Batley Multi Academy Trust welcomes back Norwegian friends for further collaboration

Last year, Batley Multi Academy Trust welcomed a group of Erasmus partners from Greece, Norway, Portugal and Spain, to their family of schools and, a year on, two colleagues from Norway made a return trip to continue the conversation and work collaboratively in the interests of wellbeing and resilience for young people and staff.

The project began in 2019 and is due to be finalised in summer and this trip - which took place just before the Easter holiday - added further insights for the Norwegians, as to what’s being done to support wellbeing across the Trust’s family of schools.

Ole Mangen and Trond Anvik talked about how fortunate they have been to visit and observe best practice in these schools that have really excelled in how they support Teacher Trainees and Early Career Teachers (ECTs) in particular, during the crucial early years of teaching.

They said they were ‘very impressed’ with the organisation, structure and follow up in the Trust’s approach to wellbeing; especially in the way they reach out to the community, which differs from the role of schools in Norway.

During this visit Ole and Trond met with staff in a variety of roles to understand how wellbeing is approached to safeguarding, SEND, with trainees, ECTs and staff across the Trust.

Ole said: “Subject teaching and wellbeing should go hand-in-hand.

“We’re teachers of subjects and we believe education is important for wellbeing and learning for life.”

Trond added: “The focus now is on mental health and wellbeing for students, but there definitely needs to be more done for staff, due to the pressure and demands of modern education.

“Building resilience has to come from good leadership, building a team and respect for teachers from day one in their careers, so they are well-equipped to meet the needs of young people.”

In a post-Covid world, the importance of being able to visit teams in different cultures and share thoughts with colleagues on an informal basis has provided opportunities that may not have been discovered over Zoom, they both affirmed.

Stating that the best outcomes from the Erasmus project will come from face-to-face sessions or classroom activities.

Ole continued: “Hopefully we will be left with a bunch of teachers across Europe that have a bit more enthusiasm and a little more knowledge and are still keen to share.

“That’s what this is all about - It doesn’t end this July.”

Emma Rodrigues, director of the Yorkshire Rose Teaching Partnership (the Trust’s Initial Teacher Training (ITT) provider) has been a key driver for this partnership as well as ensuring support for trainees remains a high priority on the broader wellbeing agenda.

Emma said: “We have built such strong foundations, I am confident this collaborative working will continue in the months and years to come, beyond the formal end of the project.

“We will continue to be dynamic, and meet the need when it’s needed.”

Sandeep Kaur, senior people and talent advisor who was heavily involved in this visit added: “As a Trust, we are committed to wellbeing for all and we have established a Trust Wellbeing Group with half-termly meetings to ensure that we give everyone a voice to fully address all needs.”