Educators know only too well that teaching is a never-ending learning process. It is less acknowledged that improvement in teaching can be enormously facilitated by quality relationships between teachers and administrators.
My own experience was made to feel like a bother for even asking questions. When I brought a particularly challenging situation to the attention of the principal, I was told to work it out on my own. After three years, I still felt like a new teacher with very little handle on creating effective lessons or dealing with the ever-looming challenge of classroom management.
After so many years I changed and moved to National Capital Region, I was pleasantly shocked by a supportive staff and principal. I felt safe to make mistakes, ask for help, and take risks. My role as a teacher was respected and my triumphs and trials validated. As a result, I gained confidence in my ability to teach, and, most importantly, my students were showing greater academic progress than at my previous school.
Looking back, I’ve often wondered what specifically made my experiences at these schools so different. It wasn’t that I disliked the staff at the first school, but I knew there was some dynamic in the second school that helped me to learn as a teacher.
In other words, the positive and supportive relationships I experienced at the second school made me feel comfortable asking for help and feedback because I knew I wasn’t going to be humiliated for doing so. Instead, the principal and other teachers welcomed my questions and offered support when I needed it, and I reciprocated in kind. As a result, I became a better teacher.
The positive working relationships go beyond surface-level friendliness and are in fact based on deep trust and respect. Deep trust allows for the healthy expression of emotions and conflict without fear of repercussion. For example, the principal at my second school always validated my experience first, then kindly offered her advice. As a result, I began to trust my own ability to deal with the situations without needing her help.
Respect in the workplace includes a positive regard for each other as individuals and for the work each does. Everyone trusts that others will do their jobs well and support one another in learning how to do their jobs even better. My many moments of self-doubt during my first year of teaching would have been greatly alleviated by being validated in my experiences of overwhelm and uncertainty as extremely normal for a first-year teacher.
So what can administrators do to cultivate positive relationships with teachers that will contribute not only to their improvement, but also to a positive, more effective school environment for everyone?
Here are a few specific tips an Administrators Can Foster Teachers’ Growth
1) Admit your mistakes. This sends a message to teachers that it’s okay for them to make their own once in a while, too.
2) Be open to receiving feedback. Teachers and administrators need to work together to create a happy and healthy school culture. Therefore, the feedback loop needs to work both ways.
3) Validate teacher uncertainty. The complexity of teaching often makes teachers uncertain about the choices they make to best serve their students. Administrators who acknowledge their own uncertainty create a school culture where it’s safe for teachers to experiment and learn from each other.
In the end, a school culture where everyone feels safe to express themselves and learn from each other can only lead to a better education for the students.
By: Maricel A. Hualde | Teacher – III | Cabcaben Elementary School
