Wellbeing is, rightly, a dominant theme in education.
It’s essential for strong recruitment and retention, underpins morale and helps to shape the culture of a school.
In response, many schools introduce initiatives aimed at lightening the load: meeting-free days, early finishes, email moratoriums, reduced marking expectations and more. The intentions behind these measures are good.
Yet despite this proliferation of wellbeing interventions, too many teachers continue to feel exhausted, overwhelmed and at risk of depression, as evidenced in Education Support’s recent report showing that teacher wellbeing is at a six-year low.
The right kind of wellbeing
Many point to flexible working as a solution - which, while it has clear benefits, cannot solve the fundamental issue: schools are under-resourced and workloads are extensive, which is why we need to look deeper at wellbeing.
Much of what we label as wellbeing misunderstands what truly sustains people in demanding public-service roles.
Increasingly, schools are trying to remove anything that feels difficult or tiring for staff, assuming that comfort and the absence of stress will translate into happiness at work.
But philosophers, from Aristotle to contemporary scholars of psychology, have long shown that this is only half the picture.
Many wellbeing initiatives draw on what is known as hedonic wellbeing: the pursuit of ease, relaxation and the avoidance of discomfort.
There is a place for this in any workplace; nobody thrives in chaos or burnout. But if we stop there, we miss what makes teaching such a meaningful profession.
What educators value most, and what ultimately keeps them in the classroom, is eudaimonic wellbeing.
This comes from mastery, purpose, professional growth and knowing that your hard work matters. It is the deep fulfilment that arises not from doing less but from doing what is most important well.
Teaching with purpose, not ‘treats’
In schools, this distinction is crucial. Teaching is demanding because it is significant. Educators do not feel happiest when workload is simply cut, but when their effort translates into real impact for pupils.
Removing professional challenge in the name of wellbeing risks undermining the very sense of purpose that brings people into the profession in the first place.
At Pioneer Educational Trust, while we do, of course, focus on reducing unnecessary workload and redirecting efforts to the things that matter most, we believe that genuine wellbeing comes from clarity of purpose, intelligent investment in staff development and structures that help colleagues to see the meaning and impact of their work.
Rather than layering on wellbeing “treats”, we focus on the conditions that allow staff to feel effective, valued and professionally connected.
Assessing our offer
How do we deliver and evaluate this approach? A core part of this is our twice-yearly trust reviews, which provide deep, structured insight into staff experience.
They are genuine conversations, informed by evidence, that explore professional development, the work of senior leadership teams, strategic priorities, the effectiveness of opportunities for collaborative planning within teams, and colleagues’ sense of investment in their own growth.
These reviews also capture something harder to measure but deeply important: whether staff feel their work is meaningful and well-supported.
When our reviews find that staff overwhelmingly feel invested in, developed and cared for, we see strong wellbeing and retention as well. This is eudaimonia in action.
Alongside these formal processes, we pay close attention to soft evaluation: what colleagues say informally, how they show up in meetings and the professional and personal state they bring to the room.
Simple practices, such as check-ins at the start of meetings, help leaders to understand not just workload but emotional climate. These conversations surface purpose, not just pressure. They help leaders to ensure that staff feel seen, not merely managed.
Staff insights
We also draw on feedback from our WorkWell Committees, part of our set of Pioneer Promises to all staff.
These groups bring together colleagues to reflect on what is working, what needs improvement and where professional energy is best directed.
The emphasis is not on creating pockets of comfort, but on shaping an environment where colleagues can do their best work and feel proud of it.
The true purpose of wellbeing interventions is not to remove the demands of the job but to help people to meet them confidently and sustainably.
Hedonic “quick fixes” have their place, but if we rely on these, we will continue to miss the wellbeing mark.
If we shift our focus to what really helps staff to thrive - purpose, mastery, meaningful work and intelligent professional investment - we have the chance to not just reduce burnout but restore the profound satisfaction that has always been at the heart of great teaching.
Real wellbeing in schools is not about doing less. It is about doing what matters, and knowing it makes a difference.
Antonia Spinks is chief executive of Pioneer Educational Trust
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