The wellbeing of student teachers: co-created guidance for Initial Teacher Education providers It seems clear that protecting student teacher well-being would create positive steps in solving the teacher retention crisis, and potentially improve recruitment as well. The Department for Education (DfE) have introduced a number of policies and innovations to support teacher wellbeing over the last ten years, including a high-profile workload reduction scheme (DfE, 2018). However, in 2024 the problem persists, ‘workload and the nature of the teaching environment hold significant weight when teachers are deciding whether to remain in the profession’ (Farquharson et al., 2023, p.11) so there is more to be done on this significant issue. Existing research identifies the likely risk and protective factors which affect trainee teachers’ wellbeing and resilience. Risk factors include high workloads, feeling like a burden to mentors and negative school cultures (Malone, Saini and Poole, 2024). In addition, financial anxieties (Bolton, 2022) and performance cultures in schools (Ball, 2021) are also risk factors. Protective factors include positive relationships with staff (Gu and Day, 2013; Worth, Bamford and Durbin, 2015) and integrating wellbeing and resilience interventions into the initial teacher education (ITE) curriculum (McLean, Taylor & Jimenez, 2019; Newberry, 2013). Research suggests that student teacher wellbeing is also of concern in European countries (Thompson, Clarke, Quickfall and Glazzard, 2020) and globally (Hascher and Waber, 2021).
Despite this research, it appears that there is a paucity of research on how to pro-actively support student teachers’ wellbeing. Existing research has gathered perceptions of trainees (for example, Malone et al., 2024) or has explored interventions which are embedded into the central ITE curriculum (McLean et al., 2019; Newberry, 2013). University strategies for wellbeing may not address the specific challenges of students on professional programmes (STeWDUBS, 2023). This study therefore seeks to address the following objectives:
• To produce a literature review on student teacher wellbeing • To co-create a four page guidance document for ITE providers (HEIs, SCITTs and new providers) and policy makers, that is easy to engage with • To create an online video resource to facilitate sharing of the guidance in an easily accessible form