Teacher retention is more than just a passing concern; it is a crisis. According to a 2022 Gallup poll, K-12 employees report the highest rate of burnout in the United States, when compared to other professions.
Improving teacher retention is critical for school and district leaders. To more effectively retain teachers in increasingly challenging circumstances, it is incumbent upon districts to establish a culture that supports educator well-being and a sustainable work-life balance for teachers—and leaders.
But how? Individual principals can, and do, make an incredible difference in supporting the well-being of the educators with whom they work. To really move the needle, sustainable, systemic change must start with district and school-based leaders.
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There are several strategies that educational leaders can employ to support teacher well-being:
Building relationships
School leaders must start by building strong, authentic relationships with teachers and staff. Educator well-being cannot be addressed through a one-size-fits-all approach.
Every staff member brings different needs to work; without understanding each employee as an individual, leaders will not be able to effectively support their well-being. Beginning with the onboarding experience, administrators have the opportunity to build a relationship with every staff member.
Investing time getting to know a teacher—not just how they teach or how well they can write a learning objective—will pay off dividends in the future. School leaders should build structures during the onboarding process for learning who their teachers are as people.
This can be done through the creation of a welcome survey, where staff have the opportunity to share their favorite things, their birthdate, and what interests them outside of work. Leveraging the time in the workday before students arrive to be visible and present in the hallways will help administrators stay connected to their staff.
Asking simple questions about a teacher’s weekend or showing interest in how someone is really doing can open the door to more important conversations between administrators and teaching staff.
Leadership role-modeling
We have all heard the old saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Never has that saying been more relevant than in the context of workplace culture around teacher well-being.
Have you ever worked for a leader who never took a day off? Chances are, you felt guilty every time you took a personal day.
If the principal never seems to log off of work email, fails to take even a few minutes for a midday lunch break, and expects responses to non-urgent inquiries after hours, teachers will notice… and not in a good way. To effectively cultivate a culture that supports teacher well-being, the principal (and ideally, the district leadership) must role model the behaviors that they are trying to support.
Technology has brought many wonderful advances to education, but it has also negatively contributed to a culture of constant availability. Email has become the norm for how we communicate, and the prevalence of smartphones and laptops means that we are never far from our inboxes.
District leaders can help foster a culture of educator well-being by role-modeling healthy boundaries around communication outside of the school day. Using tools such as the schedule send feature in email programs can help to create and maintain clear boundaries between work and home for teachers.
And, it’s not just teachers who will benefit. By only communicating about school matters during work hours (even if some of that communication is strategically scheduled outside of work hours), leaders can set much-needed boundaries with parents and district colleagues about when they should expect a response from school staff.
Preserve teacher autonomy and protect their time
To truly make teacher health and happiness a priority, we must increase teacher autonomy and decrease workload demands. Teachers feel empowered, engaged and energized when they have autonomy over their classrooms.
Districts and school leaders can support teacher autonomy by allowing flexibility in lesson planning, empowering teachers to implement innovative, creative ideas in their classrooms and facilitating opportunities for teachers to lead professional learning for their colleagues.
Time is a teacher’s most valuable tool. It is also a finite, and dwindling, resource for our teachers.
Reducing an already overwhelming workload by eliminating administrative tasks and duties, allocating staff appropriately to eliminate the need for teachers to cover for colleagues, and ending requirements for teachers to sponsor unpaid extracurricular activities are all steps that individual school leaders can take to move the needle on teacher workload concerns.
By taking a 360-degree view of workplace wellness for teachers, school districts and administrators can make an impact that will have a positive result on teacher retention, which ultimately supports our students. Less teacher turnover creates more consistency for children and supports positive student outcomes.
Strong leadership at both the district and school levels plays a vital role in supporting teacher retention by modeling and encouraging healthy work-life balance, fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace culture, and ensuring teachers have a voice in decision-making.
By prioritizing educator well-being, we will not only improve retention, we will ultimately provide a positive environment for our students and families.
