Education staff wellbeing charter
An explanation of the education staff wellbeing charter and the benefits of using it.
Applies to England
Overview
The education staff wellbeing charter is a declaration of support for, and a set of commitments, to the wellbeing and mental health of everyone working in education.
The charter is for education staff in England. This includes temporary and support staff. All state-funded schools and colleges are invited to sign up to the charter as a shared commitment to protect, promote and enhance the wellbeing of their staff.
Sign-up is voluntary and there is no deadline.
The charter was co-created by:
- members of the education sector, including:
- unions (NEU, ASCL, NASUWT, NAHT, Voice Community, Unison)
- Association of Colleges
- Local Government Association
- Mind
- Education Support
- Tapton School
- Learning in Harmony Trust
- Charles Dickens Primary School
- Kensington Primary School
- Meadow High School
- Reaseheath College
- the Department for Education (DfE)
- Ofsted
About the charter
The charter:
- was created by the education sector to highlight staff wellbeing in the education sector
- is a tool for schools and colleges to create and publicly commit to their own wellbeing strategies
- is a declaration to protect, promote and enhance the wellbeing and mental health of everyone working in state education
- includes commitments on education staff wellbeing by DfE and Ofsted
- sets out principles of shared understanding on the meaning and importance of wellbeing and everyone’s roles and responsibilities
- sends a message to everyone working in schools and colleges that their wellbeing and mental health matters
- aims to improve wellbeing in schools and colleges by encouraging debate and accountability
Use the charter to:
- show staff that you take their wellbeing seriously
- open a conversation with staff about their wellbeing and mental health
- create a staff wellbeing strategy
- create a wellbeing-focused culture
Download the .
Why you should use the charter
Signing up to the charter is a public commitment to actively promote mental health and wellbeing through policy and practice. It is a way to show current and prospective staff that your school or college is dedicated to improving and protecting their wellbeing.
Protecting the wellbeing and mental health of staff is:
- essential for improving morale and productivity
- critical to recruiting and retaining good staff
- a legal duty: employers are required by law to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees
- taken account of as part of Ofsted inspections
Signing up to the charter
Signing up to the charter is voluntary. All state-funded schools and colleges, including maintained nursery schools, school-based nurseries, special schools and pupil referral units are invited to sign up to the charter as a shared commitment to protect, promote and enhance the wellbeing of their staff.
All other education institutions, such as universities, independent schools and early years providers, are free to make use of the principles and organisational commitments, but they cannot sign up. The charter was co-created by an expert group with schools and colleges in mind, but the principles and organisational commitments will apply to most education settings.
Deciding to sign up
The decision to sign up should be made by your school or college senior leadership team.
If you are a local authority or trust, you can sign up for schools, colleges or academies on their behalf, but you should consult with the senior leadership team of each setting.
How to sign up
Complete the form to sign up to the education staff wellbeing charter
To sign up, you’ll need:
- permission from your senior leadership team
- your school or college unique reference number (URN) – you can find your URN by searching for your establishment on get information about schools
- your establishment name
- your postcode
- confirmation that you have read the and give permission for DfE to use your personal data
If you have any queries or no longer wish for your organisation to be a signatory to the charter, email [email protected] .
There is no expectation for your school or college to sign up to the charter now. You should sign up when it is right for your organisation and when you will get the most benefit from it.
How your information will be used
Read the .
Monitoring and evaluation
DfE will:
- conduct user research on the impact of the charter in organisations that sign up
- add questions on the impact of the charter to departmental surveys with schools and colleges
- evaluate progress periodically
Read the department’s progress report on our commitments in the education staff wellbeing charter.
Wellbeing resources
Measuring wellbeing
The charter encourages the measuring of staff wellbeing so you can monitor and respond to any changes. Some resources to help this include:
- What Works Centre for Wellbeing’s guide on improving staff wellbeing in schools and colleges
- Education Support’s staff wellbeing audit tool
- Department for Work and Pensions’ workplace wellbeing tool that helps employers work out the costs of poor employee health
- the Thriving Places Index which identifies the local conditions for wellbeing and measures whether these are being delivered fairly and sustainably
The Measures of National Well-being Dashboard monitors and reports on wellbeing of the UK.
Supporting staff wellbeing and mental health
Some resources to help support your staff’s mental wellbeing include:
- guidance on promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges
- Education Support’s resources to help your organisation with mental health and wellbeing including free 24 hour helpline for education staff
- Mentally Healthy Schools which is a directory of resources for schools
- Anna Freud’s guidance on supporting staff wellbeing in schools
- Mental Health at Work resources for schools
- mindfulness and meditation sessions through Headspace for Educators
- the NEOST staff wellbeing guide for schools and trusts
- the local mental health support database from the Hub of Hope
- Education Support’s wellbeing tips for teachers
- NHS every mind matters guidance on dealing with loneliness
- Money and Pensions Service guidance on supporting employees’ financial wellbeing
Find out how your school or college can apply for a grant for senior mental health lead training.
Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff
The Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff service can help you promote staff wellbeing and support workload reduction in your school with free resources that:
- are produced by school leaders, for school leaders
- support what you’re already doing
- can be adapted to work in your school
Reducing workload in schools
A collection of guidance and resources to help you reduce school workload is available.
Flexible working in schools
Guidance on flexible working in schools is available. There’s also a collection of flexible working resources for teachers and leaders.
Behaviour in schools
The guidance on behaviour in schools guidance will help you to develop your behaviour policy.
Other resources
Other resources you may find useful include:
- guidance on returning to teaching
- a blog post on why looking after our mental health has never been more important for teachers
- a blog post on the 4 key ways we’re supporting staff wellbeing
- video examples of how schools are implementing workload and wellbeing strategies
Updates to this page
Published 10 May 2021Last updated 8 May 2024 + show all updates
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Updated the list of resources to help support staff wellbeing and mental health.
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Added a link in the 'Monitoring and evaluation' section to DfE’s progress update on its commitments in the education staff wellbeing charter.
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Added a link to the form to sign up to the education staff wellbeing charter. Updated the privacy notice for the education staff wellbeing charter and the list of wellbeing resources.
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We have updated the 'Privacy notice for Education Staff Wellbeing Charter' and added information on how organisations can remove themselves as signatories to the charter.
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Guidance updated to reflect addition of information on how to sign up to Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, additional wellbeing and mental health resources and minor amendments to the 'Education staff wellbeing charter' document.
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First published.