EdCan Network

Background of the organization

EdCan Network is a bilingual pan-Canadian organization with over 75,000 members working to ensure that all students discover their place, purpose and path. K-12 staff experience chronic stress and burnout at a greater rate than other professions, which impacts their students’ wellbeing and academic success in addition to their own health. To build awareness about K-12 staff mental health and wellbeing, EdCan Network created the Well at Work platform, launched in September 2019 with over 200,000 users and 500 event participants. Since then, the organization has built a network of Canadian educators, researchers, practitioners, and numerous stakeholder groups who are passionate about and dedicated to advancing K-12 workplace wellbeing.

Funding description

Since the onset of the pandemic, K-12 staff stress and burnout has been exacerbated as they are required to adapt to complex health measures and virtual teaching. Schools and school districts are looking for ways to support their staff now more than ever, and they require solutions which will address underlying problems such as heavy workloads and toxic workplace cultures. The Foundation’s contribution will enable EdCan Network to provide such solutions through Well at Work 2.0. 

Building on WellAhead’s K-12 staff wellbeing work, EdCan Network’s Well at Work 2.0 will support education leaders across Canada to develop and implement individual, organizational and systemic strategies to improve K-12 staff wellbeing, through:

1. professional learning for school district leaders, principals, and school/district wellness leads on actionable strategies to measure, implement, and evaluate comprehensive approaches to K-12 wellbeing;
2. a coaching platform for school and district leaders and teams to improve their own personal wellbeing while receiving guidance to embed mental wellbeing for all staff into their district’s culture, priorities, and structures, partially fee-based;
3. facilitated provincial and pan-Canadian stakeholder hubs; and
4. an economic study of the costs of K-12 staff stress and burnout, and the benefits of investing in positive mental health and wellbeing to offset these costs. A fee-based service for school districts will also be provided which compiles and analyzes their workplace wellbeing data in a cost-benefit report.