EP Well-being and Career Satisfaction: The Importance of Zooming Out, Taking Stock and Maintaining Hope

Written by Dr Fi Coley, a Senior Educational Psychologist in a South London local authority and an Academic and Professional Tutor on the EP doctorate at the Institute of Education, who also works as The Ed Psych Coach supporting EPs with career growth and well-being.

We are givers.

As Ed Psychs, working in the helping professions, we give and give. And give.

We are child-centred. We are client-focused. We work to serve others. We are generous with our time and efforts and thoughtfulness and care.

Controversial question: what’s in it for us? Why would we keep giving and giving? Does true altruism exist? (Perhaps a debate for another blog!) But seriously, if we don’t actually see the difference we are making, it can totally drain our cups. And the cliché is true: we all know you can’t pour from an empty cup.

This blog briefly outlines challenges in EP well-being and offers practical, evidence-based reflection strategies to support career satisfaction.

EP well-being and career satisfaction

Evidence shows that EP well-being is under threat. In a recent online survey of 300 EPs, Watson (2024) found that 99% of EPs’ well-being scores were within the ‘low’ or ‘medium’ category. She also found that 72% reported moderate or high levels of burnout, and 73% reported moderate or high levels of secondary traumatic stress. (Of course, there may have been some recruitment bias, such that EPs with well-being challenges may have been more likely to participate).

Reassuringly, the large-scale (n=921) recent DfE workforce study found that 69% of EPs and TEPs are experiencing an overall positive sense of job satisfaction (‘very’ or ‘quite’ satisfied; (Atfield et al., 2023). However, that means that around a third of the workforce may be lacking a sense of job satisfaction. Further, Atfield et al (2023) reported that 31% of EPs are experiencing barriers to doing the kind of work they want to do.

So, how can psychology help us?

1. The Power of Positive Psychology

Many of you will know that I’m a big fan of positive psychology, which offers lots of ideas for well-being, such as connecting with peak moments known as ‘flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 2002) and ideas around human ‘flourishing’ (Seligman, 2011). I’m a proud co-host of PositiviTEA® alongside the fab Max Caine. PositiviTEA® is our free community space for EPs, TEPs and AsEPs: we share snippets of positive psychology with friendly chats in small group breakout rooms. Attendees say that attending PositiviTEA® is “a real antidote to the stresses and strains of the job” and “it never fails to lift my spirits”. (We meet half-termly on Fridays at 1-2pm and you’re all welcome to join us: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-cup-of-positivitea-with-max-and-fi-tickets-661845065407)

2. Compassion satisfaction

Instead of dwelling on what drains us and causes compassion fatigue (exhaustion from empathically helping others), ‘compassion satisfaction’ invites us to reflect on what fulfils us, gives us meaning and creates positive emotions associated with helping others. Reflection question: when have you empowered someone or advocated for them? (For more questions like this, check out this self-reflection resource: Making a Difference: Developing Compassion Satisfaction)

3. Job crafting

Job crafting is an approach to making deliberate, intentional changes to your work to improve well-being and satisfaction. Tian et al (2022) argued that job crafting can be: rational, focused on adapting the demands of the role and/or building your resources to manage; or emotional, focused on motivational elements, such as task crafting (changing the mission of your work), cognitive crafting (changing how you see your work), or relational crafting (changing your relationships at work). If you’d like to hear more about job crafting as an antidote to EP disillusionment, I chatted with Dan and Cora about this on their podcast, The Educated Guess (The Educated Guess podcast - edpsy.org.uk)

4. Hope theory

Snyder’s (2002) hope theory argues that there are three components of hope:

1. Goal setting – asking yourself, ‘what do I want?’
2. Pathways thinking – planning your route: ‘how shall I get there?’
3. Agency thinking – believing in your strengths, resources and capabilities: ‘I can get myself there’.

So, hope theory is strongly linked with intentional goal setting, being future-focused, and developing confidence to make it happen.

5. Goal theory

Does the idea of writing yourself some ‘SMART’ goals (yes, yes, we know: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-limited) make you roll your eyes and want to run for the hills? Don’t worry: luckily, there’s various ways you can write your career goals in ways that suit you.

Adam Grant (2012) outlined some helpful ways we might think about goals:

• The timing of goals can be distal (the long-term, broad vision) or proximal (short-term, detailed and action-oriented)
• We don’t always have to be specific! (Phew!) Outcome goals tell us exactly what will be achieved and focus on the desired results, but Grant acknowledges that sometimes we need more vague and abstract goals.
• We can work towards something (approach goals) or away from something (avoidance goals).
• We can have performance goals (which focus on demonstrating competence) or learning goals (which emphasise mastery, foster intrinsic motivation, and increase engagement and well-being).

What does this mean for you when setting your goals for the new academic year ahead?

6. Reframing ‘CPD’ and ‘reflective practice’

We typically think of CPD (Continuing Professional Development) as learning new things, such as attending training, but the HCPC defines CPD as “any activity from which you learn and develop” (HCPC, 2026, underline added). They cite over 40 types of CPD activity and “reflective practice” is most certainly one of them, as well as “significant analysis of events”.

We typically think of ‘reflective practice’ as doing or delivering something (like a consultation or training) and then evaluating how it went. But how about spending some CPD time ‘zooming out’ and thinking bigger: pausing to take stock of your overall career, your sense of meaning and purpose and the ways in which you are making a difference?

Here’s a couple of ‘bigger picture’ reflection questions to get you started:

• Looking back: What are three moments from this year that made you smile with pride or gratitude?
• Looking forward: Next year, what types of work, ways of working, patterns, approaches and people, would you like more and less of? (You could make two lists)

What’s next for you?

If these questions have tickled your brain and you’re up for some more reflective CPD time this summer, you might like my brand new ‘Reflect & Renew’ reflective workbook, which draws upon ideas in this blog.

This workbook is based on my career inspiration coaching conversations with EPs over the years. I love seeing EPs reignite their spark and rediscover their mojo. It’s one of the areas that lights me up and gives me strong compassion satisfaction. The workbook has been designed for EPs to look back, take stock and celebrate the past year, as well as to look forward and set meaningful, values-aligned goals for the year ahead. One reviewer said that using this resource “felt less like completing an activity and more like having a thoughtful conversation with someone who was genuinely interested in helping me reflect and grow”. And for readers of this blog, here’s a special £10 off discount code for you: EDPSYCHED10.

You can also access my popular, free, one-page End of Year Reflection resource, if you’re solely interested in looking back (there’s no goal setting with the brief one-page version).
Well, I hope that some of this might be valuable to you. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Whether this blog chimes with or challenges your thinking, feel free to email me: [email protected]

Dr Fi Coley
www.theedpsychcoach.com
July 2026

References

Atfield, G., Baldauf, B., Owen, D., Davey, C., & Monk, L. (2023). Educational psychology services: workforce insights and school perspectives on impact: Research report. Warwick Institute of Employment Research/Ecorys.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002) Flow: The classic work on how to achieve happiness. Rider.

Grant, A. M. (2012). An integrated model of goal-focused coaching: An evidence-based framework for teaching and practice. International Coaching Psychology Review, 7(2), 146–165.

Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). (2026). Continuing professional development (CPD). Available at: https://www.hcpc-uk.org/cpd/ (Accessed 17 July 2026).

Seligman, M. (2011) Flourish. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 249–275.

Tian, X., Liu, M., Jiao, Q., Wei, X., & Huang, R. (2022). Job crafting: A review of theoretical integration and application extension. Journal of Human Resource Management, 10(2), 38–48.

Watson, C. (2024). An exploration of educational psychologists’ occupational stress and well-being experiences in England: Implications for practice. Educational Psychology in Practice, 40(3), 320–339. https://doi.org/10.1080/02667363.2024.2365644