Wellbeing and workload
Teaching is a rewarding and inspiring career, but we also recognise that it can be challenging at times. The Xavier ECTE team understands that achieving a sustainable work-life balance is key to enjoying a long and fulfilling career in education.
In line with our mission to nuture, inspire and support every individual, this section of our website is dedicated to sharing proven strategies that enhance both your effectiveness in the clasroom and your overall wellbeing.
Dan Newman leads the Lifestyle First programme across Xavier and has developed a range of tailored resources specifically for ECTs and their mentors. Explore the videos below to hear directly from Dan and learn more about the support available to you.
Lifestyle First’s Top 10 Strategies to Help You Thrive as a ECT:
1. Create a positive mindset – This is probably the most important strategy to cultivate. How do you view your situation? We can easily create huge amounts of internal tension and stress if we don’t get this part right! Listen to Dan explain how we can cultivate an effective mindset that sets us up for success.
2. Know your values – We can often get lost in the busy day-to-day hustle and end up doing behaviours that don’t align with our values. Often we haven’t even spent time thinking about what is really important to us and the values we want to align ourselves to! In this short video Dan explains why it is so important that we are clear on what we stand for and how this leads to an internal harmony that is energising!
3. Set Boundaries – A teacher's work is never done! The boundaries between work and home are very blurry and it is very easy to end up in an unsustainable cycle where we barely feel like we are keeping up! Rules and boundaries sound boring and constricting but Dan shows how they can be liberating and help us get more done and still have time for the things we enjoy!
4. Create a morning routine – Consciously choosing the inputs that you start the day with is an extremely powerful way to live the life you deserve! All too often we allow ourselves to be bombarded with messages that lead to feelings of lack, envy or anger before we even get out of bed! Listen to Dan’s morning routine and be inspired to start the day with a couple of habits that will reduce stress and build an inner confidence that you carry through the rest of the day.
5. Learn how to say no! - This links to the setting boundaries point. We are in a service profession and are wired to help the children and other colleagues. This is, of course, great for them but also for us. Dan explains though that when we say yes to helping because we are afraid to let people down or that others will think negatively of us, rather than because we have the energy and passion to help, we can run into problems. Saying yes when we later resent it leads to stress, can impact on our other relationships and depletes us of the time and energy to do our jobs effectively. Dan talks about how ‘people pleasing’ is a very common trait and how to find a more healthy balance.
6. Prioritise sleep - Sleep is foundational to your effectiveness as a teacher and as a person! Dan talks through some of the processes that happen when we sleep and our lack of self awareness of our productivity when we are not getting enough sleep!
7. Make ‘Play’ part of everything you do! – Play is one of the best ways to reduce stress! Life can get serious to easily so watch this video to discover how to make play an integral part of everything you do.
8. Include movement everyday – There are huge benefits to doing regular physical activity, e.g. a decrease cortisol levels, increase in serotonin, noradrenaline, GABA, BDNF, dopamine. It will literally transform how your mood and increases the effectiveness of your prefrontal cortex giving you more brain power to solve problems and feel great. Dan talks through the many reasons why this should be a non-negotiable, including that we are role models to the students!
9. Make time for connecting with friends – Scheduling in regular meet-ups with friends is so important. Teaching can feel like you are in a whirlwind that we can only cope with the absolute essentials! Creating these moments to connect with friends creates little oasis to look forward to and each time you will come away with renewed energy and a different perspective!
10. Be consistent – Your choices are your life! When we can stick to a few key habits we often find powerful changes are possible! Dan talks to the power of small changes in creating powerful habits that will lead to us owning our behaviours and our life!
You may also find some of the resources on the Education Support website of use to you in more challenging times.