Love as the lifeblood of being-well: A call for care for teachers in England’s schools

The authors highlight the role of love and care as the ‘lifeblood of being-well’ for teachers in England. The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed unprecedented stressors on teachers. However, the article problematises and goes beyond the dominant narrative of ‘sudden crisis’ on the grounds that this may obscure the complex realities of a profession suffering mental health challenges well before the pandemic. The authors highlight their concerns about the predominant discourse surrounding teachers’ wellbeing, the inefficacy of tokenistic interventions, and offer a more holistic, context-sensitive conceptualisation of ‘being-well’, rooted in love and compassion for oneself and each other.

From the lens of positive sociology, the authors call for structurally contextualised wellbeing provision that recognises teachers’ pre-existing pressures and stressors and sustains cultures of care beyond the temporal boundaries of the pandemic. Drawing on the ethic of care, they advocate a shift from ‘the duty of care’ to ‘a duty to care’. Wellbeing and struggling are conceptualised here as interrelated and co-dependent phenomena influenced by theories of compassion, including Buddhist notions of Love Mode and Power Mode. The authors see love as connectedness and emphasise the importance of relationality in teachers’ sense of being-well as individuals who interconnect in a complex education system.