Looking after yourself

Presented By:

Prof Phil Race, Writer and keynoter on assessment, feedback, teaching and learning in tertiary education, Visiting Professor at Edge Hill University and the University of Plymouth

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Workshop Description:

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” (Aristotle)

According to a recent study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), funded by the Health and Safety Authority, the instances of work related stress amongst employees in Ireland has doubled between 2010 and 2015.

Work Related Stress (WRS) is stress caused or made worse by work. It simply refers to when a person perceives the work environment in such a way that his or her reaction involves feelings of an inability to cope. ‘Stress occurs when an individual perceives an imbalance between the demands placed on them on the one hand, and their ability to cope on the other. It often occurs in situations characterised by low levels of control and support.’ (Professor Tom Cox, I-WHO, University of Nottingham, UK). As we all know, higher education can be a particularly stressful environment for both staff and students due to a variety of competing demands and deadlines at various stages during the academic year, many of which are beyond their control.

However, you probably have already attended many workshops which have focused on looking after your students, so you’ll be delighted to hear that this workshop is all about you and helping you survive! This workshop aims to provide you with some suggestions that will help to reduce, or at least manage, some of the causes and effects of stress and hopefully help you to take control of your workload and stress levels.

At the end of this workshop, participants will:

• Have identified strategies that can be utilised to better manage their workload

• Be more aware of the signs and symptoms of stress

• Have identified some useful strategies to help deal with stress

• Have examined the value of feedback on lectures and the importance of reflecting on one’s teaching for one’s own professional development

• Have discussed some of the shared challenges faced in higher education today and potential solutions

Presenter Biography:

Phil Race publishes widely on learning, teaching feedback and assessment in higher education. His passion is about ‘making learning happen’, in an approachable way, without recourse to jargon, acronyms or elitism.

He is the author of the ‘ripples on a pond’ way of thinking about seven factors underpinning successful learning, based on asking over 200,000 people in many parts of the world six straightforward questions about how they learn.

Though supposedly ‘retired’ now, he continues to give interactive conference keynoted, and half-day workshops for teaching staff.

His work was recognised in 2007 by the Higher Education Academy awarding him a National Teaching Fellowship, and the status of ‘Principal Fellow’ in 2012. In 2010, he was awarded the honour of ‘European Educator of the Year’ by EuroChrie, at a ceremony in Amsterdam.

He is currently a Visiting Professor at Edge Hill University and the University of Plymouth, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Education at Plymouth in 2012.