Are schools doing enough? An exploration of how primary schools in England support the well‐being of their teachers

Abstract

Though teacher well‐being (TWB) has been decreasing over time, there is an identified lack of awareness in schools across England on how settings can support TWB. To address this gap, this study provides teachers with a space to share their conceptualizations of well‐being, evaluate current school‐level TWB provisions, and provide recommendations for ways that existing TWB support could be enhanced. Semi‐structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 16 primary school teachers across England. Reflexive thematic analytic findings indicated that participants defined well‐being in relation to their unique contexts, and cited some current school practices, including school and academy‐wide support and social support, as being effective for TWB. However, participants emphasized that they perceived current TWB provisions as tokenistic, which was suggested to be accentuated by poor understandings of TWB and pressures from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) and COVID‐19. To address these issues, participants outlined the need for improvements in communication, the attitudes and approaches of Senior Leadership Teams toward TWB, increased provisions to both manage and decrease workload and increasing the amount of time that they have to meet expectations. Implications for policy and practice to enhance TWB are discussed.