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WE L LBE I NG SPEC I AL www.teachwire.net | 67 teachappy.co.uk @adrianbethune Adrian Bethune is a part-time primary teacher and education policy co-lead at theMindfulness Initiative. Alongside Dr Emma Kell he co-authored A Little Guide To TeacherWellbeing and Self-Care (Sage, 2020). Start small However you choose to exert your professional agency, a key is to start small. This is particularly important if you’re feeling overwhelmed or lacking confidence. Start by choosing one small task to complete (it could be as simple as tidying your desk drawer). By completing small tasks, we gradually increase our sense of control, agency andmastery over time. And bear inmind a novel experiment from 1976 that took place in an elderly care home. Researchers gave residents a plant for their room. One group was told to take care of the plant, be responsible for it and look after it. The other group of residents was told that their carers would take care of the plant for them. The first group of residents, whose sense of control and agency increased as a result of simply taking care of something, reported higher levels of wellbeing and actually lived longer. The global pandemic we find ourselves in has given us all a chance to step back, pause and reflect. It provides us with an opportunity to reassess what really matters andmaybe the opportunity to reshape the purpose of education and schools in the future. To fully take advantage of this opportunity, wewill need to exert our agency and start to take control of our profession. Doing somay be our best chance to improve our students’ lives, and our own lives in the process. TP “The global pandemicwe find ourselves in has given us all a chance to step back, pause and reflect”