Increase in PhD Students…good thing right?

Yes!...But!! There has been significant growth in doctoral candidates in the past decade in Ireland and indeed globally. In Ireland alone, data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) for 2016 shows 28,759 people had doctorates at the time of Census which was a rise of 31% since 2011 and of 99.5% on 2006. This,...

Time Manager or Time Waster

  Yesterday I came across a very interesting document about time management or as I preferred to call it the time wasters challenge document. We hear more and more the phrase that people are 'time poor.' We are never 'time poor.' Time is time, it exists. It does not shorten or lengthen at our whim....

“Who dares to teach must never cease to rest…”

John Cotton Dana wrote "Who dares to teach must never cease to learn." So I took some poetic licence...with good intention. We all experience tiredness and fatigue now and again (or more often than we would like). As teachers were operate to a different timeline - the 'academic clock.' In my university we count away time not...

Promoting Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace Conference 15th June 2017

A great conference is coming up in NUIG on Thursday 15th June 2017. It is the annual health promotion conference with specific focus on health and well being in the workplace. Keynote speakers include Dame Carol Black (Cambridge), Prof. Paul Fleming (Southampton), Dr. Paul Litchfield (BT UK), Prof Anne Drummond (UCD) and Biddy O Neill...

If you’re not in you can’t win…

The Department of Health in partnership with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (under the auspices of healthy Ireland)  are launching a national consultation for the development of a healthy workplace framework. You might be tempted to think that has nothing to do with me, but you work in a workplace don't you? You probably...

Teachers…the more hurry the less speed?

Did you know that teaching as a profession is highly susceptible to stress and burnout? Alan Keane and I have been researching psychosocial working conditions, stress and burnout amongst teachers. We are humbled and inspired by the kindness of teachers who supported this research and we noted your comments asking to see the outcomes. So over...

Aphrodite’s Tears

Anemone, this delicate flower often referred to as a windflower, is a beautiful reminder of the coming of spring. This delicate flower elicits mixed feelings. In some cultures it is thought of as a harbinger of illness. I prefer to associate anemones with Aphrodite the Goddess of love, who wept so deeply at the loss of her Adonis that...

Work Wise?

A student, who graduated from her pre-service teacher education degree last year, sent me an email recently and as she signed off she wrote: “Also, as a side note Patricia, your lecture on teacher burnout never seemed so real. I laugh now when I think back to how naive I was to think nothing could...

Welcome to W4

Welcome Welcome  to W4. This blog is about the important things such as life and wellbeing. According to the great bard himself "The work that we do willingly, heals our pain." Maybe...but unfortunately some of the work we do exacerbates it. This blog is about life and about the importance of working and being well in...