Mental Wellbeing
There are several factors that have an important impact on teachers’ mental wellbeing: self-beliefs, mindsets, attributions and optimism, and attention and multitasking.
You can question the following items to find out more about your mental wellbeing:
1- Multiple selves: How do I manage the requirements of multiple me?
(Multiple selves refer to the fact that everybody has multiple selves and there are roles associated with them. For example, a popular notion is work-life balance. Sometimes it might be hard to switch between roles, especially in the domains of work and family. One emotion in a domain usually spills over to the other domain, also influencing the people in our immediate environment.)
2- How much do I focus on my strengths?
(Self-confidence is another aspect of mental wellbeing. Self-efficacy is often linked with wellbeing and the risk of burnout. Our experiences of success and failure, the people who provide a good example of success, others’ judgments of us, and our emotional states impact our self-efficacy beliefs. (Bandura, 1995)
3- What is my mindset: growth or fixed?
(Growth mindset is the belief that we can control our competences and their development, which also functions as a foundation for a more positive outlook in the face of challenges (Mercer & Gregerson, 2020). Fixed mindset, on the other hand, prompts people to believe that their capacity has limits, which hinders further development (Dweck, 2009). Dweck (2015) also warns that the concept is sometimes interpreted too rigidly whereas, in fact, people mostly have both of these mindsets in different aspects, and the important thing is to recognize and make use of them efficiently.)
4- What do I attribute success and failures to: the things I can have an impact on or the things beyond my reach?
(Teachers feel a greater sense of control and efficacy if they believe they can somewhat influence success and failure. In order to do so, one should recognize the things that can be changed and be realistic. Self-fulfilling prophecy is a relevant concept and can be interpreted as making something happen by focusing on certain things. For example, if we focus on positive sides, positive things will eventually happen.)
5- How do I allocate my limited attention and do I overwhelm myself?
(There are four different types of attention: sustained attention, which is focusing on one specific thing at a time; selective attention; alternating attention, which is switching attention from one task to another; and divided attention, which is running multiple tasks simultaneously. As humans only have limited attentional resources, it is important to use them wisely and not to overwhelm ourselves unnecessarily.)
Some strategies to improve mental wellbeing
Work-life balance strategies as summarized by Zheng et. al (2015)
Have a positive attitude and outlook to create a capacity to decrease conflict
Control the situation rather than letting the situation control you
Manage your time to fit in family members’ commitments and create opportunities for leisure activities
A life management strategy to relieve tension on multiple selves: “selection, optimization and compensation (SOC) model” (Baltes & Heydens-Gahir, 2003)
1. Select your goals and commit to them, give your efforts a nonrandom direction
2. Optimize the use of strategies, work to achieve the goals
3. Compensate with different strategies when faced with a challenge in the way to achieve the goals
Find out about your strengths by using “Values in Action” (VIA) inventory. It’s a rather long survey, but it might help you figure out your strengths and weaknesses in detail. You can complete the survey for free on this link: https://www.viacharacter.org/account/register
Take notes of any self-talk about the areas you hope to develop and change the wording, such as by adding a “yet” at the end. For example, don’t say, “I can’t do that,” but say, “I can’t do that yet.” (Mercer & Gregersen, 2020)
Keep a “silver linings” journal: Pay attention to any negative event during this or next week and immediately try to find a positive side of it. (e.g. I’ve just missed the ferry. Silver lining: I’ll have more time on the ferry to listen to my favorite music.) Finally, jot down your thoughts about this experience and share it with your colleagues or students. (Mercer & Gregersen, 2020)
References
Bandura, A. (1995). Exercise of personal and collective efficacy in changing societies. Self-efficacy in changing societies, 15, 334.
Dweck, C. (2015). Carol Dweck revisits the growth mindset. Education Week, 35(5), 20-24.
Dweck, C. S. (2009). Mindsets: Developing talent through a growth mindset. Olympic Coach, 21(1), 4-7.
Mercer, S., & Gregersen, T. (2020). Teacher wellbeing. Oxford University Press.
Zheng, C., Molineux, J., Mirshekary, S., & Scarparo, S. (2015). Developing individual and organisational work-life balance strategies to improve employee health and wellbeing. Employee Relations.
Baltes, B. B., & Heydens-Gahir, H. A. (2003). Reduction of work-family conflict through the use of selection, optimization, and compensation behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(6), 1005.