KU PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AND LEARNING
Quarterly
KU Children’s Services
OCTOBER 2018
October is National Safe Work Month.
In this edition of Quarterly we highlight the importance of paying attention to the health and safety of staff
working with young children. Social and emotional wellbeing is imperative to the health and safety of anyone
working in an early childhood service.
Following are three articles that shine a light on the importance of staff wellbeing to the quality of the education
and care being provided to children.
INCLUSION AND WELLBEING – FOR ALL
BY OLA DABBAGH-ROBERTS
O
ne thing I have learned over several years working
and consulting in many self-described ‘unique’
industries, is that when it comes to staff having a
feeling of wellbeing, satisfaction and achievement,
the elements to create this are not unique. Simply put,
it’s because we are all people, and share something
in common, regardless of our background, profession,
industry and level we have risen to in an organisation.
We want to feel included and we want to feel we
have some level of safety, and some control over our
environment. When we don’t, we very quickly feel
unhappy, excluded, frustrated. It impacts our ability
to relate, engage and work well to achieve outcomes.
We also want to feel valued, and successful in our own
domains…whatever that specifically looks like.
Often this is seen as the responsibility of the leader
in the context, and to a large degree, leaders need
to assume a fair load, although it is only when all
‘people’ own this, that a genuine sense of personal
and organisational well-being is achieved. Sometimes,
IN THIS ISSUE :
it is considered that an organisational ‘initiative’ will
create wellbeing and improve staff satisfaction. While
this is also true, again, without relevant programs,
and the engagement of all team members in such
programs, people in pockets big and small will remain
unhappy.
An effective way of encouraging all team members to
equally own and contribute to their own wellbeing, and
that of the ‘team’, is to create a dialogue about this.
Take the opportunity to have a conversation that asks
some of these questions:
Is there a real level of trust between the people in this
team? If not, why not? Do individuals feel they know
what they need to know to feel part of the team? Are
people comfortable that they are being ‘heard’ as well
as ‘seen’ by their manager and colleagues? Do they
feel included?
The last question is perhaps the most powerful and
important to ask.
EDUCATOR WELLBEING = QUALITY EARLY LEARNING. YOU DON’T GET ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER!