Teacher Wellbeing

The past year has brought many challenges: not only in transferring all teaching online and the associated pedagogical issues regarding input and assessment; but also in the relationships between teachers and students, teachers and schools, and teachers with each other. This workshop will look at how teachers have coped (or otherwise) with these changes and will assess different ways to approach the wellbeing of teachers: our physical and mental health, comfort and happiness. Post-pandemic, we are unlikely to simply return to all of our previous ways of teaching and interacting, so we will also look at how teacher wellbeing can be ensured in the ‘new normal’.

Matthew McGeever (Teacher, the Bridge) will look at current theories of teacher wellbeing, arguing that happier teachers lead to happier students. He will also examine tips, techniques and practices which have been espoused as promoting teacher wellbeing.

Following from this, Andrea Zahumenska (Director of Studies, the Bridge) will address the idea of coaching. She will talk about the benefits of coaching, about personal issues and problems that hold us back, and then provide time to allow us to come up with our solutions to identified problems.

Finally, there will be time for a Q&A session and an opportunity to try out some virtual yoga.

After completing his CELTA in England, Matthew has now been teaching English for over ten years. After teaching in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Italy, he completed his Delta certification in Turkey and moved to Slovakia in September 2019. He has extensive experience teaching General, Business, Exam Preparation, YL / Teen, One-to-One and ESP English (Legal, Journalism and IGCSE History) and is a Cambridge Speaking Examiner for many levels. He also has experience delivering school workshops, leading training sessions for other teachers and presenting at national and international conferences such as IH Young Learners and IH Italy. He is currently moving into the field of teacher training and his professional interests include multi-sensory learning, and approaches to pronunciation.

Andrea Zahumenska is Director of Studies at the Bridge, English Language Centre in Bratislava and an English teacher with 15+ years of experience. She has presented at various ELT conferences and delivered training sessions to English teachers. She believes that teachers can make a real difference and influence students in many ways and that good teachers have to work on themselves their whole lives. Her professional interests include coaching and student motivation.