at home and also how they can potentially be supported better. I’m just going to show you some selected data today for brevity, however please feel free to come and speak to me after the talk or get in touch if you are interested in what else we found.
- So who answered the survey? As I said, 453 teachers in total and the gender split here is 83% female and 17% male which is approximately in line with what we know about the teaching workforce as a whole, where about 8 out of every 10 teachers is female (Teacher Workforce in Australia, March 2015). The circular chart on the left here shows you the age split of the respondents and to summarise in case it is a bit hard to read, 75% of our sample are under 35 years of age (shown in purple and green) and just 10% are over 45 years of age (shown in yellow and dark green). On the right we have the location of our respondents, and as you can see 53% of our sample are from a metro location, 41% from a rural location and about 6% from a remote location, shown in purple, orange and blue respectively
- Now some really important mental health questions, have you ever felt stressed or overwhelmed because of teaching? A huge proportion, 98% of our sample said yes in purple here which indicates to me that whether or not these teachers leave the profession is almost secondary to the fact that almost all of them are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, which has important ramifications for the teaching profession as a whole and validates the need to do further research into ways of supporting their mental health better.