The Well-Being Of Practitioners - From Surviving To Thriving – Emotions In Action

Well-being of practitioners - Early years settings continue to be under pressure. The impact of the Covid pandemic has threatened sustainability, raised safeguarding concerns about children and led to increased sickness absence or self-isolation of staff. This has been compounded by constant changes in regulations and expectations. Leaders and practitioners are expected to manage a level of flexibility and creativity far beyond anything experienced before.

It has been an enormous challenge to maintain high-quality learning experiences for young children. Yet, early years teachers and practitioners have risen to this challenge, putting the needs and interests of the children first and developing positive working relationships with families, many of whom are under enormous pressure.

Work in the early years field is never just a job. It is a vocation. Practitioners literally ‘take their children home’ with them in their planning and preparation and there is usually at least one child they are holding in mind. The pandemic has made this worse, and it is usually the children with erratic or poor attendance who concern them most. The commitment to the children often goes unrecognised and can leave staff feeling undervalued.

Mental Well-Being Of Practitioners

Over the past twenty years there has been progress in public understanding of mental health and well-being of practitioners has accelerated in recent months due to the pandemic. MIND, the leading charity in this field says we all have ‘mental health’ in the same way we have ‘physical health’ and changes to these states go up and down frequently.

Most people experience mental distress at some point in their lives – experiences that produce a stress, sadness or anxiety that we are not sure we can cope with. For most this is temporary. For people diagnosed with a mental health condition, the recovery can be more complex. By reaching their own decisions about what works for them and with the support of family and friends, many manage their mental health well.

Looking after yourself

I am privileged to work with early years staff at all levels. The coaching conversations we have allow space and time for practitioners to talk about their mental and emotional states, without feeling judged. Leaders are recognising the importance of enabling staff to have some valuable time away from their rooms to take stock, breathe and be heard. This can be through supervision, mentoring, coaching all within an open culture of safeguarding and the well-being of practitioners.

Emotions in Action

An Emotions in Action Matrix (mindspring) (fig 1) helps people organise their understanding about emotions and the important link with energy. It can be used either as part of team training or in a 1:1 coaching session. I ask coachee participants to plot the amount of time spent in each zone in an average week. There has been a shift over the past year where more people are identifying with the Surviving Zone and listing triggers that take them there. We look at a forthcoming day or week and see what triggers move them from positive to negative emotions. The aim is to help reduce this pattern and attempt to keep the well-being of practitioners in the Thriving Zone.

Ruth Mercer is a coach and consultant, with a career background in early education. Ruth is committed to creating a positive learning environment for staff, children and families. She has a successful track record of 1:1 coaching for leaders and group coaching across the maintained and PVI sector. She supports leaders and managers in developing a coaching approach in their settings through bespoke consultancy and introductory training on coaching and mentoring for all staff.