Education Worker Toolkit
Like all Canadians, education workers and teachers experience mental health challenges. As part of a larger study of Canadian professional workers, 1146 education workers completed a survey to explore their experiences with mental health, leaves of absence, and return to work between November 2020 and May 2021.
Click below for the education report
A high number of education workers in our study, over 50%, reported having had a mental health issue at some point during their careers, with female teachers reporting high rates.
53 education workers were interviewed about their experiences. Themes such as increased workload, digital stress, the impact of leadership, social isolation and feeling disconnected were mentioned most often.
Our research team utilized survey data and interview stories to curate a list of resources to help improve education worker mental health with a focus on system, organization and team level resources.
Please watch our introductory video to help guide you through the resource options available.
This app aims to help teachers take care of themselves and feel stronger when it comes to navigating mental health. This can be achieved through community and providing services to connect, heal, and learn.
Well at Work provides magazine articles, blogs and more about healthy workplaces in K-12 education.
What Interviewee’s are Saying:
“Nobody quits a job. They Quit a Manager”
“My interactions with health and wellness have left me feeling frustrated and feeling like I’m a number and not a person”
Taking Care of Teachers: Mental Health & Wellbeing Hub
This virtual hub includes information, tools, and resources on school staff mental health and wellbeing. Topics cover staff wellbeing, school culture, supporting teams and measuring success.
Mentally Healthy Schools: Resource Hub
This resource hub is for classroom and wellbeing support. Resources include online activities, toolkits, trainings, videos, podcasts, lesson plans and more.
Microaggressions: staff meeting presentation and guidance
A microaggression is 'an act or a remark that discriminates against one or more members of a minority group, either deliberately or by mistake.' This training includes a PowerPoint and guidance on delivering a presentation about microaggressions to staff members.
Anti-racism policy template
Developing and implementing a school anti-racism policy can have a number of benefits including, increased recruitment and rentention of racially minoritised staff and increased self-esteem and confidence of students. This document provides guidance on how to write an anti-racism policy.
Supporting staff from racially minoritised groups
Supporting staff from diverse backgrounds involves looking at the 'hidden workload' that teachers from racially minoritised backgrounds may encounter. This document provides actionable items that schools can do to support the mental health and wellbeing of staff from racially minoritised groups.
The Teacher App
This app aims to help teachers take care of themselves and feel stronger when it comes to navigating mental health. This can be achieved through community and providing services to connect, heal, and learn.
Restructure the School Year
The four-day school week has received mixed reviews in the literature. “A shortened workweek is not a ‘magic pill’ to solve the problem. If we don’t improve working conditions and compensate educators properly, the length of the workweek will not matter.” Barnes, 2022
Subtract Duties from Teaching
This article outlines the power of taking something away as opposed to continually adding to work responsibilities/expectations. What could we subtract from the school day that would improve teacher mental health/wellbeing?
Teacher Driven Professional Development (PD) Days
Teachers want to be heard and have choice/time to engage in professional development opportunities that will benefit their mental health/wellbeing. This will look and sound differently across school boards/districts depending on educator needs.
Sex and Gender Based Analysis Workplace Discrimination and Bias Toolkit
The SGBA Workplace Discrimination Bias Toolkit provides common definitions and language along with promising practices to help address workplace discrimination.
Sex and Gender Based Analysis Harassment and Bullying Toolkit
The SGBA harrassment and bullying toolkit provides common definitions and language, describes the impact of bullying and harassment on mental health and outlines promising practices to address bullying and harassment.
Workplace Strategies for Mental Health
Accommodation strategies for employees with mental health issues who are at work or returning to work.
Workplace Wellbeing and Mental Health Toolkit
Alberta Health Services created evidence-based actionable strategies to help workplaces increase support for individual mental health in the workplace.
Addressing Racism in the K-12 Workplace
This article discusses how anti-racism is integral to staff well-being. School districts should feature acknowledgement, community partnership and leadership, accountability, disaggregated race-based data collection, transparent monitoring and reporting along with policy development and implementation.
Well at Work K-12 Leadership Course
This course with modules delivered by Canadian school district leaders and subject matter experts, this course prepares education leaders to undertake a systemic approach aimed at sustainably improving employee wellbeing which contributes to a more positive school environment for students.
Focus on Administrator Wellbeing
This article challenges readers to rethink administrative work that does not have student learning at its core. Workload volume is the highest source of stress, so action to reduce and change this is urgently needed.
Leading Mentally Healthy Schools
This document provides an overview of key information and resources helpful to administrators in fostering mentally healthy school environments for students and staff.
Workplace Wellness Playbook
The Workplace Wellness Playbook is intended to support and inform school authority leaders in collaborative conversations, resulting in the development of a school authority workplace wellness plan.
Beyond the Binder: Towards More Systemic and Sustainable Approaches to Mental Health and Wellbeing in K-12 Education (Canada)
Based on a review of evidence, and emerging practices in Canada and internationally, this document presents seven recommended actions and next steps. It outlines why and how K-12 system leaders and their partners must move beyond one-off interventions, programs, and professional development towards an approach where mental health and wellbeing is integrated in the core mandate of public education. (Recommended Actions and Next Steps pp. 18- 27).
Mental Health in Action for School Leaders
This course is designed to provide school leaders with basic knowledge and information related to mental health, strategies to enhance student mental health, and everyday practices that can be used in the school and classroom.
Teachers of Tomorrow Project
This iniative proposes an upstream approach to addressing student well-being though the issue of teacher preparedness. Key areas of focus include the physical environments of faculty, implementing healthy school policies and teacher and learning strategies. Knowledge exchange can be found at cshhub.com
Professional Induction Program for New Teachers (PIPNPE)
NTIP is the second job-embedded step along a continuum of professional learning for new teachers, building on and complementing initial teacher education programs. It provides professional support to help new teachers develop the requiste skills and knowledge to be effective teachers in Ontario.
New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP)
NTIP is the second job-embedded step along a continuum of professional learning for new teachers, building on and complementing initial teacher education programs. It provides professional support to help new teachers develop the requiste skills and knowledge to be effective teachers in Ontario.
Systemic Support for Teacher Mental Health
This podcast addresses the long standing and often overlooked state of teacher mental health in the U.S. Guest speaker Dr. Kris Scardamalia, associate professor from the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland shares her thoughts.
Mind the Teacher
A five-episode podcast devoted to understanding and addressing the challenges posed by poor mental health in schools, particularly among teachers.
Well at Work Podcast
Explore what’s trending in Canadian workplace wellbeing through this podcast series featuring expert opinion and analysis.
A Conversation on Pan-Canadian Teacher Mental Health
A discussion of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation latest pandemic research report “But at what cost?” Teacher mental health during COVID-19
The Podclass: Conversations on School Health
The podcast features Positive Teacher Well-Being with Dana Fulwiler. The Podclass is an educational podcast developed by Ever Active Schools. The first series is a collaboration with the Werkland School of Education that looks at maximizing the health and well-being of students and teachers.
Here to Help
Screening self-tests are tools that help you look at your mental health or wellness. These tests look for signs or symptoms that can show up in some mental illnesses. They can also help you look at patterns of feelings or patterns of substance use.
BounceBack
BounceBack is a free skill-building program managed by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). It is designed to help adults manage low mood, mild to moderate depression and anxiety, stress or worry.
This Toolkit explores how to implement the Canadian Healthy School Standards, with a specific focus on the actions needed at a school system leadership level. It provides a pathway to follow in the form of six interconnected checklists, along with connections to additional resources.