Want to increase your capacity to cope with internal and external stressors? In this course you will develop a suite of reflective practice strategies and approaches to enhance wellbeing and reduce burnout.

NESA-accredited training in building resilience and reflective practice

School can be challenging for both students and teachers, but research shows that that developing a toolkit of practical strategies can help reduce stress and enhance teaching outcomes.

“Both Resilience and reflection are important for protecting teachers’ wellbeing and predicting their success and longevity in the teaching profession,” says Dr Kath McLachlan, Academic Director of Professional & Community Engagement at Macquarie’s Faculty of Human Sciences.

“The research shows that reflecting on positives, and cognitively appraising negative situations as learning experiences, improves wellbeing and reduces burnout.”

Until recently, however, teachers had only limited opportunities to develop resilience and reflection skills. A group of concerned teachers approached Macquarie to request its experts develop a course that would address the unique needs of teachers working on the frontline of education.

The resulting course ‘Reflective practice: Enhancing professional practice and promoting wellbeing’ will be launched in May 2018 and delivered through a combination of face-to-face and online modes.

“It is unique because it has been created in response to teachers’ needs – rather than being developed first, and then retrofitted to address teaching challenges,” explains McLachlan. “By adopting an experiential learning approach, this course fosters teachers’ capacity to relate the content to their individual contexts, thereby assisting in finding solutions to the problems they face.”

The bespoke course is part of a suite of new offerings from Macquarie’s Academy of Continuing Professional Development in Education, which provides educators with the opportunity to learn directly from experts who are leaders in their fields. These courses are designed to offer you practical, hands-on professional development and NESA-accredited training where learning can be applied in the classroom.

The Five Rs of teaching success

All Macquarie’s courses in education are based on our unique Five Rs framework. As a Macquarie student, you’ll acquire the most up-to-date discipline knowledge and well-rounded teaching know-how. You’ll also learn how to be resilient inside and outside the classroom; reflexive in your teaching practice; responsive to students, colleagues, parents and professional networks; and ready to learn and research engaged in your profession.

“The course – Reflective practice: Enhancing professional practice and promoting wellbeing – draws on The Wellbeing Framework for Schools (2015) for professional learning and focuses on improving teachers’ reflective capacity to enhance teaching practice and foster wellbeing,” McLachlan says.

“It has been designed to help early-career and moderately experienced primary school teachers to develop a suite of reflective practice strategies and approaches that they can apply to their day-to-day work straight away,” she adds. “This is supported by a set of tools that helps teachers develop positive learning environments and engage and support students.

“For example, teachers develop skills in resilience, collaboration, communication, creativity and community building, as well as reflective capacities that contribute to the development of positive learning environments and enable students to connect and thrive,” she says.

“You’ll learn how to implement action plans to support reflective teaching practice as well as maintain the safety and wellbeing of students through the curriculum and legislative systems.

“You’ll also increase your capacity to cope with internal and external stressors using reflective processes to support professional teaching practice, enhance wellbeing and reduce burnout.

“We want good teachers to become great teachers. Giving them the tools to overcome daily challenges is an important step towards achieving this goal,” says McLachlan.