- NEW! Educator Wellness: A Whole School Approach to Improve Staff Stress and Retention and Student Achievement
- NEW! Read this brief: Structural Supports to Promote Teacher Well-being
- Gather input from staff, students, and family/caregivers about their current experiences (see Data Collection Resources below).
- Let people know the intention for the survey and how their responses will be reported back and acted upon.
- Share back the data as soon as possible.
- Use the data to make decisions about immediate-, mid-, and long-term supports to provide.
- Include broadly representative staff, students, and caregivers in decision-making.
- Model and encourage taking an intentional pause in difficult moments. Develop a shared cue/prompt/neutralizing routine (e.g. “pause,” “breathe,” “this is hard”) for staff to use to gently cue themselves and each other.
- Build community and belonging by intentionally creating time and space for people to build, maintain, and strengthen supportive relationships. Add in fun (e.g. group walks; bonfires; games)!
- Create opportunities for staff, students, and administrators to check in with each other. Ask people how they are doing and be responsive to what you hear. See Staff column here (credit: Ali Hearn)
- Provide frequent opportunities for staff to reflect on their experience. If possible, have this facilitated by someone outside of school (e.g. district-level PBIS coordinator, school psychologist, PBIS TA or coach, external consultant.) Consider structured facilitation (i.e. read and discuss an article, video, or podcast, then share: “One thing that jumped out at me was ____.” Protocol and suggested articles coming soon).
- Provide community building, check-in, and reflection activities and other supports within already existing team/staff meetings.
- Reduce requirements/demands:
- Free up staff time wherever possible;
- Limit or postpone staff/committee meetings, new initiatives/curriculum, etc.;
- Restructure inservice days and early release time to be teacher-directed instead of district/school-directed;
- Encourage staff to go home after school. Consider introducing and posting the Going Home Checklist;
- Discourage work at home – match with decreased demands.
- Consider ways in which staff supervision and evaluation procedures could be adapted for now.
- Adapt schedules:
- To provide time for teachers to plan;
- To incorporate brain breaks, calming strategies, movement, and outdoor time.
- Develop and institute a Tap In/Tap Out process.
- Acknowledge increased work and learning demands:
- Provide professional development credits for those who taught through pandemic;
- Compensate staff who provide sub coverage during their planning and lunch periods.