Looking after your wellbeing: Top tips for teachers

Looking after your wellbeing: Top tips for teachers

It’s fair to say that some people are struggling with the new restrictions that we’ve all had placed on our lives. Teachers are particularly under pressure as they try to keep students learning whilst navigating many restrictions and challenges. So, we’ve put together a few tips to help teachers maintain their wellbeing.

Limit your working at home

This isn’t always easy with the piles of marking that teachers often have. However, if you can do the majority of your work at your school and college, you will find it easier to ‘switch off’ when you get home. Being able to relax at home will help you rest ahead of your next working day. The best way to do this is to set a few hours aside after lesson time that is just for marking and planning. This may mean staying at work for longer than you would normally, but it will hopefully free up your time when you get home.

Seek a mentor

In any profession, having a mentor who understands the job you do and the challenges you face can be invaluable. If you haven’t got a mentor, now is a good time to find one. They can be someone at your institute and they don’t have to be more senior than you. They just have to be someone you respect and aspire to be like. The set up can be quite informal with catch ups being as and when you need them. Your mentor can serve as someone who fully understands the challenges you face and will hopefully help you navigate through them.

Make time for something you enjoy

When you’re working hard and feel under pressure, it can be easy to get into a cycle of work, eat, sleep, repeat. This cycle for a prolonged period of time is likely to lead to burnout. A way to overcome this is to set some time aside for something you enjoy. This can be anything from setting time aside to watch your favourite TV series, to taking up a new hobby (or even reconnecting with an old one). Anything that will bring you happiness and time away from thinking about or doing work will help you achieve a better work-life-balance.

Talk to someone

If you are struggling and you just don’t feel yourself, talk to someone. It’s important to let someone know that you trust that you are struggling so they can help you. If you don’t feel you can talk to a friend, colleague or family member, there are organisation you can talk to. We’ve listed some below.

• https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/
• https://www.mind.org.uk/need-urgent-help/using-this-tool
• https://www.samaritans.org/

We hope these tips go some way to helping enhance your wellbeing during these difficult times. Click here to view more teaching-related articles.