Leadership for Teacher Wellbeing with Peter Radford

Peter Radford, author, speaker, and trainer, joins Becky Dawson to discuss his personal journey and the critical systemic changes needed to support teacher wellbeing and retention. They tackle the question: What does it really take to keep teachers in the classroom?

In this episode of In This Together, Peter Radford shares the deeply personal experience that led him to write Love Teaching, Keep Teaching and dedicate his work to transforming school culture and staff wellbeing. Peter and Becky discuss the three key aspects of teacher retention: individual self-care, leaders championing wellbeing, and systemic change within education. Peter provides actionable insights for leaders to foster a culture of support by addressing the six core psychological needs and adopting an equitable, people-first approach to leadership

Takeaways:

• Peter Radford's experiences in senior leadership that led to overwhelm and his decision to leave full-time teaching to advocate for teacher wellbeing.
• The three key areas for improving teacher retention: individual teacher wellbeing, leadership, and the wider education system
• The striking statistic that 75% of people leave their job because of their direct line manager, underscoring the vital role of leadership in retention
• The six core psychological needs (Love, Belonging, Being Understood, Achievement, Autonomy, and Purpose) and how their deficit impairs cognitive function
• How the environment (the "cage") plays a direct role in staff wellbeing and behaviour, and the leader's responsibility in meeting five out of the six psychological needs
• How embedding a Rights Respecting Schools approach (based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) can transform school culture and lead to markedly higher staff wellbeing
• A framework for cultural change through self-reflection, modeling balance and using emotionally intelligent leadership
• The importance of undermining power dynamics by adopting an equitable, restorative approach that starts with the person harmed and enables shared leadership

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Book Recommendation: Peter recommends Lost Connections by Johann Hari

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Chapters

00:00 - Introduction

00:53 - Peter's Personal Experiences and Road to Overwhelm

04:22 - Hitting the Wall: A Panic Attack and the Reality of Mental Health

06:07 - The Three Pillars of Love Teaching, Keep Teaching

07:22 - Leadership as the Number One Factor in Teacher Exodus

11:23 - Equitable Leadership: Investing in People-First

13:33 - The Six Psychological Needs and Their Impact on Wellbeing

16:00 - The "Cage": How Environment Drives Behaviour

22:19 - Rights Respecting Schools: A Vehicle for Culture Change and Wellbeing

24:43 - Balancing Rights: Behaviour Management through a Rights-Based Lens

27:14 - The Path to Cultural Change: Self-Reflection and Modelling Balance

30:54 - Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: Asking "How are you feeling?"

32:59 - Undermining Power Dynamics: Starting with the Person Harmed

37:52 - The Dangers of Firefighting and the Need for Shared Leadership

40:18 - Book Recommendation: Lost Connections by Johann Hari