The Well-Being Programme for staff working in Medway schools
People are the most important resource in any organisation. The Medway School Workforce Development Team provides a free service to Medway schools to address whole-school issues such as staff morale, health and motivation, professional development and organisational performance and change.
As many schools have faced problems in recruiting and retaining staff, the need for a pro-active approach to staff well-being has become apparent. Spending money by investing in staff health and well-being will contribute directly to more efficient organisational performance, improved staff morale and motivation, all of which help drive school improvement.
The Medway initiative addresses three elements of well-being:
- individual well-being,
- organisational well-being,
- specific issues arising from the nature or context of teaching and the structural constraints all schools work under.
The Well-Being Programme underpins the workforce reform agenda, performance management and professional development opportunities for all staff working in Medway's schools. Well-being has become a national concern. The aims of Medway Council’s Well-Being initiative are to:
- promote supportive and well-informed managerial practice which actively develops healthy workplaces, focusing on organisational progress;
- enable staff as individuals and in groups to manage the pressures they face successfully;
- use a range of evaluation methods to identify strengths and weaknesses;
- measure progress systematically;
- inform future action;
- provide a means of networking information and research about best practice.
While the particular actions taken by schools may be very different, all schools in the programme will be working within the following principles:
- collaborative problem solving;
- everyone taking responsibility for well-being;
- getting rid of the blame culture;
- finding ways to praise and be constructive;
- working smarter not harder;
- not just bolting on well-being but making it an everyday part of the way people work together;
- building on good practice and evaluating success;
- making a significant difference within the working environment by recognising that there are certain elements outside the control of school staff, such as national SATs, league tables and Ofsted inspections.
Service provision
The team provides a free service, with the well-being of all staff working in Medway schools as its priority. This includes:
- Administration, analysis and feedback from an in-school review. This is in the form of a confidential questionnaire offered to all staff working in the school. It is based on the areas identified by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as contributing to stress in the workplace.
- In-school education and training (INSET) for staff as agreed, up to 20 hours in the year. Workshops are available, which can be tailored to the needs of the school.
- Workshops
- Developing a healthy culture.
- Effective communication.
- Time management.
- Managing change.
- Problem solving.
- Managing conflict.
- Using listening skills at work.
- Thinking skills.
- How healthy is your workspace?
- How effectively am I able to relax?
- Training for school facilitators (initially half a day).
The programme:
- takes in to account the opinions of the whole school workforce;
- assures staff that they can contribute to change;
- has confidentiality guaranteed;
- includes questionnaire analysis and support groups for head teachers, senior teachers and support staff;
- is an active strategy to promote well-being for all in the workplace, not a defensive one;
- encourages staff to develop their own strategies which promote physical and psychological health;
- makes use of the results of others' research and combines it with what is learnt in Medway;
- can provide a versatile combination of training, guidance and support to meet the specific needs of each school the programme works with;
- links closely with workforce remodelling (www.tda.gov.uk/remodelling);
- integrates with and supports:
Contact the School Workforce Development Team to get your school involved.
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