Exploring a Solution to the Crisis Happening in our School Boards Today - We Can’t Ignore it any Longer.

My heart is broken when I see what’s happening in our school boards today.

Last month there was an audio recording that was captured and circulated of a teacher losing it with first graders in a Quebec French School. I was appalled and so angry to hear a teacher yell at the top of her lungs to 6 and 7-year-old children. A range of emotions kept on flooding through me and I experienced so much pain in my heart that these young kids were at the receiving end of this terror. Now I’m so sad to realize that this isn’t an uncommon occurrence. Our teachers and school staff are so burnt out and unwell with the pressures and asks of them, that they can no longer function. They too are acting out and must not be expected to continue in this way.

It's not just the teachers and students, it’s administrators and school staff that are experiencing all kinds of pain like this.

This year’s Annual Ontario School Survey (AOSS) 2021–22 data entitled “a perfect storm of stress” illuminates this broken system of ours—and the individuals inside of it— on the brink of breakdown. Students, educators, and school boards across the province have been pushed to their limits, with inadequate resources and little respite. The findings in this report explore the 965 responses People for Education (PFE) gathered from principals across Ontario, representing 70 of the 72 publicly funded school boards in the province. Their perspectives articulate the challenging circumstances facing their school communities.

“The most recent findings capture the turbulent reality that Ontario principals, school staff, and students are currently experiencing in an education system pushed to the limits.”

Now more than ever, the school administrators, teachers, and school personnel need support. We can no longer ignore the stress and dysfunction that is happening in our school boards and the impact it is having on our children.

What I have witnessed is not only our school boards are at the brink of breakdown, but organizations and individuals are at the brink of breakdown too. As Tony Schwartz, founder of The Energy Project says, “The way we are working is not working” and he’s right. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes as a public servant for 22 years and now as a wellbeing expert I see it at every level of government, at colleges and universities, school boards, daycares, and this dysfunction is expanding in other environments such as retail, restaurants and more.

We’ve got some serious change that needs to happen individually and collectively. If we want our children and the generations ahead to have a chance to live prosperous, respectful, and healthy lives we need to make fundamental changes.

The problem exists everywhere. It seems that everybody has been pushed to their limits. A report finds school principals and vice-principals struggled dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted here in an article shared in Saskatchewan. Everett Dorma

Here are some ways we can solve this problem for our school boards, but also for all workplaces and organizations.?

-?All school personnel should be offered the opportunity to learn how to manage their own personal energy to avoid burnout and the negative impact on their students

-?We all need to take individual responsibility in managing our mental health & wellbeing

-?We need to bring balance to our physical, mental, emotional and core elements in actionable, repeatable ways

-?We need to change our fear-based egotistical thinking to balanced perspectives and by having a growth mindset instead

-?We need to provide training on resilience, mental health and wellbeing to all school staff (workplaces) including the administrators

-?We need to add mental resilience and wellbeing as a part of the school curriculum for students of all grades

“Staff are expected to deliver mental health and wellbeing supports, but they themselves are in need of mental health and wellbeing supports.?The workload of the past two+ years has only increased (and no indication of it leveling out). They are overloaded and overworked”. – Elementary school principal, Eastern Ontario?

Taking responsibility for one’s wellbeing is one of the most powerful things a human being can do. When school staff and other workplaces have the tools and resources they need, students and staff are set up for success.?Wellbeing principles must be fostered at all levels of a school system for sustainability and for the wellbeing of our future generations.??

Learn more about how you can include resilience, mental health, and wellbeing education and training in your school board with Peak Energy Management.