Full Description
Teachers are some of the kindest, most altruistic and smartest people on the planet yet despite the best of intentions, fearful atmospheres can arise organically within schools, leaving people feeling disempowered, anxious, isolated and frustrated. Why is this? What are the impacts? And, crucially, how do we resolve it?
Ofsted, accountability, funding, workload and societal difficulties have led to a response in many schools that is fear based, generating staff cultures that affect teacher wellbeing and are leading to large numbers leaving the profession. This impacts not only staff morale and wellbeing but also has a highly detrimental effect on teacher performance and the outcomes for pupils and students. This book examines what underpins these patterns and sets out a practical model for embedding a trust-based culture in all schools.
Drawing together four key psychological concepts, the book explores what a trust-based culture looks like and the conditions that are needed for this to develop. It looks at the paradoxes that lie in how staff create harmonious and collaborative cultures and the practical steps that are needed to create a culture where staff that crave and give open, robust feedback are pro-active, learn from failure and have the ability to thrive through challenging questions.
Providing a comprehensive blueprint for schools to follow, this is essential reading for school leaders and thinkers who want to create a rich, healthy environment where collaboration, creativity and excellence in teaching and learning can flourish.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Fear versus trust cultures: The need for a revolution
Chapter 2. So, why are trust and fear so important?
Chapter 3. Indicators of fear versus trust-based cultures
Chapter 4. The model: Everyone loves a plan!
Chapter 5. The preconditions
Chapter 6. The catalysts
Chapter 7. Is your paradigm shifting?: Here's the roadmap
Chapter 8. You are the revolution: What type of leader do you need to be?
References
Index
