It has been said that teachers make more minute-by-minute decisions than brain surgeons! Teachers hold space and look after on average 30 pupils in each class they teach. They support pupil wellbeing while trying to teach an exciting and enriching curriculum to pupils who all have different starting points and needs. With demanding expectations placed on teachers by their school, parents and government, many teachers become overwhelmed and unfortunately too many experience burnout. Tapping can help teachers to reduce stress levels and acknowledge how they are feeling and what they are dealing with.
Concerns for Teacher and School Leader Wellbeing
The 2024 Department for Education in England survey on working lives of teachers and leaders found that 63% of teachers and school leaders said that work has negatively impacted their mental health in the last year. Just over a third of teachers and leaders who are working in state schools are looking to leave, with 84% citing poor wellbeing and stress as the reasons. Everyday aspects of teaching, assessing and nurturing a class can be demanding and all consuming for teachers. Self-care routines which prioritizes their wellbeing before their job's demands will benefit not just the teachers but their students as well.
How Tapping Can Help Reduce Stress
As a primary school teacher for over 25 years and an Assistant Headteacher for over 10 years, I know first hand the impact that teaching can have on personal wellbeing. I started tapping and trained as an EFT practitioner to support my own wellbeing and found that it made an enormous difference. I tap before school each day on what I have coming up that day and how I am feeling. Doing this, I am helping to lower my cortisol levels and acknowledge feelings before entering the school building. I also use tapping regularly when I have had a particularly difficult day, maybe dealing with challenging behaviour or parents or a worrying safeguarding issue. I find tapping helps me to process my thoughts and helps me feel calmer and more in control.
Creating Small Wins Every Day
From my experience, tapping has the power to support teachers and school leaders to have small wins every day. Tapping provides a strategy teachers can use whenever they are worried, anxious, overwhelmed or triggered. We know tapping is easy to learn and produces results fast. This is especially important with added pressures in teaching such as Government Inspections, challenging parents and pressure to accelerate pupil achievement for the school to attain progress levels. This can lead to teachers experiencing high anxiety, panic attacks and burnout.
Teachers want to do what is best for the pupils that they teach and work hard to do this. By getting tapping into education, as a strategy that teachers can use for their own wellbeing and to help manage stress levels, we would be helping a whole generation of educators and the pupils they teach. When teachers feel happy and well in themselves they are going to be in the best position to support the students they teach. Let’s keep our teachers and leaders in education by supporting great wellbeing with tapping.
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Article by Michelle Auton, Author of What Happy Teachers Do published by Hay House
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
Endnote:
GOV.UK (2024) Working lives of teachers and leaders: wave 2 summary report - GOV.UK [Accessed 24th January 2025]
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