Reimagining the Diary: Reflective practice as a positive tool for educator wellbeing

Reimaging the diary by Lucy Kelly book cover

Dr Lucy Kelly, School of Education, University of Bristol

Press release issued: 15 March 2023

'Reimagining the Diary: Reflective practice as a positive tool for educator wellbeing' is the new book by Dr Lucy Kelly, School of Education, and was born from her research project on teacher and student wellbeing. The book is a research-informed guide to a structured, multimodal, playful, and creative approach to reflective practice through diary-keeping. This process of reflective practice identifies small changes that can be adopted to address wellbeing needs and rebalance work and life. A useful and increasingly necessary tool in the current educator wellbeing crisis.

Using research around habit-formation and behaviour-change, as well as key findings from Lucy’s own project, her book Reimagining the Diary’ explores approaches to reflective practice through diary-keeping. Through a practical, pragmatic approach, Lucy highlights the vital need for educators to recognise personal wellbeing as a top priority, with teacher wellbeing and pupil wellbeing, as being two sides of the same coin (Roffey, 2012).

The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 is an overview of diary-keeping, with a short history illustrating the various ways the practice has been used in the West - as a mirror, an anchor, portal, sounding board and a comfort blanket. Seeing it as a multimodal and multifaceted space, helps to reimagine the diary as a format and look beyond the usual canon of famous Western white male diary writers. Taken together, this helps view the practice of diary-keeping in the fullest and truest way.

Lucy then explores how a diary helps educators move from the mode of care-giver to that of self-care. An opportunity to ‘download’ the day, and look at situations or events from different angles; making the changes necessary to flourish in all spheres of their lives.

Drawing on some of the main messages from the field of behaviour design, Part 2 focuses on tips and strategies to make diary-keeping small, simple, and sustainable. Lucy reveals how to turn diary-keeping practice into a daily habit to support wellbeing, and overcome limiting factors that affect habit formation - time, motivation, and judgement/expectations, with activities to help develop a more reflective mindset.

The final chapter summarises the book’s main themes and takeaway messages with prompts and questions to help the reader plan the next phase of their diary-keeping journey.

Lucy offers a wealth of practical suggestions, tips, and actionable guidance on how to make a diary work, and explains how it can support our reflection, help us to process our experiences and responses, and serve as an invaluable 'safety-valve'. She exhorts us to prioritise ourselves and create the space for intentional reflective practice, believing it is key to helping educational professionals find a manageable and sustainable balance in their lives.

Jill Berry, Author, Leadership Development Consultant

Commenting on the book, Lucy said, “My intention is to inspire you. As you’ll see, the diary can, should, and has been, a multifaceted and multimodal space. This is important as it helps you to reimagine the diary as a format to suit you and your own wellbeing needs. Wellbeing is bespoke and individual, so it’s essential that we find a space to explore and test out what does or doesn’t work for us, before adopting new practices in everyday life. The diary provides a safe, porous space where we can get to know the different aspects of ourselves and, through this process, discover what we need to flourish and grow.”

To learn more about ‘Reimagining the Diary: Reflective practice as a positive tool for educator wellbeing’ by Lucy Kelly, priced at just £16, please click here.

Further information

For more information on Dr Kelly's 'Reimagining The Diary' project, visit the School of Education blog:

Introducing the Reimagining the Diary project

Phase 3 ‘Reimagining the Diary’: taking stock and looking ahead

About the Author

Dr Lucy Kelly is an Associate Professor in Education at the University of Bristol, primarily working with PGCE English trainee teachers. She advocates that trainee teachers see themselves as their own biggest resource in the classroom, and that they prioritise their wellbeing from the outset. Her main research interest is reflective practice as a positive tool for educator wellbeing, and she is Principal Investigator for the 'Reimagining the Diary' project, which uses a multimodal Diary Toolkit and ongoing wellbeing CPD to support educators across the country. The team have now launched a student Diary Toolkit, which is currently being tested by 250 Year 12 pupils. Lucy has written numerous articles on educator wellbeing and reflective practice, and presented her work on podcasts, at conferences and on the radio.