Wellbeing in the UK legal academic community: Not quite 50 years in the making Presented by:...

Wellbeing in the UK legal academic community:Not quite 50 years in the making

Presented by:Caroline Strevens

Head of School of Law, University of Portsmouth

Co-researchers:Elizabeth Lee Elizabeth Lee

Lecturer, The Australian National UniversityClare Wilson

Reader in Applied Psychology, University of PortsmouthALT 2015 CardiffWellness for Law 2015 Forum

https://www.dropbox.com/home?select=Elizabeth+lee.mp4

http://www.anu.edu.au/

ALT 2015 Cardiff

Background

Wellness for Law 2015 Forum

First, research in Australia and America has shown that law students’ wellbeing significantly decreased during their undergraduate degree (see Field, Duffy and Huggins, 2014 for a review). BUT, little research to date has explored the expectations of academic staff in dealing with stressed students.


ALT 2015 Cardiff

Background


Second, implicit in such research is the assumption academic staff have a role to play in the maintenance of psychological wellbeing in their students. BUT, substantially less attention has been paid to the wellbeing of those staff.


ALT 2015 Cardiff

Background


For example, Kinman and Wray (2013) reported in the UK those “On all but one of the Health and Safety Executive stressor categories, [respondents] in higher education reported lower well-being than the average for those working in the target group industries (including education)” (Pg 2).EU survey Hohle & Teichler 2013 indicated British academics are least satisfied


ALT 2015 CardiffWellness for Law 2015 Forum

Higher Education in the UK has undergone a radical transformation in the past decade: nature of role and demands increased

increased student numbersFees and competition between UniversitiesNational and global rankingsRegular curriculum redesignDiverse modes of deliveryPerformance management structureDemands for excellence and to boost

income


ALT 2015 Cardiff

Background


Finally, we flourish in our work (and lives in general) if certain conditions of self-determination and self-motivation are met (Deci & Ryan, 2002; Ryan & Deci, 2008). Therefore, understanding how academics manage their wellbeing may allow effective strategies for psychological wellbeing to be developed and to facilitate effective strategies for our students.


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Law Teacher InterviewsElizabeth

• 30 interviews between June and November 2014:• About Students: purpose of first year; student

wellbeing; identifying and responding to evidence of ‘distress’; consideration of wellbeing in curriculum design; student expectations; clinical legal education


https://www.dropbox.com/s/304fgbmy2w0al1u/Elizabeth%20lee.mp4?oref=e


ALT 2015 Cardiff

Law Teacher Interviews• About Themselves:• managing own wellbeing; control

over work; support in the workplace; feeling of competence; causes of stress



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What is student wellbeing?• “I would say engagement….[and] some level of

enjoyment.”• “I might just sum it up as being comfortable in

your own skin. I mean I think obviously it has connotations of comfort and confidence and existing in an environment that is supportive and creative. But I think sometimes we might be oversold on the comfort side of wellbeing and not enough on the challenging side of things. “


What is student wellbeing?“we have a duty to make sure that students are well, you know, physically well and mentally well and that we refer them to the right places if they’re struggling, also that they’re not stressed through money or through other sort of problems that might arise when young people move out and move away from home for the first time. ..but I also think that there’s a sort of need that students feel that they belong to a school and are part of a school and are known and valued and sort of respected in the place and they may be one of a large cohort of students but they have a place here. So I think there’s two sides of it.”


What is staff wellbeing?

• “It is a very different world, when I started off in legal practice and in academia it was very, very different, we didn’t have this constant deluge of information coming at you electronically, so how many hours do you spend in front of a computer these days?... I now find myself looking at work email way outside of working hours. ”


What is staff wellbeing?“Oh, I don’t know! ((laughs)) …there’s huge demands now about research and those sorts of agendas as well, but I think the pressure’s different because it’s not constant so I think that you can get through a block of teaching and then you’ve got a different sort of thing. So for me that makes the job manageable but there’s also change and you don’t feel like you’re stuck in a sort of nightmare…so I don’t think I do anything specific to manage it”


What is staff wellbeing?“Yeah, I don’t think I manage it particularly well actually, I’m quite good at recognising issues in other people, I tend to not recognise exactly the same things in me, so I tend to get to crisis point crash and then go oh I’ll do that differently next time and we start the ball rolling again and then I get to crisis point and crash. So I’m not very good at it, but getting better slowly I think out of necessity because I sort of realised that actually the crashes were happening more frequently which isn’t sustainable. ”


What is staff wellbeing

“Right, okay, ((Laughs)) well I suppose it is not something that I continually get too occupied by in the sense that I suppose one is caught up with the every day rather than thinking – I mean I, I suppose, I like working in – I mean, university work seems to me one of the most extraordinary jobs in the sense that you are engaging in intellectual activity but yet you are also in an ambiance of like-minded people who share similar sort of intellectual enthusiasms.”


What is staff wellbeing

“I don’t cope with it very well! We’d probably better not go there. I think I’m getting better at it as the years go on because you’re just resigned that these things don’t change!”


Summary• We are just beginning the analysis of the

interviews, but so far…• It was striking how kind and responsible staff

were when discussing their students wellbeing• BUT how their own was a more uncomfortable

and less articulate discussion

ReferencesThe Work Situation of the Academic Profession in Europe: Findings of a Survey in Twelve CountriesEditors: Teichler, Ulrich, Höhle, Ester Ava (Eds.) Springer.

Higher Stress A SURVEY OF STRESS AND WELL-BEING AMONG STAFF IN HIGHER EDUCATION by Dr Gail Kinman and Siobhan Wray. For University and College Union (UCU)http://www.ucu.org.uk/media/pdf/4/5/HE_stress_report_July_2013.pdf

FIELD, R., DUFFY, J., HUGGINS, A.. Supporting transition to law school and student well-being: The role of professional legal identity. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, North America, 4, jul. 2013. Available at: <https://fyhejournal.com/article/view/167>. Date accessed: 29 Mar. 2015.

http://www.ucu.org.uk/media/pdf/4/5/HE_stress_report_July_2013.pdf

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Dr Clare WilsonReader in Applied PsychologyUniversity of [email protected]

Elizabeth LeeLecturerThe Australian National [email protected]


Please come chat with Caroline at the ALT Conference……or send us an email!

THANK YOU!

Caroline StrevensHead of School of LawUniversity of [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




Wellbeing in the UK legal academic community: Not quite 50 years in the making Presented by:...

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