Spinning plates, swimming sharks and running down hills

There is a myth regarding sharks, they have to keep swimming or else they can't breathe. According to the American Museum of Natural History this isn't quite true but the myth has relevance here. In response to my post about stress I was sent a message which I will share with you:

I like to use the spinning plate analogy. I see each of those pressures as a spinning plate. As a teacher it is our responsibility to keep each one spinning and even though it is challenging it is achievable. However, if one of those pressures demands more time/emotion, say death of a parent, then the other plates start to wobble. This beginning is the stress because it is more difficult to keep them all spinning, indeed it becomes stressful. Then some might topple and fall. Now you get the feeling that it is impossible to get them all spinning again. This is stress. Now many of these pressures/plates are within our control, some are less so.  To avoid stress I guess we need to as teachers, managers, SLT be mindful and ensure that those plates that are under our control don't become unmanageable. Now there is a challenge.

I feel that keeping going in teaching has become an exercise in cracking perpetual motion. My experience is that of running down a hill. As you run you know that if you slow down or stop you're going over, and the only way to keep going is to keep moving faster and faster. The (mythical) shark constantly swimming just to keep breathing, the plate spinner or the down-hill runner, are you any of these?

If this is a shared experience then it is one that can be addressed. Discuss your feelings with your colleagues and I'm sure many of them will share your experience. Next step is the tricky one, how do we tackle it? I haven't got the answers, but I'm certainly going to think about it. There are however two clear lines of response, one coming from teachers and the other from leadership. However I need to do a lot more pondering first of all! Again, your ideas would be particularly welcome.

A big thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
 

What stresses you at school?

I have just spent the last 10 minutes thinking about the factors that can cause stress to a classroom teacher. It is important to recognise that pressure and stress are related, we all need pressure or else we wouldn't get out of bed in the morning, but I take stress to be an adverse psychological and/or physiological reaction to excessive pressure. Given that I have only spent 10 minutes thinking about this I came up with a reasonable length list of factors that can cause stress and exacerbate other mental health conditions (and that's quite worrying). Here are my thoughts so far:

 



Most of these are in blue and these find their origin in the job itself, the two that aren't are beyond the scope of school. I would be very interested to hear what you think are the main stressors in the school life of a classroom teacher. So please consider this a first draft; together we should be able to explore every nook and cranny of school life that can have an adverse effect on emotional well-being.

Over the next few weeks and months I will be writing about many of these stressors but I would like your input.

Further thoughts

I only posted this a few hours ago but something else has crossed my mind. I have worked in and led schools in difficult situations but the key factor that held the school together was how valued the staff felt. I have also worked in a decent school, great children, great location but a leadership team that could never be bothered to tell us we were doing a good job; the staff were generally very low and this all came pouring out when OFSTED came through the door.

Bear with me here. I hate flying. The only time I enjoyed flying is when I had a flying lesson; I felt in control. So much of what we do as teachers feels beyond our control. This is a topic well worth exploring in the future.


 

Bipolar Teachers

Given the data produced by most of the mental health charities it is fair to say that at least 1 in 100 teachers suffer from bipolar disorder. This is the most conservative estimate and I suspect that the mean value from MIND is closer to the mark which suggests that some 9000 teachers are bipolar sufferers. As with many other mental health conditions there is a stigma about it,

I have always felt that conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar, OCD and depression are separated off even by open-minded teachers from conditions such as stress. The attitude seems to be that stress is a normal condition and that it is OK to suffer from stress but the other medical conditions belong to another world of "lunacy". Since we consider that we can blame someone for our stress then we are more likely to be open about it; stress may trigger other underlying conditions but a finger can still be pointed at an external agent

In your staffroom someone is likely to have one of these conditions, they hide it and struggle with it on a daily basis. I would like to see the day when conversations take place in staff rooms that go something like this;
"I'm really struggling at the moment, the stress caused by this new head is making me anxious and giving me sleepless nights."
"I'm also having a rough time with my bipolar at the moment, I've just gone downhill rapidly and reckon that my trigger is also the new head."


Take a look a this link and hopefully understand a little more about bipolar disorder.

Please also look at Bipolar UK for more information and support. 

Don't become a "Mr Chips" - vocation alert!

This is more of a rant than a discussion of a specific mental health issue but it is worth reflecting on a rose-tinted "Mr Chips" vision of teaching, that of teaching as a "vocation". This picture was posted on a social media website the other day and it made me see red. It is not just that it is all twee and fluffy in its sentiment but it actually has a more sinister side.

I am sure that most teachers want to change lives and make a difference but they also want to be valued, be well paid, be respected and feel like professionals. They want a work-life balance and want to be recognised for their labour. I have long been suspicious of those who claim that teaching is a vocation and that they do it for the reasons on the  mug. I think it is laudable that most of those with whom I have worked aspire to the mug definitions but if it was a true "Vocation" they would renounce their salaries and devote every waking hour to the job.

In an earlier post I talked about the potential impact that sentiments about this being the best job in the world can have on colleagues (see The best job in the world...) but there is another problem that should not be ignored. What happens when the bubble bursts? Without naming names, schools and locations, I once worked with a young and idealistic teacher who gave everything to the profession. This teacher produced excellent lessons and children made great progress, all of this took a great deal of time and the concept of work-life balance evaporated. The impact of exam classes, OFSTED, workload and so on meant that more and more time was being spent doing the job. The teacher was already shy and insular but the additional demands of matching the belief in the "vocation" to the challenges of the job meant that the teacher became even more withdrawn. Eventually as the stress levels increased and as the social isolation grew the penny dropped. The "vocation" bubble burst, the belief was shattered and all reasons to do the job disappeared. An extended period of absence from work followed, after which the teacher decided to leave the profession.

I can't say for certain what the trigger event was but I am sure that an unrealistic belief in the vocation of teaching didn't help. Don't get me wrong, I think it is important that we are principled people who believe in the transformative potential of education, but we must also recognise that it is still a job and that we must not sacrifice our emotional well-being for it.

 

A very useful website from the Mental Health Foundation

I believe that when I have the chance to share fantastic resources that I should. The Mental Health Foundation have a superb publications section on their website. You will find policy, statistics, guidance and help in there. If you suffer from a mental health issue, know someone who does, if you are an employer or manager or if you just have an interest in this area please click on the link.

Mental Health Foundation publications 

The danger of loneliness

Contributory Stressing Factor: Isolation

Teaching is a lonely job. There are not many jobs where hours pass between opportunities to talk to other adults. Teaching is possibly unique in being an occupation where on some days the only conversations you have are with 4 year olds! Often the time when you would like to enjoy the company of family and friends after school or at weekends is filled with planning and marking. There are times when you feel that being stranded in the heart of Antarctica would be more socially engaging than teaching your class of Year 3s.

The first department in which I worked always used to get together at the end of the day for a chat. Sometimes it was about the children, sometimes the management, sometimes just anything, but we always had a chat. Not only did you enjoy adult company and feel part of a community but we also were able to unload our work worries before heading home. This was a very challenging school, an inner city comp with inner city problems but we were generally happy. As a very large school we had lots of teachers and probably more in a department than many primary schools have in total.

I have seen over the last 20-odd years in schools too many teachers left to their own devices. I have also had to pick up the pieces of teachers for whom their isolation in school became overwhelming. I have experienced this as a middle and senior leader as well as a union rep. This is real and it is everyone's responsibility.

Don't just assume that a teacher who doesn't come on-board immediately with the social element is simply being aloof, it could be that they simply lack confidence and feel intimidated by their experienced and apparently successful colleagues.

The emotional well-being of your colleagues should be the concern of everyone in a school. Whether you adopt a moral stance and that this concern stems from your concern for your friends and colleagues or because you recognise (more cynically) the impact on other teachers and educational outcomes when a member of staff is below par, you cannot ignore the emotional well-being of your colleagues.
 

Banter, bullying and duty of care

I mentioned in an earlier posting that perceptions are real, that irrespective of the objective truth of a situation a person's subjective experience of that same situation is "true" and completely real. This must be remembered when we think about staffroom banter.

Banter is seen by some (generally the perpetrators) as harmless, knock-about nonsense, but it is often led by someone with a  dominant personality and with a following. If this "banter" is kept within an established consensual group then perhaps these concerns are less appropriate but when the "banter" is directed towards someone else it can easily turn in to bullying. Even if "consensual" the consent may be grudgingly given to maintain the peace and also because of the dominant position the main perpetrator holds. I feel that we should apply the same criteria to banter/bullying with colleagues as we do with children. If it is repeated, non-consensual (in a truly willing way) and oppressive then banter is bullying.

School leadership has to recognise this as an issue. Schools have a duty of care towards their employees. The line between banter and bullying is easily crossed and if this is the case then action has to be taken. In addition the nature of the "banter" may quickly become discriminatory especially if the theme of the banter is around nationality, gender, sexual preference or a protected characteristic. A union official worth their salt should be all over this and making representations to school leadership and if necessary school governing bodies. Unless action is taken by school leadership then it is easy to see how the school fails in its duty of care towards its staff.

Schools can be extremely lonely places for many teachers and "banter" can make it worse. If you're the victim of banter (or aware of it) and feel it is having a detrimental effect on your well-being you must report it to your line manager or senior leadership. Keep notes, inform your union rep and make sure you are listened to. Protect your own mental health at all times.


ACAS Guidance