Volume 5: February 2023

This month's Wellbeing Edit has been written by Jamie Thom. Husband, dad, educator and lecturer in Education at Napier University. Jamie has published three books with a fourth coming soon. He also finds time to host Beyond Survival: the new teacher podcast. We hope you find Jamie's insights and reflections on resilience and wellbeing useful - thanks Jamie!

So, what's the secret to teacher resilience and wellbeing?

The answer, at least in part, is deceptively simple, and it is only two words: slow down.

I can already sense your doubt: “slow down!” you cry in frustration, “have you seen my to-do-list!”

Let me, in the next few hundred words, explain why making deliberate and sustained attempts to slow down will support your wellbeing more than anything else.

First, let’s consider just how much of your day in school is spent on autopilot? How often do you find yourself moving at a pace that is unremitting, juggling a million different things at once, and collapsing into bed in a marking induced heap at the end of the day?

For the first five years of my teaching career, that was my approach: do everything (including my teaching) at a hundred miles an hour. I thought I was invincible and I was surviving on adrenaline, caffeine and very little sleep.

When I hit rock bottom, completely burnt-out and signed off work for weeks, I knew something had to change if I wanted to thrive as a teacher for more than five years.

It was then I stumbled across the book ‘In Praise of Slow’ by Carl Honore, a manifesto for slow living. Inspired, I then went on my own slow odyssey, applying this change of pace to all aspects of life as a teacher, and published by own book ‘Slow Teaching’, five years ago.

While I can’t confess to now being a man of Buddha style calm and composure at all times, I am noticeably less stressed and anxious than I used to be. It takes reminders, patience with myself, and a commitment to the slow approach – but it is entirely worthwhile.

So how can you apply this philosophy to your school-day?

The first way is by slowing yourself down physically. If you refuse to rush

around you will notice something interesting: you no longer multi-task and instead you can direct your full attention towards tasks and people. It makes you more present – both in interactions with colleagues and with young people.

That space pace then enters your planning, classroom, and teaching – inspiring a greater clarity of thinking in all three. Your speech in lessons becomes clearer, as do your ‘slow’ explanations. That, in turn, helps to maintain an atmosphere of calm and focus in the behaviour of the students in your lessons.

You also slow down and recognise your own priorities. That to-do-list is never going to be conquered and instead in needs careful, dispassionate assessment about what is the most important thing to focus on. You become more organised, more productive, and more able to plan strategically for the future.

At the end of a busy teaching day that most important resources is you. By giving yourself permission to slow down, you focus on what you need to recharge and be ready for the next day. For all of us that looks different, but with slowness comes self-awareness and an understanding of what will be most helpful for us.

Perhaps most importantly, the slow teacher approach gives you resilience and allows you to sustain yourself in our demanding profession. It allows you to savour and enjoy the process of slowly growing and developing in the classroom, and by doing so, having a positive impact on young people for many years to come.

Want to learn more?

Carl Honoré: In praise of slowness | TED Talk

Slow Teaching: On finding calm, clarity and impact in the classroom by Jamie Thom | Goodreads

Until next time...

Jamie (and the Stepping Stones team)