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Five ways to take charge of your professional life and improve your wellbeing ADR I AN BETHUNE W e hear a lot about the importance of teacher agency and autonomy but they are two different things. Autonomy is about having the freedom tomake decisions without having to constantly ask for permission, or having your work continuously scrutinised. Agency, on the other hand, is about having the capacity, or exerting the power, tomake decisions and take positive action. As teachers, wemay work in an environment where we lack autonomy, but we can still exert our professional agency by doing what we think is right, regardless of what others may think. A prime example of teacher agency was the decisive actionmany teachers and school leaders took in the face of the coronavirus school closures, despite the lack of clear direction from the DfE. Given that teachers in the UK largely operate in a system that does not give us the freedom to control most of the aspects of our work (think learning walks, observations, Ofsted inspections, league tables), it raises the importance of teacher agency. It means wemust do what we can to take control of the important aspects of our professional lives. Moreover, with the whole of the UK currently experiencing a national lockdown due to Covid 19, with the restrictions on our lives likely to last for a while, our agency becomes evenmore important for our wellbeing. Just the act of doing something to take care of yourself, or the people around Look after YOU 66 | www.teachwire.net you, can be extremely empowering. It means that small things add up tomake a big difference to people’s lives. If you feel you lack control over aspects of your professional life, don’t despair. Below are five small but effective ways that you can start to take some action to increase your agency and self-efficacy while simultaneously improving your wellbeing. Focus on what you can control And let go of the rest. The serenity prayer is commonly quoted as; “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” It could be the mantra for effective teacher agency. There is no point in wasting precious time and energy focusing on the things that are completely out of our control. To do so just creates tension and becomes demoralising as we are reminded how powerless we are. Instead, the most effective teachers spend their time focusing on what educator Steven Covey calls their ‘circle of influence’ – this is everything, big and small, that we can actually affect some change over. When we do this, Covey argues, our circle of influence actually grows as we become more adept and effective at knowing where to invest our energy and bringing about positive change. Be guided by your sense of purpose In his bookMan’s Search For Meaning, Auschwitz survivor Victor Frankl writes, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms: to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” It teaches us that we cannot control how people treat us, but we can certainly control howwe respond. And our response is largely determined by our sense of purpose – the reason we became teachers in the first place. Frankl believed that people are primarily driven by a “striving to find a meaning in one’s life”, and that it is this sense of meaning that enables people to overcome painful experiences. So, it is really important for us to remain intimately connected to our reason for being in the classroom. For many, it is tomake a difference to young people’s lives. When we work in the service of others, guided by a strong moral compass, values and a clear sense of purpose, we find we are able to withstand difficult situations and reclaimour agency because it is for the good of others. Take control of your CPD If school budgets and restrictive timetables mean you don’t feel like your school is prioritising your professional development, it’s time to take it into your own hands. The growth of weekend CPD events run by teachers means that it is possible to develop professionally in your own time (not ideal, but needs must). Many educators and course providers are also delivering free webinars and lectures online during the pandemic. In addition there are many free courses on platforms such as Coursera and Edx, and somany great educational books being published every month, it means that improving your subject knowledge or pedagogy doesn’t have to cost you the earth. Physician, heal thyself One thing that is definitely within our ‘circle of influence’ is the factors that contribute to our physical andmental wellbeing. Professor Laurie Santos, an academic at Yale University and an expert in wellbeing, claims that many people underestimate just how important diet, sleep hygiene and physical activity are for our physical and mental health. These three areas are all, largely, within our control and small tweaks (such as going for a 30-minute walk every day) can really start to improve the quality of our lives. The key with personal wellbeing is to experiment and work out what works for you. So, try out mindfulness meditation, yoga, a vegan diet, morning PEwith JoeWicks, a warmbath before bed or whatever else takes your fancy. Find the healthy habits of body andmind that contribute to your wellbeing andmake them part of your daily routine.