Wellbeing in Schools Is Change Work but We’re Not Treating It That Way

Wellbeing Matters More Than Ever

Workplace wellbeing has become an increasing focus in education. It is essential not only for supporting staff but for enabling schools to function and for sustainably. When people feel well, supported, and able to do their jobs, schools are more likely to retain staff, maintain stability, and create the conditions where both adults and pupils can thrive.

And yet, despite growing attention and investment, many schools are not seeing the impact they had hoped for.

This raises a question. What if part of the problem lies not in what schools are doing to improve workplace wellbeing, but in how they are approaching it?

Wellbeing Initiatives Are Also Change Initiatives

Every initiative introduced in the name of wellbeing represents a form of change. Whether it is a new policy, a revised approach to workload, or a focus on boundaries and staff support, each one asks people to think differently, behave differently, or work differently. Even when these changes are positive and well-intentioned, they still require time, energy, and attention from the people expected to engage with them.

This is where a key issue begins to emerge. In many cases, wellbeing initiatives are introduced without being fully understood as change processes. They are positioned as solutions, rather than as shifts that need to be carefully implemented, supported, and sustained over time. As a result, they can unintentionally add to the very pressures they are designed to reduce.

The Pressure of Constant Change

Schools operate in environments where change is already constant and part of everyday life. Within this context, even positive initiatives can feel like an additional layer rather than helpful and something else to manage.

This highlights the importance of perspective. A leader introducing a wellbeing initiative may see it as supportive. However, for those on the frontline, the experience may feel quite different. They may be thinking about how it fits into their workload, what it requires of them, and whether it adds to the demands they are already managing.

These differences in perception matter, because wellbeing is not defined by intention. It is defined by how work is actually experienced

Understanding the Nature of Change

Organisational psychologists Paton and McCalman (2000) suggest that before implementing change, it is important to understand the nature of that change. This involves asking what is it that we really need to see a change with? We need to consider how it will affect people, and whether the conditions are in place to support it.

Without this level of consideration, even well-designed initiatives can struggle to take hold. Change is not simply about introducing something new; it is about how that new approach is understood, interpreted, and enacted across the school.

Boundaries: A Simple Idea, A Complex Reality

The example of boundaries illustrates this. Encouraging staff to prote

ct their time and switch off from work sounds both reasonable and necessary. However, in practice, setting boundaries requires more than individual effort. It depends on shared understanding across teams, consistent expectations, trust, and often a rethinking of how work is organised.

Without these supporting conditions, the responsibility falls back onto individuals to manage within a system that may still be creating pressure.

The Real Issue: Conditions vs Coping

This points to a broader issue. Many wellbeing approaches focus on helping individuals cope more effectively with the demands placed upon them. While this has value, it can overlook the organisational conditions that are generating those demands in the first place. Workload, lack of control, emotional pressures, and competing priorities all play a significant role in shaping people’s experiences at work. If these factors remain unchanged, wellbeing initiatives are unlikely to achieve lasting impact.

From Initiatives to Organisational Change

What begins to emerge, then, is a different way of understanding the workplace wellbeing challenge. The issue is not that schools are failing to address wellbeing, but that wellbeing is often treated as a series of initiatives rather than as an ongoing process of organisational change. It is approached as something that can be introduced, rather than something that needs to be embedded.

For leaders, this presents a point of reflection. Before introducing a new wellbeing initiative, it may be worth asking what is actually being changed, how it will be experienced by staff, and whether the organisation is ready to support that change.

When wellbeing is understood as change work, it highlights the need to create the right conditions for that change to take place. Staff need time to make sense of new approaches, space to engage with them, and consistency in how they are applied.

About the Author

Karen Forshaw is an Organisational Psychologist (MSc) and former Headteacher. She helps school leaders and trusts translate wellbeing research into practical, sustainable strategies that improve performance and culture.

👉 If your school or trust is revisiting its workplace wellbeing strategy, get in touch at *karen@humanedgeperformance.com to explore how HumanEdge Performance can help