Teacher Support Research is part of the Teacher Support Network Group.

Teacher Support Network was first formed in 1877. It is now a unique charity dedicated to providing vital support to qualified teachers. Throughout the UK, we use our expertise to improve the personal wellbeing and effectiveness of teachers, from training to post-retirement and in some cases the whole school workforce.

Teacher Support Research was founded in 2008 in response to the lack of good quality research evidence on many issues relating to teacher wellbeing. The charity's aim is to improve understanding of teacher wellbeing, including causes, consequences and how it can be improved. The Teacher Support Network Group has extensive practical knowledge of the issues relating to teacher wellbeing through listening to tens of thousands of teachers each year; however, it was recognised that this practical knowledge needed to be supported by high-quality academic studies.

Given the importance and specialised nature of this research, it was decided to set up a separate charity to conduct or commission research to fill these knowledge gaps, and thus Teacher Support Research was born. In its first year, Teacher Support Research completed a review of the existing evidence which, for the first time, pulled together and evaluated the available evidence on teacher wellbeing. We have used this review to identify where there are significant gaps in the evidence and are working with a range of partners to develop research proposals in these areas.

Teacher Support Research aims to work with partners in universities and elsewhere to explore the causes and consequences of poor teacher wellbeing and to pilot and evaluate a range of interventions that seek to enhance teacher wellbeing, sharing our findings with unions, Governments and other key stakeholders. The findings of this research will help the Teacher Support Network Group to develop and enhance the services needed to overcome difficulties in the profession and lobby for widespread change that can prevent teacher wellbeing from suffering in the first place.

As Teacher Support Research is an independent charity (registration pending) we also have our own trustees. Our current trustees are:

• Prof. Sally Brown OBE, Professor Emeritus of Education at StirlingUniversity
• Prof. Richard Ennals, Research Professor at the Centre for Working Life Research, KingstonBusinessSchool
• Tony Tonks, teacher and National Executive member of the National Union of Teachers