Flourishing at School

In episode 30, Tamare reconnects with her former colleague from Geelong Grammar School's Institute of Positive Education, Justin Robinson. Justin shares lessons learned training thousands of educators around the world and designing evidence-informed approaches to wellbeing with pioneers like Martin Seligman. He also shares a sneak peek into his new project, The Wellbeing Distillery.

In this episode, Tamara speaks with special guest Dr. Carol Radford, founder of Mentoring in Action and author of Teaching With Light: Ten Lessons for Finding Wisdom, Balance, and Inspiration. They explore the grit of novice teachers, the need for mentors across a teaching career, the reason Carol sees wellbeing, resilience, and mindfulness as must-haves for all teaching programs, and her experience on the mat as a yoga teacher has changed the way she works.

In part 2 of this special episode we bring you an excerpt from the Psych Health and Safety podcast where Jason and Joelle chat with Dr Helen Kelly about burnout in teachers and school principals. Helen shares some of the statistics about burnout and attrition rates in teachers, the commonalities and differences in psychosocial hazard exposure between teachers and principals, and the reasons behind the ever-increasing workload for both groups. She offers suggestions for how schools can better manage psychosocial hazards, and shares examples of novel approaches that different schools have taken to improve the wellbeing of their teachers and principals.

In part 1 of this 2-part episode, we bring you an episode from the Psych Health and Safety podcast where Jason and Joelle chat with Dr Helen Kelly about burnout in teachers and school principals. Helen shares some of the statistics about burnout and attrition rates in teachers, the commonalities and differences in psychosocial hazard exposure between teachers and principals, and the reasons behind the ever-increasing workload for both groups. She offers suggestions for how schools can better manage psychosocial hazards, and shares examples of novel approaches that different schools have taken to improve the wellbeing of their teachers and principals.

In episode 26 Tamara is joined by Empathable's CEO, Micah Wonjoon Kessel. Micah and Tamara talk about the new definition of empathy, the reason it is a future skill for all learners, and the "2 in a room" theory that allows radical change without having to change the radicals.

In episode 25 Tamara and special guest Angie Shearer talk about coaching, character strengths, and the power of leading with relationships. They also consider why so many PE teachers excel at connecting with students and how peer coaching can improve the wellbeing of both the coach and the coachee.

In episode 24 Tamara and Jason explore antifragility with Dr. Nick Hotlton, a coach and consultant working with schools, high-performing executives and athletes. Nick also runs a podcast alongside the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard which focuses on research to help individuals better understand how to live well.

In episode 23 Tamara and special guest Associate Director of the Center for Positive Education,Lina Maria Aristizabal, talk about certifications for whole-school wellbeing leaders, the vital role of movement for classroom regulation, and how teacher mental health impacts students.

In episode 22 Tamara talks with expert guest Meg Kapil about her work as a counselor in helping clients to achieve better regulation and her research exploring how mental health challenges and stress regulation interact with learning and performance in educational settings. They discuss simple co-regulation strategies and Meg's curriculum for navigating school stress called the "Stress Stories Project".

In episode 21 Tamara and Jason talk with Rhiannon McGee. Rhiannon leads Pos Ed at its "birthing place" Geelong Grammar School and in this conversation, we explore its evolution, coaching, how it looks across different campuses and the connection to creative education and adventure education.