“They’re coming to us and we don’t have any training” - Professional learning approaches for secondary Australian school year advisors: a call for support

ABSTRACT

Secondary school year advisors fulfil an important relationship-building, middle leadership position in schools. Although responsible for supporting the wellbeing of students with a range of academic, social, and emotional needs, there is limited research into year advisor’s role and the support provided for these educators. This qualitative study provides insight into year advisors’ perceptions of professional learning that prepared them to support student wellbeing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with secondary school year advisors in New South Wales, Australia, investigating their training experiences and views on navigating the expectations of their role. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis revealed key themes capturing the limited provision of formal training for year advisors and the perception that training was insufficient for responding to students’ mental health needs. Year advisors reported relying on self-sourced informal training methods including collaborative partnerships, practice-based learning and independent investigation, to manage situations encountered when supporting students. Findings reveal a disparity in formalised professional learning opportunities across schools and year advisors’ desire for systematic, role specific, formalised training, especially for supporting students’ mental health.

KEYWORDS:

• Middle leadership
• secondary school
• year advisors
• student wellbeing
• professional learning
• mental health training

Introduction

Universally, for all teachers, professional learning is essential to strategic school-based and national ambitions for educational reform (Patfield et al., 2021). Secondary school teachers globally have identified mental health as a priority area for professional development, as schools are becoming increasingly responsible for identifying, supporting, and referring students to appropriate services (Moon et al., 2017). Almost a decade has passed since the Young Minds Matter survey conducted with Australian children and adolescents revealed 1 in 7 students were affected by a mental disorder, impacting attendance, academic outcomes, and connection and engagement with school when compared to their peers (Goodsell et al., 2017). This research highlighted the importance of improving the mental health and wellbeing of students as a prerequisite for supporting the successful achievement of academic goals for Australian students (2017). More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has proven a significant disruptive force impacting mental health of students, with emerging studies emphasising teacher professional development to support the needs of students when mental health personnel in schools are overwhelmed (Naff et al., 2022).

Given these findings, expectations of educators have increased to reflect the priority of social and emotional student wellbeing within Australian schools (Dix et al., 2020; Mazzer & Rickwood, 2015). Student wellbeing is often nurtured by classroom teachers, championed by school principals, and operationalised through teachers in middle leadership positions. Despite research establishing the necessity of professional learning to support classroom teachers’ implementation of school-based wellbeing programs (Dix et al., 2020) and teacher capacity to positively influence student wellbeing outcomes (Dix et al., 2020), gaps remain regarding how middle leaders experience professional learning for their complex role within schools.

The year advisor role, also referred to as year coordinator, subject leader or pastoral leader (De Nobile, 2017), is an important middle leadership position in many secondary schools (Farchi & Tubin, 2019). Year advisors are broadly responsible for governing a year level within a school, serving as coordinators of programs, advocates of student and curriculum matters and form part of the school’s leadership team reporting to senior staff. Year advisors are considered a student-facing role, devoting much time to student wellbeing issues, liaising between the students, parents or carers and the school (De Nobile, 2017). Although the governance structure in schools may vary, large secondary schools are likely to have year advisors for each year level. Year advisors may not be the only the professional supporting student wellbeing in schools. While classroom teachers, and school counsellors have also been shown to create genuine connection (Knight et al., 2018), the year advisor often fulfils both classroom and administration roles and are the likely first point of communication for students and carers seeking assistance. These middle leaders therefore assume high visibility in the contribution to student wellbeing.

This paper opens with an overview of contemporary research on the precarious role of year advisors, the emergence of crucial middle leadership positions, and the importance and limitations of their own professional learning. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis was employed as a commensurate approach for unpacking participant’s lived experiences, followed by the findings and discussion. The paper concludes with implications and recommendations for policy makers crucial to addressing year advisors’ attrition, professional development, and scope of practice.

The necessity of middle leadership roles in schools

Middle leadership roles in schools are important, highly complex and relational positions (Lipscombe & Tindall-Ford, 2021; Lipscombe et al., 2021). The role is a formalised, renumerated position between senior leadership and teachers to foster collaborations and relationships that shape teacher agency (Lipscombe et al., 2021). Middle school leaders demonstrate their impact through supporting student learning, enhancing professional knowledge and supporting their colleagues’ professional learning (J. Willis et al., 2021).

However, middle leadership success is highly contentious and conditional on enabling factors such as the support of senior leadership and the formalisation of the role (Lipscombe & Tindall-Ford, 2021). Middle school leaders’ influence has been found limited and less effective in schools where greater amounts of time is spent on administration over pedagogical work (Farchi & Tubin, 2019) and cultural, economic and local factors influence their scope of practice (Leithwood et al., 2020).

Principals can create enabling conditions when influencing staff motivation, culture and working conditions (Leithwood et al., 2020) and this contributes to school effectiveness, teacher quality and student achievement. Middle leaders need to be supported by principals if they are to succeed in their role (Farchi & Tubin, 2019),and fostering these relationships requires time for regular meetings, championing a culture of teamwork and supporting professional learning (Lipscombe & Tindall-Ford, 2021).

In addition to the support of senior leadership, research has found that effective middle leaders are provided with a clear role description and resources to do their jobs effectively (Farchi & Tubin, 2019). Yet, the lack of role clarity, consistency and definition continues to confront middle leaders in practice. Without a role description, middle leaders are at risk of heavy workloads, change in scope and limited authority (Farchi & Tubin, 2019; Gurr, 2019). Given the insufficient national guidance, middle leaders’ roles have become highly contextualised and require formalised position descriptions to legitimise their identities and impact (Lipscombe & Tindall-Ford, 2021).

The complexities of the middle leadership position have been conceptualised by Gjerde and Alvesson (2020) through the metaphor of an “umbrella carrier” who shelters their team from expectations from above whilst managing the expectations from below, yet much of this work goes unacknowledged (A. Willis et al., 2019). Gjerde and Alvesson (2020) propose those in middle level roles take on a subject position which influences how they operate, interpret their role and identity, and experience agency. Within secondary schools, middle leaders must often mentor and advocate for subordinates or colleagues, and students or other classroom teachers, while also navigating the expectations of superiors and policy makers who drive new initiatives. The “umbrella-protector” position they adopt may be a way to handle the crossfire between the expectations they experience within their role (Gjerde & Alvesson, 2020). How middle leaders, specifically year advisors, learn to navigate the complexities of their space and the education or formal professional learning required to do so effectively, is an area requiring further investigation.

Professional development for teachers

In order to clarify, scope, and support the middle leaders’ role, opportunities for and benefits of professional development are essential and to date, the provision of professional learning has not adequately equipped middle leaders to face the challenges and complexities of these positions (Lipscombe et al., 2021). Literature continues to espouse limitations around accessing professional learning. Two decades ago, Malcolm et al. (2003) highlighted that all forms of learning undertaken by secondary school teachers were impacted by the constraints of teaching timetables, limited resources and differing priorities between governments, schools and teachers. Such limitations prevail within the socio-political context of teaching standards, professional learning instrumentally aligned to meeting policy requirements (Mockler, 2022) and these socio-economic and political framings may deprioritise and limit access to other, authentic and generative learning opportunities (Mockler, 2022).

The distinction for classifying professional learning may reside and be characterised as a continuum of formal and informal learning (Sancar et al., 2021). Formal learning opportunities describe planned situations, often facilitated by experts through workshops or modules online or in person, linked to specific outcomes and taking place within structured environments away from daily work (Richter et al., 2011). This approach has long held effectiveness in fostering teaching communities and enhancing teaching quality (Patfield et al., 2021) and supports alignment with teaching standards (Mockler, 2022).

Learning through practice, “in situ” or informal learning, is largely undervalued and under researched (Evans, 2019), however may be one way to approach professional learning that takes place within teaching contexts. Informal learning, primarily characterised by learning from experience (Watkins & Marsick, 1992) during daily routines, it is often reactive or haphazard, and based on a process of conscious reflection (Manuti et al., 2015). Studies on training within the workplace indicate that informal professional learning enables individuals to improve professional competency (Manuti et al., 2015). In the absence of formal training opportunities, individuals may intentionally or spontaneously undertake self-directed, informal learning where they identify the need, motivation, and opportunity to learn (Marsick & Watkins, 2001). Figure 1 conceptualises informal and formal training methods on a continuum.

Figure 1. Parameters and continuum of formal and informal training.

Adapted from the research of Eraut (2000), Marsick and Watkins (2001), Manuti et al. (2015) and Watkins and Marsick (1992).

Currently, the literature on the types of professional learning provided to year advisors is sparse, and there is no formalised training mandated to assist the development of role-specific skills. Research reveals the position is undervalued, under resourced and comprises inconsistent support for training, with some schools encouraging courses on pastoral care and others offering no training at all (Crane & De Nobile, 2014). In (2018), McGrath-Champ et al. surveyed 18, 234 school staff in NSW public schools and found that a priority for teachers was the provision of more professional learning within school hours to allow for increased collaboration. Research into school leadership has made progress (Leithwood et al., 2020), however more work is needed to address systemic issues regarding lack of professional learning, support and role clarity of middle leaders (Lipscombe et al., 2021).

Training for year advisors: where are the gaps?

Studies on teachers’ attitudes towards supporting student wellbeing tell us educators believe they play a vital role but often face challenges in feeling professionally prepared for effectively supporting their students (Rossi et al., 2016). Educators also emphasise a need for additional mental health training facilitated by an expert (A. Willis et al., 2019). Compared to control groups who have not undertaken any training, teachers who have participated in programs increasing their mental health knowledge and skills report an improvement in confidence and preparedness to identify and respond to the mental health needs of their students (Greif Green et al., 2020). However, an extensive review of the effectiveness of general mental health programs designed for non-mental health professionals, indicates that the positive outcomes are often short term and ongoing training is required (Booth et al., 2017).

Research conducted with school leaders in Queensland, Australia, revealed that teachers often rely on personal initiatives in order to support their students (A. Willis et al., 2019). This resonates with (Mazzer & Rickwood, 2015), who reported that while Australian teachers view supporting student mental health as part of their role, they are inadequately prepared due to a skills deficit and complex demands. A review conducted by Anderson et al. (2019) highlights some evidence-based student mental health programs for teachers however, none of these programs are designed specifically for year advisors. The Black Dog Institute’s Building Educators’ Skills in Adolescent Mental Health program (B. Parker, 2020), is one of the first evidence-based online training programs in Australia to be piloted with an advisory group of year advisors across 28 schools in NSW. Preliminary results of the pilot study found that after six weeks of the program, year advisors reported higher levels of confidence, increased frequency in helping behaviours, and a reduction in personal psychological distress (B. L. Parker et al., 2021).

The revised NSW DoE “Student Welfare Policy” NSW Department of Education (2020) serves as a reminder for individual school communities to review and build on existing whole school practices for supporting student wellbeing. Thus, consulting year advisors and considering their feedback on effective training may be a beneficial part of this review and an opportunity for schools to gain insight into professional learning that may support their student welfare teams.

The study

This study examines the year advisor’s role in the context of secondary schools in NSW, Australia shaped by the governing standards and policies implemented by these systems. In NSW, all schools are required to have a planned approach to supporting student wellbeing. Individual school priorities and the broad conceptualisation of student wellbeing underpinning school policies appear to have contributed to some of the ambiguity and inconsistency associated with the year advisor’s role.

Despite the prolific role of year advisors across secondary schools in NSW, there appears to be no overarching formal role statement and description of the role varies based on each school’s context and key initiatives (Crane & De Nobile, 2014). However, in response to challenges during COVID-19 pandemic, the NSW DoE (2021) published a set of remote learning roles and responsibilities for staff. Within these guidelines, a general description of the year advisor role spanning across three broad areas was included. The inclusion of the year advisor role within these guidelines demonstrates the breadth of year advisors’ involvement with student wellbeing, and an increase in the visibility of middle management positions in schools. To reduce what appears to be a disparity between policy and the preparation of staff, there is a clear need for research investigating how year advisors perceive training and how it has assisted them in supporting their students.

Research questions

The purpose of this qualitative study is to gain insight into secondary school year advisors’ motivations, training and support for their roles. The following research questions guided the study:

1. What are year advisors’ perceptions of the formal learning experiences provided to prepare them for their role?

2. What strategies for formal and informal learning do year advisors experience to support students’ wellbeing?

Research design

A qualitative, realist approach using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was applied to this study, as it is considered an appropriate framework to uncover the realities of individual’s experiences and perceptions of a particular phenomenon (Alase, 2017). IPA can generate unanticipated insights (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014), important for the current research study, as there is nominal literature regarding the views and experiences of secondary school year advisors.

Participants

The 12 participants in this study met the inclusion criteria of having at least one year of experience in the role. Participants’ experience in the position ranged between 1 and 13 years. Collectively, participants had been responsible for students across junior (11–15 years) and senior (16–18 years) grades. Table 1 presents further demographic characteristics of the participants.

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of participants.

Demographic Characteristics	Full Sample N = 12
Gender
Female	9
Male	3
Number of years’ experience as a year advisor
1–2 years	1
3–4 years	5
5–6 years	4
Over 7 years	2
Classification of school region whilst employed as year advisor
Metropolitan	10
Rural	1
Experience in both settings	1
Main subject area taught
English	5
Mathematics	1
Creative Arts	2
PDHPE	3
TAS	1
Average number of students enrolled in cohort
<100 students	1
100–200 students	10
200–300 students	1
Currently in the year advisor role
Yes	4
No	8
Supported by assistant year advisor while in the role
Yes	10
No	2

Procedure

Ethics approval was granted through the Social Sciences Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Wollongong (HREC 2021/012). Recruitment occurred through social media using a snowballing method (Heagney & Benson, 2017) where potential participants within the researcher’s personal network were invited to share information about the study with others. Following ethical guidelines, participants were provided information outlining the study’s purpose, participation and treatment of data. Semi-structured, one-on-one, hour-long interviews took place using Zoom© video conferencing. Twelve open-ended questions were posed as they appropriately allowed for the flexibility, compassion and probing required to gain a thorough understanding of participants’ views and lived experiences (Mcintosh & Morse, 2015).

Interviews began with a broad question surrounding the participant’s understanding and experience of the year advisor role. As the interview progressed, questions became more specific to the perceptions of participants towards different types of training, preparation for the position, and experiences of supporting students’ needs. Participants were then offered the opportunity to communicate additional information about their experience as a year advisor. All interviews were recorded to allow for verbatim transcription, which was then member checked by participants.

Data analysis

Interview transcripts were analysed using the IPA framework outlined by Pietkiewicz and Smith (2014). This approach requires rich description of the dataset that is coded without the constraints of deductive approaches (Kiger & Varpio, 2020). During this dynamic process, the researcher seeks to make sense of the individual’s world and make this meaning comprehendible and accessible to others (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014).

The initial stage involved the researcher familiarising themselves with the data. As recommended by Pietkiewicz and Smith (2014), important segments and phrases were identified, and distinctive and emotive responses highlighted. To ensure the systematic application of coding procedures throughout the analytical process, three levels of data coding were used when transforming initial notes into emergent themes: including open, axial and selective coding (Williams & Moser, 2019). Following this process of identifying key themes, the researcher clustered and labelled these based on their similarities (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014). The final step was to compare the lists of superordinate themes and subthemes created from each individual case by examining converging and diverging ideas across the dataset uncovering patterns of shared experience.

Evaluating interpretive, qualitative research requires a distinctive set of criteria to judge study trustworthiness. Following Schwartz-Shea (2006) this study adopted several strategies: first, reflexivity was observed to reflect on the researcher’s positionality and record information about self and method; second, informant feedback was deliberately sought after transcripts and data themes were established; and third, negative case analysis was employed to check the researchers’ initial meaning making and to challenge assumptions.

Results

Five superordinate themes were revealed through the data analysis. Two related to the first research question (see Figure 2) and three related to the second research question (see Figure 3). The two superordinate themes represented year advisors’ perceptions of their formal training experiences (A) included: limited provision of formal training opportunities (A1) and insufficient training to address students’ mental health needs (A2). All 12 participants (P) reported that prior to commencing their role as year advisor, they were not provided with any formal training to prepare them for their responsibilities.

Figure 2. Superordinate themes and subthemes relating to research question A.

Figure 3. Superordinate themes and subthemes relating to research question B.

In response, all participants highlighted the importance of independently sourcing their own learning to better support their students and to improve their competency in responding to situations they encountered. The other three superordinate themes represented year advisors’ informal learning experiences when acquiring the skills and knowledge needed to competently fulfil their role (B) including: collaborative partnerships (B1), practice-based learning (B2) and independent investigation (B3).

Theme A1: limited provision of formal training opportunities

This theme demonstrates that formal training was rarely provided to assist year advisors in preparation for their role. Whilst half of participants expressed they attended one formal training course, the remainder of participants reported they had not been provided with formal training at any time in their year advisor career.

No formal training provided

Half of participants stated that they had not experienced any role-specific formal training designed to prepare or upskill them for supporting student wellbeing at any time whilst fulfilling the year advisor role. These participants all had at least three years’ experience in the role and four participants had fulfilled the year advisor role at two or more schools.

An experienced teacher of 15 years and year advisor with 7 years’ experience highlighted in her interview feelings of uncertainty, disorientation, and lack of preparation:

It is literally like a role you’re thrown into and just there’s this expectation that you’re just going to care for this group of students … there’s no role statement and there’s no guidance and there’s no training.

(P7)

This assessment of the year advisor role was echoed by all participants.

One-off mental health training courses

Of the six participants that shared they had experienced formal training after commencing the year advisor role, none reported more than one formal training experience. All six participants who attended formal training courses organised by their schools described learning skills such as mental health first aid, triage skills and counselling techniques. Most of the participants concurred that there was a shortage of formal training opportunities, at least not enough to fulfil their year advisor duties to the best of their abilities.

Theme A2: insufficient for responding to students’ mental health needs

All 12 participants indicated that any formal training they received was insufficient for preparing them to respond effectively to the mental health needs of the students in their cohort. A year advisor with three years’ experience in the role, expressed a sense of disbelief at the disparity between her expectations of the training that would be provided for the year advisor role and the reality of the situations through which she was required to support her students. This lack of preparation for situations involving highly vulnerable students who are at risk of harm and supporting students with complex family and mental health needs encapsulates the sense of frustration and disappointment shared by many participants.

Inadequate mental health knowledge

Six participants described feeling a sense of inadequacy in their ability to understand and respond to situations requiring mental health knowledge. Participants concurred that they required more professional learning that helped them to understand mental health conditions and resources advising how to respond to students displaying high levels of emotional distress. Four participants expressed intuition or instinct alone as not enough to competently identify and sensitively inquire about the signs when students may be struggling with their mental health.

Underprepared for responding to confronting disclosures

Eleven participants specified feeling underprepared for responding to confronting disclosures from students. In response to questions asking participants to describe experiences where formal mental health or psychological training assisted them with supporting student welfare in their role, these participants perceived they had not received enough PL and felt underprepared for responding to disclosures relating to sensitive issues, risk of harm or for supporting students who have had traumatic experiences. The common response from participants was that year advisors require more extensive training to equip them to effectively support their students during and following the moment of disclosures of a sensitive nature. Participants also recurrently described how the information learned at university and during annual mandatory child protection training was not substantial preparation for the skills required when responding to confronting student disclosures.

Theme B1: collaborative partnerships

All participants identified that in the absence of formal training, they sought other methods of learning to acquire the skills and knowledge required to support their students. All participants perceived that collaboration with other staff was required to do their job properly. This included informal mentoring, professional conversations, team meetings and liaison with the school counsellor.

Informal mentoring

Nine participants reported seeking support from more experienced staff. The mentoring identified by these participants was unscheduled and sought in reaction to navigating situations they felt were beyond their competency. Recurring methods of informal mentoring discussed by participants included debriefing, advice from more experienced staff members, peer coaching or check-ins. The data collected exemplified the informal nature of the mentoring sought by participants to better understand and learn how to respond to the issues that they encounter.

Professional conversations

Participants reported conversing with others to better understand the action they should take to support students. Recurringly, participants used language such as “talking” or “asking” to describe how they learned to navigate their responsibilities through impromptu conversations. Many shared that without formal training preparing them for the role, they felt compelled to talk with others to acquire skills and knowledge to perform their duties.

Team meetings

Several participants stressed the importance of time allocated for regular welfare team meetings or learning and support team meetings where they could seek feedback or guidance on wellbeing initiatives, discuss specific complex cases, share resources and benefit from the knowledge of more experienced year advisors.

Liaison with school counsellor

The importance of school counsellors’ guidance and psychological knowledge was raised recurrently throughout participants’ interviews. Seven participants sought the expert advice of school counsellors and gave examples of learning experiences such as: presentations by the school counsellor, consultation for strategies for supporting students with specific psychological disorders, seeking information about referral and community supports, and learning counselling skills by observing the school counsellor. Conversely, one school did not have a school counsellor:

Trying to have all these conversations around students’ wellbeing … would definitely be the area that I felt most unprepared for. I had no training about what to say to students [who needed help with acute emotional distress or mental health episodes]. I didn’t know who I needed to ring … and it was quite difficult.

(P3)

This account echoed the stress and confusion experienced by year advisors when attempting to manage complex issues and illustrates the challenge of undertaking the role with limited psychological training.

Theme B2: practice-based learning

All participants’ reported learning through improvising, observing, experiencing, managing and reflecting on situations that arise within the year advisor position. Several participants specifically described this as learning “on the job”. Participants expressed the skills and knowledge they gained, which helped them with the year advisor role, were mainly learnt incidentally when responding to individual situations or the needs of their students.

Learning from action and reflection

Nine participants described learning through improvisation, trial and error or hindsight. They frequently commented on having to improvise, before learning upon reflection and feedback, whether their approach for supporting student wellbeing was effective. One example from an experienced year advisor, illustrates the challenge of learning from experience:

In your early stages of the year advisor role [when] you haven’t gone through an induction process, you get extremely stressed to the extent that you feel like … you want to support this [student] but how do I do it?

(P12)

This statement captures the sense of fear, discomfort, and confusion many participants reported.

Vicarious learning

Nine participants reported the benefits of learning aspects of the year advisor role through the informal observation or interaction with other year advisors. Many participants described “shadowing” or observing those established in the position as a means of attempting to understand what was required of them.

Theme B3: independent investigation

This final theme evolving from the collated data demonstrates that in order to gain the knowledge and skills required to adequately support their students, year advisors undertake learning through their own research and often outside of their work hours. Eight participants reported they engaged in their own learning through methods such as information gathering, online resources or self-sourced study, to help them adequately support their students’ needs.

Information gathering

Data exemplifying the determination and tenacity of participants, who in response to a perceived lack of formal training, sought their own professional learning is revealed through:

My own personal process and approach was already there that okay, if the school doesn’t have it, what will I do? Will I sit on my seat and do nothing? No, I will research and will seek out and take it upon myself to be able to do those PLs. [Professional Learning]

(P12)

Other participants described the time-consuming nature of independently finding resources

Online resources

Several participants attended online webinars or used resources from websites designed for supporting young peoples’ wellbeing. Participants described sourcing and adjusting several online resources to support their students.

Self-sourced study

Six participants discussed independently searching for and participating in further study or courses that they believed were helpful for increasing their competency within the year advisor role. This was due to the lack of role-specific training provided by their schools.

Discussion

… but I made myself take a vow that I will make sure that no other year advisor feels lost like this.

(P12)

This educator’s promise captures the importance of researching and implementing formal education for year advisors. Accounts of the participants in this study reveal their individual and shared experiences. An IPA approach assisted in illuminating the complexities of year advisors’ experiences and highlighted feelings of disappointment, inadequacy, disorientation, uncertainty, helplessness, frustration, and determination in navigating their diverse responsibilities. These feelings are echoed in the literature on middle leadership indicating that they are not only relevant within this study, but more broadly an important issue that demands attention (Farchi & Tubin, 2019; Gjerde & Alvesson, 2020; Gurr, 2019; Lipscombe & Tindall-Ford, 2021).

It is important to note that the year advisors who participated in this study were eager to have their stories heard. All participants emphasised the essential nature of their role within secondary schools. This earnest reiteration of the significance of year advisors in holding together the fabric of the school was also tied to a sense of frustration stemming from paradoxical feelings of despair and hope towards a job that could be even more rewarding if provided with adequate preparation through formal training. This perspective is consistent with literature demonstrating educators believe they play a vital role in supporting the wellbeing of students (Rossi et al., 2016).

Overall findings revealed formal training provided to year advisors is inconsistent and insufficient for their role with no formalised training designed specially to prepare the participants for commencing their role. These findings extend existing literature claiming that middle leadership is challenging without systematic, role-relevant PL (De Nobile, 2017). This study contributes to a growing body of evidence suggesting that in order to prepare teachers for middle leadership, professional learning should not only be targeted towards those currently employed in the position but extended to aspiring middle leaders (Lipscombe et al., 2020).

This study also indicates that year advisors perceive their job as one requiring psychological knowledge and skills. This is an important finding, as previous research attempting to conceptualise student-focused middle leadership positions in schools does not specifically mention this aspect of the role. Results highlighted that year advisors are provided with limited PL designed to prepare them for responding to the mental health needs of their students. This extends previous literature indicating that although teachers are becoming increasingly responsible for supporting students’ mental health, they feel inadequately equipped and express concerns about their competency (Ekornes, 2017; Mazzer & Rickwood, 2015), demonstrating mental health training as a priority area for teacher PL (A. Willis et al., 2019).When formal professional learning is absent, other opportunities can arise whereby an individual can undertake an informal PL activity strengthening their confidence and competency (Marsick & Watkins, 2001) however, participants expressed the need for more frequent, targeted, formalised mental health training.

Findings regarding informal learning experiences highlighted that in the absence of formal training, year advisors independently search for and source their own PL. This is consistent with literature suggesting that teachers often rely on their own personal initiative to support their students’ wellbeing (A. Willis et al., 2019). Thus, most of the PL undertaken by year advisors appears to consist of self-sourced, informal learning experiences. These findings align with Marsick and Watkins (2001) who indicated that educators often engage, either intentionally or incidentally, in informal learning activities including: support through collaborative partnerships, independent investigation into courses and resources, practice-based learning through improvisation, reflecting on previous experiences, and learning vicariously through observing others with more expertise.

The current research also highlights that learning informally may not only be accompanied by feelings of uncertainty or discomfort but also the perception of a high risk of error or harm associated with a dependence on improvisation and hindsight. Overall, participants expressed the willingness and determination to learn the information required to support their students; however, most of their learning was through informal activities self-resourced outside of work hours.

Strengths and limitations

The IPA method used in this study allowed for a detailed understanding of the experiences and perspectives of year advisors who have previously been underrepresented in the literature. Whilst the small sample size ensured in-depth case studies of year advisors’ professional experiences and perspectives, it poses a number of limitations for the generalisability of results. To gain a more representative understanding of year advisors’ perspectives and experiences, a larger scale study is required across a wider range of secondary schools, including those in rural regions and with teachers fulfilling similar middle leadership positions.

Implications and future directions

Findings suggest several implications for teacher education, specifically in relation to supporting the professional development of year advisors. The present study highlights what appears to be a shortage of formalised professional learning offered to year advisors to prepare them for their middle leadership role. The participants in this study suggest that year advisors require more specialised training including frequent and formalised mental health training, with consultation required around their preferred method of delivery. Research tells us students experiencing mental health conditions in Australian schools is prevalent Goodsell et al. (2017). Social and emotional wellbeing has emerged at the forefront of school priorities (Dix et al., 2020), increasingly so since the COVID-19 pandemic (Naff et al., 2022). Therefore, a shift in priorities must ensure teacher education includes a foundational understanding of factors influencing wellbeing, social and emotional development and how to support students experiencing mental health issues.

Further research is needed to identify and understand the barriers to implementing and accessing formal training with a focus on understanding the specific requirements of the year advisor role. Previous research has suggested middle leaders vary in experienced agency within their role and their alignment either upward with superiors or downward with subordinates impacts on how they operate and identify in the role (Gjerde & Alvesson, 2020. To assist middle leaders in cementing their identity and sense of agency, school leaders should be mindful of the complexity of middle level roles and target professional development on understanding the boundaries of the role and existing supports within the hierarchical system of the school. As recommended by previous researchers, a clear role description, policy and understanding of role expectations is vital for planning and developing training designed to prepare teachers for middle leadership (Lipscombe et al., 2020). Therefore, development of an official role statement by educational policy makers is an important first step in guiding the parameters of the professional learning required to adequately prepare year advisors for their role and would also facilitate a more consistent conceptualisation of the role across schools. The implementation of individual, school-based induction programs for teachers who are interested or successful in applying for the year advisor role would benefit all stakeholders.

Conclusion

This study aimed to illuminate the perspectives and professional learning experiences of year advisors who, despite their prolific role in secondary school wellbeing teams, have previously received minimal attention in the literature on middle leadership, student wellbeing or teacher mental health training. Areas addressed included how year advisors perceive formal training experiences prepare them for their role in supporting students’ wellbeing, and the learning activities they undertake to acquire the skills and knowledge required to fulfil their role. Many participants engaged in informal training such as learning through collaborative professional partnerships, reflection on practice-based experiences, and conducting independent investigation online or participating in self-sourced training. However, an area of particular concern for participants was insufficient formalised training for responding to students displaying emotional or psychological distress. While some were provided with one-off mental health training, findings suggest that without further PL, year advisors will continue to feel underprepared for responding appropriately to students’ needs.

This study highlights the importance of cultivating the skills of teachers entering the year advisor position, with an emphasis on designing and implementing accessible, targeted mental health training applicable to their context. If we truly value a whole school community approach to supporting student wellbeing, then preparing year advisors through relevant formal training for their vital role in assisting students is an important step for policy makers, individual secondary schools, universities, and future research.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude and appreciation to the year advisors who made this research possible by volunteering their time to participate in this study. Thank you for your passion for education and support for your students.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Victoria Joyner

Victoria Joyner, has worked as a year advisor and is currently working to obtain her psychology registration. Her postgraduate psychology research project was conducted under the supervision of Dr Michelle J. Eady and Dr Bonnie Dean at the University of Wollongong in 2021.

Michelle J. Eady

Victoria Joyner, has worked as a year advisor and is currently working to obtain her psychology registration. Her postgraduate psychology research project was conducted under the supervision of Dr Michelle J. Eady and Dr Bonnie Dean at the University of Wollongong in 2021.

Michelle J. Eady, President of ISSOTL, fellow of HERDSA and ISSOTL, and SFHEA, is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Wollongong, Australia.

Bonnie Amelia Dean

Bonnie Amelia Dean, (PhD SFHEA) is Head of Academic Development and Recognition at the University of Wollongong, Australia.