Unlocking success: The interdependence of student and educator wellbeing
Deanna Grant-Smith, Melinda Laundon and Tracy Creagh
As educators, we are deeply concerned about the wellbeing of our colleagues who teach and support learning. When we called for submissions to a special issue of Student Success on educator wellbeing, we were buoyed by the innovations and strategies being employed to safeguard and augment educator wellbeing. We were perhaps even more encouraged by the willingness of colleagues to share their own experiences and vulnerabilities in this space. Ironically, though perhaps unsurprisingly, numerous educators who expressed an interest in the special issue were unable to contribute due to heavy teaching workloads, competing research priorities and general fatigue.
Staff Working Conditions Create Student Learning Conditions
Contributors discussed the “moral-political imperative” to include educator wellbeing in discussions of student wellbeing, especially in enabling education programs that support vulnerable students transition successfully into undergraduate study. United States colleagues also revealed the challenges experienced by Black educators who take on a pastoral care role to support their students’ wellbeing and the value of faculty mentoring to work against entrenched racial and structural violence.
Contributors similarly shared how they have supported students and each other through the development of collective strategies to improve educator practice and wellbeing. These ranged from an institution-wide, embedded and contextualised peer enhancement of teaching practice program to one on one online educator consultations to support educators’ professional development and wellbeing.
You Can’t Put Students First by Putting Staff Last
There is no doubt that changes in the educational work environment can result in elevated levels of anxiety if educators feel unsupported or ill-equipped to respond. During COVID, the “practice-talk” of educators evolved as they shifted from “initial shock into a state of survival”. Tensions between educator identity and expectations of educatorsexposed a misalignment that can negatively impact wellbeing, while equipping educators with strategies and knowledge can improve self-efficacy. Contributors described how just-in-time workshops to improve online teaching fostered confidence and expertise, reducing educator apprehension about using the technology. And staff-to-staff support was emphasised in informal initiatives like writing workshops, which supported educators to develop writing wellness during over-crowded academic semesters.
Better Workplaces = Better Universities
While many of the contributors highlighted the value of peer-to-peer support in improving educator resilience, institutions also have obligations to act in ways that support educator wellbeing. Contributors described the development of a whole-of-university health and wellbeing strategy for both staff and students, arguing that the process of strategy co-design can be a wellbeing intervention in and of itself. Relatedly, the implementation of an automated screening mechanism to identify and screen out allegations, abuse, and discrimination in the open-text components of student evaluation of teaching surveys was described and the concept of organisational health used to understand how these factors might impact the wellbeing of those involved in providing and supporting work-integrated learning.
Conclusion
In recent years we have seen industrial action in the higher education sector displaying significant student–educator solidary in recognition of the reality that their wellbeing and success are inextricably linked. While this is an important development, higher education institutions have a duty of care to their educators and a moral responsibility and practical interest in ensuring that educators can support the wellbeing of students without negatively impacting their own wellbeing. In addition to the kinds of initiatives described by the contributors in the special issue, this requires that providers implement practical actions to address workloads and resourcing to identify, assess and respond to potential threats to educator wellbeing.
While it is pleasing to see the warranted emphasis on student wellbeing addressed in the recently released Universities Accord Final Report as an aspect of student safety, there was unfortunately little attention directed there to its interconnectedness with educator wellbeing. And this despite Priority Action 5 in the Accord Interim Reportraising the issue of “safety and wellbeing of students and staff” in the context of improving university governance. Clearly much work remains to be done, both culturally and structurally, to understand, address and support the intrinsic interconnection between staff and student wellbeing issues. We hope the contributions in the special issue advance this critical sector-wide conversation.
In fact … a Symposium with authors from this Student Success special issue on Educator Wellbeing in Higher Education will be held this Wednesday 20th of March, which anyone interested is most welcome to attend. All details are here: https://events.humanitix.com/educator-wellbeing-symposium
Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor, Faculty of Business & Law, and Deputy Director, Centre for Decent Work and Industry, QUT
Melinda Laundon, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Business & Law, and Centre for Decent Work and Industry, QUT
Tracy Creagh, Managing Editor, Student Success @journalsuccess