ERIC Number: EJ1119392
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Nov
Pages: 2
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1784
EISSN: N/A
Principal Connection/Protecting Your Team
Hoerr, Thomas R.
Educational Leadership, v74 n3 p89-90 Nov 2016
In this article, Thomas R. Hoerr offers some insights into safe schools that attend not only to the physical safety of students and staff, but the emotional well-being of everyone. With safety, there are no guarantees, but school leaders can work hard to ensure that every student feels safe and comfortable at school, which means embracing all kinds of learning abilities, ethnicities, and races, but it also means knowing that students and teachers feel included as part of a team. It is also important to question whether teachers feel emotionally safe and comfortable, because they are also part of the diversity of cultures, ages, and other characteristics in our schools. Principals need to be sure all teachers feel included. Some suggestions to assist in encouraging a team feeling among the faculty could include: (1) making sure that normal groupings don't become cliques that aren't welcoming to others; (2) when large groups divide into smaller ones at faculty meetings, have teachers count off, so that friends aren't always together; or (3) during special faculty lunches, assign seating on the basis of birthday months to create interactions among people who don't normally hang together. Principals need to set the tone. Their actions should remind everyone that a safe school is one in which each person feels not only physically safe, but also included.
Descriptors: School Safety, Well Being, Teacher Collaboration, Collegiality, School Culture, Organizational Climate, Educational Administration, Teacher Leadership
ASCD. 1703 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311-1714. Tel: 800-933-2723; Tel: 703-578-9600; Fax: 703-575-5400; Web site: http://www.ascd.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A