School Culture - Dr Jake Madden

Teacher burnout: How to recognize it and what school leaders can do about it

Learn about the signs of teacher burnout and find out what you can do to address it before it becomes a problem.

Here we are on the verge of school holidays, an important time for teachers to rejunvenate. Unfortunately, teacher burnout is a growing problem in recent years as we come to terms with the COVID-19 pandemic, shortage of teachers and growing scrutiny over global league tables and student performance. It can cause talented teachers to leave the profession, and it can be very difficult to recover from.

Teachers face a lot of difficulties. They must modify programs to meet the needs of a large number of learners, keep track of changing education regulations, deal with students with special needs, and fulfill administrative obligations. Many experience teacher burnout, hitting their limit in dealing with their work’s daily challenges. It occurs after prolonged exposure to poorly managed emotional and interpersonal job stress.

Teacher burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that can be caused by a variety of factors, including excessive workloads, lack of support, and unrealistic expectations.

Teacher burnout is a very real phenomenon that can have serious consequences for both educators and their students. It is typically characterized by feelings of cynicism, exhaustion, and a lack of enthusiasm for the job. Burnout can lead to absenteeism, Increase turnover, and adversely affect job performance. In extreme cases, it can even result in physical or mental illness. Burnout is often caused by unrealistic job expectations, insufficient resources, and a lack of support from school leaders or colleagues. However, it can also be sparked by a deep commitment to one’s students and a desire to see them succeed. Regardless of its cause, burnout can have a profound impact on those who experience it.

While it is not always possible to completely eliminate stress from a teacher’s life, there are steps that can be taken to prevent or reduce burnout. As a school leader, you play an important role in supporting your teachers and preventing teacher burnout. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Remember that your teachers are people with their own lives outside of the classroom. They need time to recharge, so don’t expect them to be available 24/7. Encourage them to take breaks, use their paid time off, and disconnect from work when they can.
Create a positive and supportive working environment. Make sure your teachers feel appreciated and valued, and that they have the resources they need to do their jobs effectively.
Foster a culture of feedback and collaboration. Encourage teachers to give and receive feedback openly, and make sure they feel supported by their colleagues. Help them to see challenges as opportunities for growth, not as personal failures.
Provide resources and support to help teachers deal with stress and burnout. This might include access to counseling services, opportunities for peer support, and educational materials on self-care.

By taking these steps, you can create a school environment that is conducive to helping prevent teacher burnout. When teachers feel supported and valued, they are more likely to be engaged in their work and committed to their students’ success.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Have you experienced teacher burnout yourself? How did you cope with it? Share your stories and advice in the comments below.

6 Quick Points to Creating a Culture of Excellence

I am often asked how I create a culture of excellence in the schools I lead. Some of these people want to know what effective leadership looks like in outstanding schools because they want to be a leader one day. They might also want to know so they can help their school be more successful. Here are a few thoughts for your to ponder

1. Define what excellence looks like in your school

Excellence is often described as a journey, not a destination. This is especially true when it comes to schools. There are many resources available to help you define excellence for your school. However, it is important that you involve your staff in this process so they have a shared understanding of what excellence looks like in your school.

2. Set high standards for yourself and your team

When it comes to being an effective leader in an outstanding school, the most important thing is establishing a culture of excellence. This begins by setting high standards and expectations for all students, staff, and the principal. This will help to ensure that everyone is committed to the same goal and helps keep your team on task.

3. Model the behaviour you expect from others

It is important to lead by example when you are trying to create a culture of excellence. This means that you need to model the behaviour you expect from others. If you are not doing this, it will be difficult to get others to buy into your vision.

4. Be resilient in the face of setbacks

Setbacks are inevitable when you are working towards excellence. It is important to see them as positive lessons instead of demoralizing failures. Learn ways to deal with setbacks and obstacles so you can move forward and achieve your goals. This includes developing resilience in the face of these setbacks so you can continue to make progress.

5. Focus on communication

Good leaders communicate regularly and through different media with their staff, students, and community members. They need to be able to share important information and updates. They also need to be able to listen to feedback and suggestions. Leaders need to be able to effectively communicate with their teams in order to work together towards common goals.

6. Celebrate successes

It is important to celebrate successes along the way. This will help to keep everyone motivated and focused on the goal. Excellence is a journey, not a destination. There will be many successes and setbacks along the way. By celebrating the successes, you will help to keep everyone focused on the goal.

Therefore:

If you want to be an effective leader in an outstanding school, it’s important to have the right skills and qualities. An effective leader in an outstanding school is someone who sets high standards and expectations, is supportive of their staff and students, encourages creativity and innovation, and communicates effectively with others. When these qualities are present in a school, it sends a message that excellence is important. This will lead to better results for the students in the school. Aspiring leaders can use these tips to help them become more effective leaders in their own schools.

I hope these brief insights are helpful for you as you work to create a culture of excellence in your school. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I am always happy to help! See more @ https://jake-madden.com/

Re-Entry to School Buildings Post COVID-19

t has been bandied across the social media platforms that education and how we deliver learning will need to change to address the “new normal”. Given the paradigm shift schools have faced in recent time, we cannot simply return to the pre COVID-19 approach to teaching and learning. Our experience has shaped us and informed us on how to best connect with students and engage them in their learning.

It has been bandied across the social media platforms that education and how we deliver learning will need to change to address the “new normal”. Given the paradigm shift schools have faced in recent time, we cannot simply return to the pre COVID-19 approach to teaching and learning. Our experience has shaped us and informed us on how to best connect with students and engage them in their learning.

Research tells us that prior to the pandemic a third of teachers were actively thinking of leaving the profession within the next five years. Given the pandemic impact in the international school setting this statistic might rise with teachers wanting to return home to a more familiar and stable environment. Speak to recruiters (and other school leaders) and you will find that schools potentially anticipating a teacher (and school leader) recruitment crisis.

But there has been some silver linings during this pandemic. Across the globe, countries have cancelled their national standardised/high stakes testing regimes and looking at other means of providing assessment for their students. However, it is not only the 2019-20 cohort who will be affected by this crisis. The future and implications of such decision making is yet to be realised (if not improved!).

When we do go back to school everything will be different – and it must be different. From what we teach our students, to how we teach our students through to how we keep our students safe. We probably need to go back and ask ourselves the fundamental question of this age: what is the purpose of education?

No doubt the educational authorities, the experts in our field, have started formulating the answer. While we wait for their direction we too must be ready to enter a new reality of doing schooling given our professional judgment in light of the COVID-19 era.

So what might a re-entry into school buildings look like for educators and their school communities? Here are three categories that educators will be pondering:

1. Health & Hygiene Measures:

Given the precautionary social distancing, hand washing/sanitising campaign and temperature monitoring that has been instituted to help prevent the spread of the virus, there will be an expectation that similar measure be put into place when we return to school. There will be temperature screening on entering the school building and randomly throughout the school day. Teachers will be asked to stringently monitor (& limit) student access to washrooms and classrooms will most likely revert to rows of desks (with social distancing in mind) facing the front of the classroom. Changes to break times, restricted playground options and a rethink of how to use the cafeteria will be worked out.

2. Curriculum Re-Writes:

In a recent article John Hattie noted that “If we take out one term/semester of 10 weeks, [Australia and the US] still have more in-school time compared to Finland, Estonia, Korea and Sweden, which all outscore Australia and the USA on PISA,” Now if John Hattie is right, then it’s not time at school that’s the problem, it’s what we are teaching our students. We need a drastic rethink of our curriculum standards and dare I say, the mandated core subject allocation. Suffice to say that our current curriculum is voluminous and over crowded.

3: Pedagogical Shifts:

The fear is that a re-entry to the school buildings will see a return to the stand and deliver teaching methodology. It’s an easy solution to comply with the expected rules and regulations that may come down the educational authority line. The challenge for teachers is to use the learning experience of school closures and the various methods of facilitating learning for students at home and blend them into a new school experience. The flipped classroom, provision of instructional videos, project based learning derivations and even active learning strategies, will need to be the “new normal” when we return to school. However, for this new pedagogical stance to rise, changes to not only current standardised/high stakes testing but also inspection accountabilities need to be considered.

That said, the real question on everyone’s mind is, will we be re-entering school buildings too soon, or not soon enough?

Time to Revisit Your Vision

All effective organisations not only have a vision statement, they actually use it to drive everything in their organisations. Vision statements are advantageous (if not crucial) to schools because they help drive the decision making and keeps the school focused.

Vision without action is a daydream
Action without vision is a nightmare.
– Japanese proverb

help motivate and keep staff focused on the goals of the school,
define the purpose and directions of the school,
allow a foundation for publicising the school, and
helps to differentiate the school from other educational organisations.

As schools break for the winter (or summer) it is an opportune time for school leaders to take stock of where they are at in working towards achieving their school’s vision. One strategy is to measure the relevance of your vision statement by reflecting on the following questions:

What strategies have been used to intentionally build a shared vision in your school? Can you draw lines between the strategies to the components of your school’s vision?
What actions have you taken as leaders to model the vision?
What strategies haven’t you used to move your stakeholders closer to owning the vision?
How have you, as leader, demonstrated a true commitment to change?

Reflecting on these questions guides leaders to ensure the vision is at the forefront of their daily tasks. To take stock of where the school is at the school leader can undertake:

Surveys: Climate surveys are useful in understanding how parents, teachers, students connect with the vision and if there is alignment across the school
Decision Making: Leaders need to be able to articulate the connect between decision making and the vision. No alignment means no growth towards the schools goals.
Meeting Agendas: An easy measure is to peruse the elements planned for each meeting held. Regardless of the groups focus
Teacher Personal/Professional Goals: Are teachers’ goals in line with the school vision. As teachers work on their own professional learning, ensuring it connects to the school’s vision will benefit the school.
Signage: Having the school’s vision in plain sight of the community makes an easy reference point for the community as they wander the school.

Remember…..“Every choice you make leads you away from your vision or moves you toward it.” – Patti Digh

Preparing to Implement Change in School

Effective schools are ever changing as they strive towards their school improvement goals. When undertaking school improvement initiatives there are simple tasks the school leader can do in readiness for implementing change.

Effective schools are ever changing as school leaders grind towards improving their schools. Recently I was asked how I have been successful in driving change in the schools I have led. While there is no “one size fits all” approach I believe there are a few key ingredients the school leader must have in order to successfully navigate the educational change process and make a positive difference to their school.

Building Alignment: The saying, “have all your ducks in a row” is the first step for the school leader wishing to engage in a change management strategy. You need to be well organised and well prepared to implement your school improvement initiative. Having alignment across the school is important. Teacher understanding (and agreement) for the change will lead to commitment to the process. Ensuring you have the resources at hand, agreed indicators for success outlined and an achievable timeframe in place will aid your efforts in bringing success to your project. Having the right mindset/attitude across the school is your goal as you bring the school together. Ultimately, your organisational alignment is the glue for achieving better performance.
Think before you Speak: Part of the preparation for change is taking time to think about how to implement your initiative. Gathering your data, interpreting the evidence, and making an informed decision about future steps is an initial step in determining where you are in the context of learning. As the school leader you need to sort out the inefficiencies and decide on how you want to proceed forward before embarking on sharing with the masses.
Preempting the Barriers: If you know your staff well then you probably know who the resisters to your new school improvement initiative will be. Preempt the initial rejection by focusing on what questions the resisters will raise. This way you can have your answers ready. Looking at it from someone else’s point of view will help clarify how you will respond. Watch out for the ‘late career’ teachers who have been there for a while and seen initiatives/programs come and go. How are you going to address their resistant attitudes?
Manage Yourself: Continually managing change in a school setting can be a difficult task and has repercussions for the school leader. We have all seen and heard stories of how leaders have suffered from stress and burnout. Looking after your physical self to help look after your emotional self is crucial to sustaining a successful leadership role. Understanding how you respond to the negative stuff in school will help you prepare for the rigours of engaging in educational change.
Building Culture: Probably the most important preparation piece for any leader is the need to build your school’s culture. In order for your new change initiative to work you need to have the culture to support it. Your success is going to be held back by the staff implementing the plan if the school culture does not support it. As Peter Drucker so famously stated…”Culture eats strategy for breakfast“.

In summary, in order to prepare for change, the effective school leader begins by aligning the school culture, the staff and the action plan. This will ensure success in implementing the change initiative within your school.

Building School Culture: 4 Pillars to Success!

December last year I received an award from the International Schools Awards organisation. The award was for Best Innovation in Education. This innovation was squarely set on the shoulders of the Teacher as Researcher program and the building a culture of staff learning. This particular program has been instituted at my current school for the past three years.

This is not just about the building of teacher capacity, but rather on how teachers not only improve their teaching practice but also how they collaborate with their colleagues in sharing their expertise.

Education is a social profession and when people get together, the opportunity to grow and learn is accentuated.

The process of building school culture is organic and relies heavily on school leaders connecting four key pillars into their leadership priorities. I believe that many of the day to day tasks school leaders undertake to improve their school can be categorised into four key pillars.

These four pillars:

Commitment & Loyalty
Transparency & Efficiency
Trust
Team Work

A deeper explanation of improving schools through the focusing on school culture can be found in the following article:

Four Pillars to Building a Positive School Culture

As we embark on a new school year, building a positive school culture should be at the forefront for all school leaders and teachers too!).