The Education Staff Wellbeing Charter
DfE guidance on protecting, enhancing and promoting wellbeing.
The DfE have created The Education Staff Wellbeing Charter which aims to help support a whole-school wellbeing culture. The charter was co-created with unions, mental health charities, schools and colleges to help schools and colleges create strategies that protect, promote and enhance the wellbeing and mental health of staff.
The charter is a declaration of support for, and set of commitments to, the wellbeing and mental health of everyone working in education.
The charter is for education staff in England. This includes temporary and support staff. All state funded schools and colleges are invited to sign up to the charter, as a shared commitment to protect, promote and enhance the wellbeing of their staff.
The 9 Policies
- Design-in Wellbeing
- Measure and respond to changes in staff wellbeing
- Support the sector to drive down unnecessary workload
- Ensure that DfE guidance meets user needs
- Champion flexible working and diversity
- Break down stigma around mental health
- Embed wellbeing in training and professional development
- Improve access to mental health and wellbeing resources
- Review
Sign Up to the Charter
Signing up to the charter is voluntary. All state funded schools and colleges, including maintained nursery schools, school-based nurseries, special schools and pupil referral units are invited to sign up to the charter, as a shared commitment to protect, promote and enhance the wellbeing of their staff.
All other education institutions, such as universities, independent schools and early years providers, are free to make use of the principles and organisational commitments, but they cannot sign up. The charter was co-created by an expert group with schools and colleges in mind, but the principles and organisational commitments will apply to most education settings.
Deciding to sign up
The decision to sign up should be made by your school or college senior leadership team.
If you are a local authority or trust, you can sign up for schools, colleges or academies on their behalf, but you should consult with the senior leadership team of each setting.
Ofsted
"Ofsted recognises that we have a dual role to play in protecting and enhancing the wellbeing of staff. First, we are committed to making sure our requirements of schools and colleges on wellbeing are clear. Second, we recognise that staff can feel that inspections are a source of stress. We will also be clear that: • we do not grade individual lessons or people. • we do not require evidence from any lesson visit that could be used in capability/disciplinary proceedings or for the purposes of performance management. • we do not require lessons to be planned in a certain way or for lessons plans to be provided to inspectors. • we do not require schools or colleges to prepare for inspections. • we do not require schools or colleges to provide information in any specific format."
How to Sign Up
To sign up as a school or college, you should obtain consent from your senior leadership team, then email wellbeing.charter@education.gov.uk with your:
- School or college Unique Reference Number (URN) - you can find your URN by searching for your establishment on Get Information about Schools
- Establishment name
- Postcode
- Confirmation that you have read the privacy notice for education staff wellbeing charter and give permission for your personal data to be used by the department
If you no longer wish for your organisation to be a signatory to the charter, email wellbeing.charter@education.gov.uk to ask for your details to be removed.
There is no expectation for your school or college to sign up to the charter now. You should sign up when it is right for your organisation and when you will get the most benefit from it.
Additional Resources
Handsam has added the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter guidance to our resources which can be accessed by using the term "Well Being" in the topic tag search bar of the Quick Guides Library.
Other resources include:
Measuring Wellbeing in Schools and Colleges Workplace Wellbeing Tool
The Education Staff Wellbeing Charter can be read HERE