The wellbeing classroom

THE WELLBEING CLASSROOM
B.ED, M.ED (LEADERSHIP)
UNIVERSITY LECTURER
MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT AND FACILITATOR
CERTIFIED LIFE COACH, NLP COACH &
TRANSPERSONAL COACH
Daniela Falecki
www.teacher-wellbeing.com.au

TODAY ….
• Challenges in the classroom
• The Science of wellbeing
• Strategies for wellbeing
• Putting it all together - PERMA
“The key to successful leadership today is
influence, not authority”
Ken Blanchard

IT ALL BEGINS WITH THE TEACHER

FOR WELL STUDENTS WE NEED WELL TEACHERS

THE REALITY….
Teachers are among those professionals with the highest levels of
job stress and burnout across many countries. (Stoeber J & Renner D, 2008)
50% of teachers who start, leave the within their first 5 years of teaching.
John Hattie has linked teacher motivation, or lack thereof, to student achievement;
“When teachers become burned out, or worn out, their students’ achievement outcomes are likely
to suffer because they are more concerned with their personal survival.” (Hattie, 2013)
Teachers are involved in about 1000 interpersonal contacts every day (Holmes 2005). The quality
of this contact can either jeopardise or enhance wellbeing.
If teachers have strategies to support their wellbeing , they will be better placed to manage every
day stressors of the job to not only survive but flourish. In doing say, they become better role
models and educators for our students.

WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES?
What are the biggest
challenges you currently face
in the classroom?

WHAT IS WORKING WELL?
What is
working
well?

A Shift in Mindset
MOVE FROM A DEFICIT MINDSET
Repairing problems
Healing wounds
Identifying defects
Notice what’s wrong with people
Eg, focussing on mental illness, bullying
and disease
TO A STRENGTHS MINDSET
Building resilience
Gaining learnings
Recognise possibility
Notice what’s right with people
Eg, focussing on resilience, wellbeing
and achievement
Source: http://www.thinkers.sa.gov.au/seligmanaddendum/files/inc/8c48cde37c.pdf

WHAT DOES A WELLBEING
CLASSROOM LOOK LIKE?
When it is not
working?
When it is
working?

WHAT IS WELLBEING?
Wellbeing has been defined from two perspectives.
The clinical perspective defines well-being as the absence of negative conditions and the
psychological perspective defines well-being as the prevalence of positive attributes.
The positive psychological definitions of wellbeing generally include some of six general
characteristics.
The six characteristics of well-being most prevalent in definitions of well-being are: the active pursuit
of well-being;
a balance of attributes
positive affect
life satisfaction
prosocial behaviour
multiple dimensions
personal optimisation
Positive psychology is the science of wellbeing and gives us evidence based strategies to better
understand how to flourish.
Just as health is NOT merely the absence of disease, Happiness is NOT merely the absence of
unhappiness. Happiness can be learnt and is a foundation for wellbeing.
Source : http://nwia.idwellness.org/2011/02/28/definitions-of-wellbeing-quality-of-life-and-
wellness/#sthash.xSVUpRnu.dpuf

STUDENT WELLBEING
“Student wellbeing is defined as a sustainable state of positive mood
and attitude, resilience, and satisfaction with self, relationships and
experiences at school.”
(Response-Ability)
Four components;
• Positive affect (an emotional component)
• Resilience (a coping component)
• Satisfaction with relationships life (a cognitive component)
• Maximizing potential (a performance component)

MANAGING WELLBEING?

PETS
Performance
Enhancing
Thoughts
ANTS
Automatic
Negative
Thoughts

GROWTH MINDSET – CAROL
DWECK

BUILDING POSITIVE LITERACY

THE 5 PILLARS OF A WELLBEING CLASSROOM
Positive Emotions
Engagement (or flow)
Relationships
Meaning
Accomplishment
Acknowledge positive feelings
Recognise and use strengths
Foster positive interactions
Know what is important for others
Set goals & celebrate achievements

THE PILLARS OF WELLBEING

1. POSITIVE EMOTIONS
What is working well?
What are you grateful for?
How will you track the good stuff?

2. ENGAGEMENT
What are your strengths?
How do you use them?
Strengths tests
www.viacharacter.org

3. RELATIONSHIPS
Who are the people who support
you?
How do you support them?
“Great things are not done by impulse,
but by a series of small things brought together.”
Vincent Van Gogh

4. MEANING
Connect to what is important to you
Be mindful of why and what you are doing
http://mindfulnessinschools.org/what-is-b/http://smilingmind.com.au/education-program/

5. ACCOMPLISHMENT
Make a list of all the things you achieved in the past
month?
Instead of writing a ‘to-do’ list, write an ‘Achievement ‘
list of things you would like to do this coming month

Putting it all together - PERMA

Positive Emotions When are you at your happiest? What are you grateful for?
Engagement What are you strengths? How do you use them?
Relationships Who makes up your support network? How do you connect with them?
Meaning What is most important to you? How can you practice mindfulness?
Accomplishment What have you achieved in the last month? Set a SMART goal for to be
completed next month. How will you celebrate it?

STRATEGIES FOR THE CLASSROOM
Positive Emotions  Develop an emotional literacy board
 Ask what went well at the end of each day
 Keep a gratitude journal
 Encourage students to give positive feedback to each other
 When praising, be specific as to what they did well
Engagement  Help students identify their strengths
 Give opportunities for students to spot strengths in others
 Have a strengths poster in the classroom
 Use strength cards when debriefing or analyzing
Relationships  Allocate support buddies for a week
 Identify support networks in the school and out of school
 Establish big sister, big brother partners with older year groups
 Perform a random act of kindness for someone
Meaning  Help students identify values (things that are important to them)
 Give students biographies of inspiring people and how they have
overcome challenge
 Initiate THANKYOU cards to recognize what is working well
Accomplishment  Establish a class vision and put up around room
 Help students set daily and weekly goals
 Frequently recognize achievement eg charts, certificates,
ceremonies, letters home
 Celebrate success by sharing stories
 Role model success by sharing your successes

COACHING STUDENTS
“Is there another way to
look at it?”
“How do you want it to
be?”
“What went well?”

The next step ...
What is the biggest
learning for you?
How will you take this
back into your
school?

IN A NUTSHELL....
Now
Challenge
Outcomes
feel
Valued
Respected
Heard
Recognised
P
E
R
M
A

More resources at…
Twitter @DFalecki

References
Briner, R., & Dewberry, C. (2007). Staff well-being is key to school success. London: Worklife Support Ltd/Hamilton House.
Curry, J. R. P., & O'Brien, E. R. P. (2012). Shifting to a Wellness Paradigm in Teacher Education: A Promising Practice for Fostering
Teacher Stress Reduction, Burnout Resilience, and Promoting Retention. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 14(3), 178-191.
Holmes, E. (2005). Teacher well-being: Looking after yourself and your career in the classroom: Psychology Press.
Howard, S., & Johnson, B. (2004). Resilient teachers: resisting stress and burnout. Social Psychology of Education : An International
Journal, 7(4), 399-420. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11218-004-0975-0
Jennings, P. A., Snowberg, K. E., Coccia, M. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2011). Improving classroom learning environments by cultivating
awareness and resilience in education (CARE): Results of two pilot studies. The Journal of Classroom Interaction, 37-48.
McCallum, F., & Price, D. (2010). Well teachers, well students. The Journal of Student Wellbeing, 4(1), 19-34.
Norrish, J. M., Williams, P., O'Connor, M., & Robinson, J. (2013). An applied framework for Positive Education. International Journal of
Wellbeing, 3(2).
Richards, J. (2012). Teacher stress and coping strategies: A national snapshot. Paper presented at the The Educational Forum.
Roffey, S. (2012). Pupil wellbeing—Teacher wellbeing: Two sides of the same coin? Educational and Child Psychology, 29(4), 8.
Seligman, M. E., Ernst, R. M., Gillham, J., Reivich, K., & Linkins, M. (2009). Positive education: Positive psychology and classroom
interventions. Oxford review of education, 35(3), 293-311.
Stoeber, J., & Rennert, D. (2008). Perfectionism in school teachers: Relations with stress appraisals, coping styles, and burnout.
Anxiety, stress, and coping, 21(1), 37-53.
Waters, L., & White, M. (2015). Case study of a school wellbeing initiative: Using appreciative inquiry to support positive change.
International Journal of Wellbeing, 5(1).

daniela@teacher-wellbeing.com.au
Twitter
@DFalecki

The wellbeing classroom

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