The Professional Teacher
Support for teaching professionals in the classroom and beyondCategory
Managing Wellbeing
10 simple ways to be more productive at work
I quite like the idea of no emails until 11am. How many schools for example have banned staff emails anytime after 8pm in the evening? (Coda: I work in a boarding school environment).
Barr Beacon's Blueprint for Teacher Wellbeing
The Xmas holidays have arrived and I was taken by this tweet from staff at Barr Beacon school who have putt down on paper some of the things they do for our teachers' well being. They are up to 46...
How to deal with an Oxbridge rejection letter!
How wonderful! When Claudia Vulliamy received a rejection letter from Oxford University she turned it into an incredible piece of art.
Teacher’s Snow-Day Adele Parody Goes Viral!
Perhaps by the time you are reading this your school will have already announced a snow-day? Heaven or hell for teachers? Mary Morris, a teacher at Rush Strong School in Tennessee, put together a...
How to be Happy - A Guide for Teachers
Bradley Busch is a psychologist from Inner Drive. He writes evidence-based articles for The Guardian on topics related to teaching and learning.
Improving Mental Health in Our Schools
John Tomsett, Headmaster at Huntingdon School in York has a new book out early in the New Year.
Creative subjects reduce GCSE stress
I spotted a short article in today's Times, which reported on the findings from a large-scale UK study on the subject choices of GCSE students and the possible link to stress. The survey concluded...
Making Stress your Friend
Ask any teacher if they've had a stressful week and the answer will almost always be "Yes!" But can stress actually be our friend?Watch this 15 min TED talk from psychologist Kelly McGonigal on...
Teaching girls to be brave not perfect
I'm not quite sure yet what I think of this TED talk, but it's worth a watch - Reshma Saujani argues that we are teaching girls to be perfect when we need to teach them to be brave and take more...
How much sleep do teenagers need?
The TeenSleep study will be the largest study ever carried out into the nature and importance of sleep for teenagers. In particular, this Oxford University study will be exploring the impact of...
Self-Injury Awareness Day: March 1st
With 1 in 12 young people deliberately self-harming at some point, there are 150,000 hospital attendances annually for self-harm related issues.
How to help anxious students
I've spoken to lots of parents recently who are concerned about anxiety in their children, especially as the summer exams start to become a very real focus. What can you do as a teacher to help...
Anti-doping in school sports
Millfield School in Somerset has announced that they have joined the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) Accreditation Scheme, the first school in the UK to do so.
Normal teenager, or mental health issues?
Normal teenagers are very often moody due to the complexity of the hormonal and physical changes that happen during puberty. However, it can be really difficult to distinguish normal teenage...
Non-gender-specific school uniform
I read about a bold move by Brighton College earlier today, whose Headmaster is scrapping the notion of girls' uniform and boys' uniform, to be replaced by a "trouser uniform" and "skirt uniform"...
How Mindfulness Can Reduce Teacher and Student Stress
Many schools are using mindfulness as a mechanism for reducing stress levels amongst students and teachers.
What about YOUth? Life as a 15-year old
The What About YOUth survey has recently published its findings into analysing and mapping the typical life of 15 year olds in the UK - you can follow this link to find out more about the issues...
Transition from primary to secondary school - impact on mental health
Over the summer, researchers at the University of Cambridge published the findings of a study that they had carried out on the impact of the transition from primary school to secondary school on...
Mental Health resources
Recent surveys have shown that, on average, 3 children in a typical class suffer from some sort of mental health problem (although many never report it because of fear of stigma), and that over 60%...