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Spotlight on teaching students' wellbeing

Efforts to safeguard the wellbeing of pre-service and graduate teachers have resulted in a new suite of evidence-based student resources and a 500 per cent surge in enrolments in a pioneering teacher mental health unit.

Australian Catholic University, the nation's largest provider of initial teacher education, will also host a symposium in May for pre-service, provisional and early career educators about teachers' mental health.

Spearheaded by ACU education lecturer Dr Debra Phillips, the three-pronged approach to supporting teacher mental health and wellbeing has been designed to give students and early career educators the tools to prioritise their health from the outset amid the challenges of the profession.

And given more than three quarters of Australian teachers are female, Dr Phillips said putting a spotlight on teacher mental health and wellbeing was also a perfect way to mark International Women's Day on Saturday.

Dr Phillips, a former secondary teacher for more than 30 years whose efforts have been driven by her own experiences with burnout and depression, said it was vital to support teachers' mental health for their own wellbeing, the wellbeing of their students and families, and their longevity in the profession.

"Years of teacher shortages caused largely by educators leaving the job before retirement has increased awareness of the need to keep our teachers in the profession by ensuring they come into teaching with a knowledge of how to maintain their mental health," Dr Phillips said.

"All teachers, especially our beginning teachers, encounter many, varied and unexpected difficulties in the classroom and in the school environment and need a robust set of evidence-based tools and strategies to deal with them in a way that doesn't erode their own mental health and wellbeing."

Dr Phillips designed ACU's Teachers' Mental Health: The First Five Years undergraduate unit in 2023 - an offering which also complements postgraduate offerings in the wellbeing space.

The number of undergraduate students enrolled in the unit which, among other assessments requires students to create their own mental health care action plan, has grown by 500 per cent in just two years.

"We knew the need was there, but it's wonderful to see emerging and beginning teachers identify this for themselves and take proactive steps to care for their mental and emotional wellbeing," Dr Phillips said.

"The feedback we've received from students and graduates who have studied the unit has been heartening. They are finding it useful in helping them to positively navigate the challenges they face."

Dr Phillips has also worked closely with ACU National School of Education colleague Associate Professor Monica Wong and a team from ACU's Centre for Education and Innovation including Celia Di lorio, Dr Agnes Au, Chad Lockwood, Nola Watson, Professor Anthony Whitty, and Associate Professor Alison Owens, to create a new online resource to support teaching students, particularly as they prepare for in-school placements.

The Mental health matters for future teachers platform includes information on key components of mental health and wellbeing, tips on how to create a work-life balance, insights to address challenges in the classroom, and vignette exercises to help students learn, build and reinforce evidence-based skills and strategies.

Dr Phillips said the online symposium, scheduled for May 27 and centred on the same theme as the new platform, would feature information and strategies to support teacher mental health and wellbeing and include presentations from teaching students and graduates.

She said plans were also underway to provide education graduates with access to short courses to help them navigate the challenges faced by early career teachers.

"When it comes to offering support to safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of our teaching students and graduates, you can never do too much. To teach well, is to be well," she said.