The Role of the Senior Leadership Team in Promoting Class Teachers’ Wellbeing in Primary Schools

Abstract

This paper examines the present situation of class teachers in primary schools and the possible strategies that school leaders can employ to promote teachers’ wellbeing. An explanatory sequential mixed methods research design was used. The first phase involved distributing two online surveys, one for class teachers and one for SLT members, in seven Maltese primary schools. The data from the questionnaires were integrated and analysed to formulate the interview questions held with Heads of Schools (primary). Findings revealed that the support from school leaders is essential to enhance teachers’ welfare and that strategies including an open-door policy, shared decision-making, teambuilding activities, and the enforcement of curriculum time help sustain a whole-school approach toward teachers’ wellbeing. Following the research findings, the last section of this article concludes the study by tying it to practice and presenting an action plan that school leaders can use. This research also presents the ideas of this action plan in a user-friendly website1 aimed at giving the right tools to school leaders to bring about the change needed in the lives of educators.