Cunningham, Sinead (2015) The Well of the Educator: An investigation into how well-being is maintained by Educators working in Youthreach. Masters thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.

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Abstract

‘As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject and our way of being together.’ (Palmer, 2007, p.1) I believe that what is going on inside of an educator has a direct impact on the learner’s life and this impact has a ripple effect on their families’ lives and society. I see being an educator as a huge responsibility that requires thoughtfulness and self-awareness. This responsibility can be draining, as being an educator is an occupation that requires immense energy both physically and emotionally. In my role as an educator I aim to maintain my wellness and to have a positive impact on the learner and my colleagues. In this research I am looking into the world of educators who in my eyes are successful at maintaining their wellbeing. They deal with stress well, enjoy their job and are productive. I will be uncovering what their thinking is about self-care and wellness, how they deal with stress and what commonalities appear between them. For some self-care is common sense but from my experience this perceived ‘common sense’ is not as common as people who manage to maintain wellness may think. The similarities were surprising as the four interviewees have different backgrounds and are of various ages. I purposely chose very different educators from a variety of subjects in the hope of uncovering a wide array of experiences and knowledge. They coincidentally proved to have similar mind-sets and attitudes towards their roles and ways of going about maintaining their wellness. This research has been a transformative process for me and has been an opportunity for me to improve my self-care practice and in turn strengthen my ability to work as an educator with integrity.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Keywords:	M.Ed. in Adult and Community Education; M.Ed.; well-being; educators; Youthreach; teachers; mental health;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Adult and Community Education
Item ID:	9655
Depositing User:	IR eTheses
Date Deposited:	31 Jul 2018 15:00
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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