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Stop Talking About Wellbeing
As statistical figures of teachers leaving the profession reaches an alarming level, and teachers' mental health becomes a fundamental concern, wellbeing has been pushed to the top of the national agenda in a bid for schools to consider how to look after their staff.
However, wellbeing has become a tokenistic feature within the education sector, as staff participate in compulsory wellbeing-linked activities that have very little impact on their workload or their ability to do what they came into the profession to do: teach young people. With this book, Kat aims to flip the narrative on wellbeing completely.
In a critical consideration of research both in and outside of education, Kat explores the key factors of a teacher's role within school, outlining a series of tools that teachers can use to take ownership of their workload, and achieve wellbeing through purposeful job fulfilment. Interviewing experts in the educational sector, Kat provides practical strategies for teachers in a bid to drive instrumental change to workload within schools at a grassroots level, but additionally, a range of case studies for teachers to use to challenge the norm so that we can create a profession built to last.
However, wellbeing has become a tokenistic feature within the education sector, as staff participate in compulsory wellbeing-linked activities that have very little impact on their workload or their ability to do what they came into the profession to do: teach young people. With this book, Kat aims to flip the narrative on wellbeing completely.
In a critical consideration of research both in and outside of education, Kat explores the key factors of a teacher's role within school, outlining a series of tools that teachers can use to take ownership of their workload, and achieve wellbeing through purposeful job fulfilment. Interviewing experts in the educational sector, Kat provides practical strategies for teachers in a bid to drive instrumental change to workload within schools at a grassroots level, but additionally, a range of case studies for teachers to use to challenge the norm so that we can create a profession built to last.
370 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 24, 2020
10 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Kat Howard
117 books815 followersKat Howard is a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and horror who lives and writes in Minnesota.
Her novella, The End of the Sentence, co-written with Maria Dahvana Headley, was one of NPR's best books of 2014, and her debut novel, Roses and Rot was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel. An Unkindness of Magicians was named a best book of 2017 by NPR, and won a 2018 Alex Award. Her short fiction collection, A Cathedral of Myth and Bone, collects work that has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, performed as part of Selected Shorts, and anthologized in year’s best and best of volumes, as well as new pieces original to the collection. She was the writer for the first 18 issues of The Books of Magic, part of DC Comics' Sandman Universe. Her next novel, A Sleight of Shadows, the sequel to An Unkindness of Magicians, is coming April 25, 2023. In the past, she’s been a competitive fencer and a college professor.
You can find her @KatwithSword on Twitter and on Instagram. She talks about books at Epigraph to Epilogue.
Her novella, The End of the Sentence, co-written with Maria Dahvana Headley, was one of NPR's best books of 2014, and her debut novel, Roses and Rot was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel. An Unkindness of Magicians was named a best book of 2017 by NPR, and won a 2018 Alex Award. Her short fiction collection, A Cathedral of Myth and Bone, collects work that has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, performed as part of Selected Shorts, and anthologized in year’s best and best of volumes, as well as new pieces original to the collection. She was the writer for the first 18 issues of The Books of Magic, part of DC Comics' Sandman Universe. Her next novel, A Sleight of Shadows, the sequel to An Unkindness of Magicians, is coming April 25, 2023. In the past, she’s been a competitive fencer and a college professor.
You can find her @KatwithSword on Twitter and on Instagram. She talks about books at Epigraph to Epilogue.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 20, 2021
I’ll admit - I haven’t finished this book and aren’t sure I will. Ironically, I find it’s impacting my wellbeing, despite me being only 2/3 of the way through. I truly wanted to like it - I loved the premise and the promise of an actual, supportive approach to teacher workload. What I’ve found instead is pages and pages of leadership bashing. The way I read this, everything wrong in a school is the fault of leadership. I know this comes from a UK context which might be very different to an Australian one but it just doesn’t sit well with me. I’ve absolutely been in schools where school leadership made teacher workload more challenging and impacted wellbeing but have always been of the mindset that I can only change me and my responses. The chapter I’m up to, about how student behaviour should be handed off to those ‘responsible for managing it’ is the final straw for me. I’m responsible for managing student behaviour. Of course there are times when I’m going to need support - it takes a village - but I’ve never seen effective relationships maintained by sending a student off to the principal’s office to be ‘dealt with’.
As I said, not sure how much of this relates to it being a UK context and also, clearly, a secondary one whereas my Australian, primary experiences are vastly different.
As I said, not sure how much of this relates to it being a UK context and also, clearly, a secondary one whereas my Australian, primary experiences are vastly different.
February 24, 2021
Kat's tone and purposeful agenda in this book is one that I really admire. It isn't gimmicky or suggests any kind of staff yoga to solve our wellbeing issue. I will always dip in and out of this - it's like a wellbeing bible!
Straight to the point, well-informed and highly engaging.
Straight to the point, well-informed and highly engaging.
March 3, 2020
Fantastic book about what we can do as individuals and school leaders to improve wellbeing and manage workload in schools.
June 12, 2020
Fantastic read!
Brilliant and supportive, wish I had read this five years ago! Highly recommend for any teacher out there! Perfect for anyone with a role of responsibility
Brilliant and supportive, wish I had read this five years ago! Highly recommend for any teacher out there! Perfect for anyone with a role of responsibility
July 19, 2020
Every teacher should read this.
January 15, 2023
An interesting read with some good ideas and recommendations. I don't necessarily agree with all of them, but I can see that they may be appropriate for some people. I will pass this book onto other people who might also get something from it.
July 15, 2023
Way too long. Unnecessarily so. Wanted to like this book. Skip to final chapter for an executive summary and you are set.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews