Wellbeing, Relationships and Teaching as a Caring Profession?

Abstract

Wellbeing has become an area of increasing focus for schools right across the world. Given that teaching has generally been understood as a caring profession, this may not come as a surprise. And, given that the apparent need for wellbeing interventions has arisen amongst the most “developed” and wealthy, this new focus may especially be seen as something to celebrate for international schools which continue to largely serve the privileged. A consequence of this, however, is that wellbeing seems to have become an addition to the ever-growing list of things for which teachers are responsible.

In this article, we begin by considering what is meant by “wellbeing” in schools, situating its rise within the context of a broader neoliberal culture. We then go on to suggest that when wellbeing becomes a task for teachers to perform within a culture of accountability and customer satisfaction, rather than something deeply connected to human relations of care, its achievement is unlikely and, indeed, an increased focus on wellbeing might even be detrimental.