The terms “self-care” and “well-being” are often narrowly understood or simply misconceived. Myths like these abound: Self-care is selfish. Self-care means pampering and relaxation. Wellbeing is about lunchtime yoga and morning teas at work.

If we aren’t well, we can’t turn up to school consistently and work well together. Self-care and wellbeing are therefore a vital part of our everyday work and professional development. Our article Self-care is vital for teachers and leaders sets out this argument in more detail.

Work-life balance is an appealing idea and a commonly used term, but not one that withstands too many questions. How can ‘work’ and ‘life’ be separated when work is a part of life? How can they therefore be ‘balanced,’ which implies equal amounts of time and energy to applied to both? And in any case, is balance meant to signify time allocation, personal priorities, or something else? 

‘Are you okay?’ is simple question that can accomplish a lot of important work for personal and professional check-ins with people around us. It’s a clear and gentle prompt when we sense that colleagues may be going through a difficult time. 

Teachers and school leaders face a high level of stress, exhaustion, and burnout. This is not in debate. While these emotions and responses are normal, they can become a problem if they become chronic, when they might pose serious challenges for individuals and the whole workforce. 

Every day, every term, every year, teachers, and school leaders walk a fine line between ‘being ok’ and ‘being close to burnout’. Burnout is a difficult issue at the best of times, and it isn’t going away. 

Wouldn’t it be great if a simple recipe or set of steps could fix burnout? Sadly, it’s not that simple. But there are things we can do that make a difference, and ways to implement personalised action plans that be effective for each of us. 

Put on your own oxygen mask first and then attend to others. This rule is useful when it comes to preventing burnout. It can help us understand the work involved in first taking care of ourselves and then using this to role-model effective strategies and behaviours, and to support others to do the same.