National Wellness Month: The crucial role of wellness in education

‘Life is not merely being alive, but being well’ – Marcus Aurelius

It’s National Wellness Month and to mark the occasion, we asked Kevin Hawkins and Amy Burke - authors of The Mindful Teacher’s Toolkit - and Elizabeth Holmes - author of A Practical Guide to Teacher Wellbeing and The Primary Teacher's School Year Planner – on what they believe wellness in education to be.

“We believe that wellness in education is an area that deserves far more attention in our school systems. In fact, it should increasingly be seen as a central driver of educational models, alongside academic achievement, helping to truly make schools centre for human development and equipping students with the ‘self, other and planetary care’ capacities and skills that are so much needed in the world at this moment. A starting point for this work is supporting teachers and school systems in making self-care (including organizational self-care) a key component in helping build sustainability and resilience in teachers and school leaders who are seeking to model these core skills for their students.” Kevin Hawkins and Amy Burke, Mindwell Education (www. mindwell-education.com)

Find out more about The Mindful Teacher’s Toolkit here.

Featured

Kevin Hawkins is an independent speaker, consultant and teacher trainer. He has worked with children and adolescents in various contexts for over 40 years as a teacher, school head and social worker, in the UK, Europe and Africa. He has taught across the age ranges in state schools and in international schools, with a focus on developing the whole child through balancing academic, social and emotional aspects of learning.

Amy Burke is an educational consultant who spent 15 years as a high school teacher and guidance counsellor in Canada and The Netherlands. She holds a Master's Degree in Contemplative Education from Naropa University and in 2012 co-founded MindWell. Amy is a facilitator for the CARE program (Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education), a teacher trainer for the Mindfulness in Schools Project and she is also a Mentor for Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme UK). Amy works internationally providing workshops and retreats for educators, students and parents with a focus on self-care and stress management.

“Wellness is key to living a good life. Our mental and physical wellness can help us to thrive and enjoy full and balanced lives. So it is absolutely essential that wellness plays a central role in education whether that is around developing an environment in which teacher wellbeing is nurtured, supporting the emotional and physical wellbeing of the children in a school, or the wellbeing of the wider community including the children's parents. We have to develop a shared understanding of what wellness means in the context of the lives of the children and adults in education, so that we are all in the best position possible to teach and to learn. This is such a crucial feature of our developing lives that we simply cannot afford to ignore the role that a focus on wellness should play in our communities” - Elizabeth Holmes

Click here for more about Elizabeth Holmes and her titles.

Featured

Elizabeth Holmes is a teacher, writer, lifelong learner, and mother with wide-ranging and varied experience in the world of education. She has written extensively on teacher wellbeing for a range of national and international publications and websites, and has worked with teachers all over the UK to help develop a greater understanding of wellbeing in education. Elizabeth currently teaches on initial teacher education courses at the University of Chichester. You can find out more about Elizabeth’s work at elizabethholmes.info.

Fancy more on the topic of wellbeing? Visit our mental health and wellbeing hub here!