Brilliant Idea to Save Your Aching Back and Your Creaky Knees!
By Clare Rawlings, founder of Raw Movement
Movement Education for Practitioners in the Early Years
Despite the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain experienced by early years practitioners, this issue often goes unaddressed. If you're nodding in agreement, you might also feel that such discomfort is simply an accepted part of the job. As a fellow educator, I understand how challenging it can be to prioritise your physical well-being amidst the demands of this physically demanding profession, compounded by personal responsibilities outside of work.
Your mental health and overall well-being are closely linked to movement, with every one of the 30 trillion cells in the human body relying on the compaction and expansion of each cell to function optimally. With the alarming rise in chronic illnesses significantly impacting our workforce, it’s clear that diverse daily movement is fundamental to driving meaningful changes to health outcomes for many people – because the cells of every organ, muscle and system need movement.
The daily responsibilities of early years practitioners —lifting children, bending down to engage at eye level, rearranging furniture, and managing an active classroom—place extraordinary strain on our bodies. Research indicates that over 90% of early years practitioners experience musculoskeletal pain. This not only hinders their ability to perform their duties effectively but also contributes to many people leaving the profession early and ultimately impacts student success. Let’s not also ignore the huge cost that presenteeism and absenteeism has on this childcare sector too.
As leaders and colleagues it is essential that we acknowledge this issue and actively pursue accessible and inclusive interventions to support the physical health of all early years educators within the profession, and those soon to be entering the profession.
Supporting Your Colleagues
Training Educators in Movement, Alignment, and Posture
An approach validated by research is to visit the fundamentals of how our bodies are designed to move. Educators benefit from developing an awareness of proper alignment and how to incorporate a variety of maintenance-focused movements and stretches into their daily routines.  Most early years education courses do not include any learning on this which is surprising considering the intensively physical nature of the job.  Have you thought about incorporating some physical wellbeing tips into your induction process? Â
Movement has historically been framed within structured exercise, many associate with discomfort or dislike, particularly from their school experiences. This narrow perspective may contribute to the frequent oversight of the vital connection between alignment, posture, movement, and overall health. By providing educators with a variety of resources that foster collaboration and learning, we can cultivate a culture of movement and wellness within our schools. Encouraging staff to explore and apply these concepts together, woven into the fabric of daily delivery, can help establish new, positive habits that benefit everyone in the educational community.
Integrating Movement into the Classroom
When discussing physical activity and exercise, one common barrier is time. It’s important to differentiate between movement and exercise, as the latter is often confined to specific time slots—like a trip to the gym, which can feel unattainable after a long day at work. While the World Health Organization recommends 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity each week, it’s equally, some would argue more important to incorporate varied movement into our daily lives, seamlessly woven into our routines. The classroom serves as an ideal environment for integrating this essential movement, allowing us to meet our physical needs in a more holistic manner.
Movement education encompasses a broader range of physical activity beyond structured exercise. It includes small, purposeful movements that help maintain our range of motion, flexibility, and mobility throughout all life stages. Creating a personalised set of movements that cater to your body’s daily maintenance needs can significantly contribute to preventing and managing pain. While pain can stem from various sources, learning to move with good alignment and postural awareness can prevent minor pain niggles developing into something much more debilitating leading to extended periods of time away from the workplace.  Â
Additionally, cultivating a supportive culture that recognises the physical toll of teaching—especially in early years education—is crucial. Implementing support systems such as movement-based workshops and classes, training physical wellbeing ‘champions’, and regular wellness check-ins can foster open communication on physical health and pain prevention. Â
Once this supportive cadence has been established then it’s time to encourage teaching professionals to integrate movement into the classroom and design lessons that are movement centric.  Examples would be; designing a set of daily movements that the children do as a group before, during or after an activity or at the start and end of the day, enabling children to tune in with their bodies more by taking away chairs to enable activities to be conducted on the floor, and allowing children to remove their footwear (often footwear restrict movement).
Conclusion
The urgent need for education and support surrounding movement for early years practitioners is clear. Addressing the epidemic of musculoskeletal pain requires a comprehensive approach that includes training in proper movement techniques, practical application, and a supportive movement centric school environment. When educators are physically healthy, they are better positioned to nurture and engage children effectively, creating a more dynamic and encouraging learning atmosphere.Â
Investing in the well-being of early years practitioners is not just about physical health; it’s a commitment to the future generation. Ensuring that educators can fulfil their vital roles without the burden of chronic pain is essential for the sustainability of the educational workforce and the optimal development of young learners. As we move forward, prioritising this issue should be a fundamental consideration in educational policy and practice. Ignoring it jeopardises not only the health of our practitioners but also the very foundation of our educational system, which relies on the dedication and well-being of its educators.
If you would like to explore this topic further:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753524001826
https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/81577
https://oshwiki.osha.europa.eu/en/themes/musculoskeletal-disorders-teachers-and-teaching-assistants
Bio
Clare is the Founder of Raw Movement, a global organisation changing the culture of movement for individuals, workplaces and schools. Â Reducing daily pain that is so common and not understood for many people. Â She does this through delivering insightful workshops on how to sit, stand, walk and move well - the fundamental basic requirements for all bodily systems to function. Â She has a growing online community where anyone can learn the basics of movement and connect with people and different resources that support people through all the phases of life to move well and be pain free.
She lives in the Midlands in the UK with her family; Peter her husband and Rebecca and Ben her teenage children. Â When she is not working, studying or teaching she is out walking their dog Tim and nattering!
Contact: clare@rawmovement.co.uk or +44 7523 159782
www.rawmovement.co.uk
