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Mental Wellbeing

Education for Mental Health Toolkit - Staff Development

Despite advances in technology, teaching and learning remains a social endeavour, whether delivered online or in person (1-2).

Staff Development

Despite advances in technology, teaching and learning remains a social endeavour, whether delivered online or in person (1-2). Curriculum is designed and delivered by people to people. If curriculum is genuinely to consider wellbeing, then all staff involved in designing and delivering the curriculum must understand the relationship between wellbeing and learning and how curriculum can support both. If the development of this understanding is not to be left to chance, then it must become a focus of proactive staff development.

Education for Mental Health

Download a digital copy of the full toolkit, the staff development toolkit and case studies.

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Taking the widest view of curriculum into account, benefit can be gained from focussing staff development on relationships between wellbeing and the design of curriculum, how curriculum is delivered and the appropriate role(s) of academic colleagues. Evidence suggests it may also be wise to consider equipping staff to respond, within their role, to students who experience poor wellbeing and/or mental illness (3-4). Work in this area suggests that interventions of this kind must be embedded in longer term programmes of ongoing development that are specifically tailored to staff roles. Research shows that academic staff find generic mental health or wellbeing training to be less helpful and that one-off training can sometime lead to greater confusion and potential blurring of boundaries (3, 5).

For staff development of this type to be truly effective it needs to be embedded into the learning culture of the institution. As the University Mental Health Charter (6) frames it – it must take a ‘whole university approach.’ Cowan et al (7) argue that curriculum development and staff development should be viewed as one process. In other words, that the development of a new curriculum should be viewed as an opportunity to develop all of the staff involved. This can include, not only academic staff but also relevant academic managers, those involved in supporting curriculum development and those involved in validation processes.

If a genuine whole university approach to curriculum is being employed, thought must also be given to the development needs of staff who may have valuable expertise to provide, but who may not have previously been included in curriculum design or in teaching and learning activity (8). This may include, for example, student services staff, experts in inclusivity or study skills teams.

Within the UK, significantly more attention has been paid in recent years to the development of high quality teaching and learning. Most universities now provide new academic staff with training through Post-graduate Certificates in Higher Education. Many also provide continuous professional development, to support more experienced staff to enhance their teaching. These programmes provide ideal vehicles for increasing understanding of the relationship between wellbeing and learning and how curriculum can support both.

As part of this project, we have developed a package of resources that can be utilised within PG Cert HE courses and in academic staff development. Aligned with Level 6/7 of the UK Quality Code (QAA, 2018), activities and resources are presented for application and use in university teacher development programmes and related postgraduate learning and teaching qualifications. Structured around a series of themes and incorporating defined aims, learning activities, and outcomes, material is designed acknowledging the diversity of teaching practices and that many staff are new to UK higher education, new to teaching, and in many cases new to delivering and supporting related staff development activities. Linked to evidence, case studies, and relevant secondary literature and further reading, details are included outlining possible approaches to integration within existing programmes or use as elements for new programmes or CPD activities. The document including these resources can be downloaded here.

Key Lessons

  • If curriculum is to genuinely consider wellbeing, those staff who are designing and delivering wellbeing must understand the relationship between wellbeing and learning and how curriculum can support both
  • If the development of this understanding is not to be left to chance, then it must become a focus of proactive staff development for all teaching staff
  • This staff development will be most effective if embedded in an ongoing culture and is delivered to a broad staff group including academics, academic managers, those involved in validation processes and staff with valuable expertise not previously involved in developing curriculum, such as student services staff
  • Linked to this toolkit is a package of resources that can be used to support staff development in this area.
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References
  1. Brown AL, Campione JC. Communities of learning and thinking, or a context by any other name. Contemporary issues in teaching and learning. 2002:120-6.
  2. Goodhart C. Learning is a social activity. Review of Behavioral Finance. 2020:12(1):21-5.
  3. Hughes G, Panjawni M, Tulcidas P, Byrom N. Student mental health: The role and experiences of academics. Oxford: Student Minds. 2018.
  4. Gulliver A, Farrer L, Bennett K, Ali K, Hellsing A, Katruss N, Griffiths KM. University staff experiences of students with mental health problems and their perceptions of staff training needs. Journal of Mental Health. 2018 May 4;27(3):247-56. Available from: doi: 10.1080/09638237.2018.1466042
  5. Narayanasamy M, Geraghty J, Coole C, Nouri F, Thomson L, Callaghan P, Drummond A. MENtal health first aid in The wORkplace (MENTOR): A feasibility study. Wigston: IOSH. Available from:  https://www.iosh.com/media/3722/mhfa-at-work-full-report.pdf
  6. Hughes G, Spanner L. The university mental health charter. Leeds: Student Minds. 2019.
  7. Cowan J, George JW, Pinheiro-Torres A. Alignment of developments in higher education. Higher education. 2004 Dec;48(4):439-59. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4151566
  8. Hughes G. The Challenge of Student Mental Well-Being: Reconnecting Students Services with the Academic Universe. Student Support Services. 2021:1-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3364-4_6-1