Supporting The Emotional Work Of School Leaders

This practical book deals with the emotional and moral dimensions of school leadership. The author sets out the intra-personal and interpersonal attributes, attitudes and behaviours necessary to develop emotional and moral leadership within the school community. The book provides a range of person-centred strategies for building communities of professionally committed, relationally competent, collaborative individuals.

Against the backdrop of research that tells us emotions are playing an increasingly prevalent role in organizations’ performance, this text draws on empirical studies to powerfully argue that it is incumbent upon school principals to display emotional leadership within the education system. A Model of Emotional Leadership in Schools sets out the importance of affective wellness in teachers and addresses questions on emotive school management. Bringing together a range of studies, the book elucidates emotion as a managerial tool in the school environment, and considers the interpersonal emotional support of teachers by principals. Ultimately, the text puts forward a new model of emotional leadership in schools to provide practical insights into the ways in which principals can influence, transform, and manage teachers’ emotions. This insightful text will be of interest to researchers, academics, and postgraduate students in the fields of school leadership and leadership strategy, as well as educators and school leaders concerned with how interpersonal aspects of emotion management play out within the school context. Izhak Berkovich is a faculty member in the Department of Education and Psychology at the Open University of Israel, Israel. Ori Eyal is Chair of the Graduate Division of Policy, Administration, and Leadership in Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

This practical book deals with the emotional and moral dimensions of school leadership. The author sets out the intra-personal and interpersonal attributes, attitudes and behaviours necessary to develop emotional and moral leadership within the school community. The book provides a range of person-centred strategies for building communities of professionally committed, relationally competent, collaborative individuals.

This research-based study helps administrators create a school environment that responds to teacher emotions and results in higher teacher retention, instructional effectiveness, and student achievement.

Most educators will agree that they would love to see each student and staff member in schools flourish. Furthermore, it would be great to see entire communities experience the transformative power of circumstances that feature happy and vibrant learning. However, what does it mean to experience flourishing in schools? What is the role of positive leadership in this process? What can we learn from inquiring into the positive emotional and social aspects of the work of school leaders? Building on our research on flourishing in schools, this book highlights the stories and perspectives of educators and school leaders at all levels of the school system and demonstrate the intricacies of how positive leadership contributes to well-being in schools and encourages flourishing in these schools. This book aligns with a growing shift in psychology and organizational studies to frame research using phenomena and constructs such as resilience, compassion, hope, efficacy, self-determination and meaningfulness at work and in other areas of life. Research findings from the disciplines of both positive psychology and positive organization studies bring these positive research intelligences into the field of education to study what works in school leadership practices, what goes well, what supports growth, and what brings vitality to people in school organizations. Research in positive psychology contends that attending to the strengths, positive outlooks, habits and mental models, as opposed to a deficit-oriented perspective, is beneficial to increasing subjective wellbeing, by increasing resilience, vitality, and happiness and decreasing stress, anxiety, and depression. How we imagine leading, teaching and learning in schools are implicated in these understandings and help us to contemplate the benefits of focus positive leadership in school organizations. Powerful insights into human inquiry and positive psychology are gained through qualitative study and most of the chapters of this book are grounded in such research. Importantly, chapters in this book provide a varied repertoire of answers to the question that underpins this shift in research toward a positive organizational perspective: How does positive leadership leverage what works well to instill in each community member a sense of their value and capacity to contribute, encourage wellbeing for all and create school contexts of flourishing? This edited collection provides many examples, invitations, and inspiration for readers to notice in their own contexts in ways that encourage them to shift and grow through moving toward appreciative, strengths-based, positive approaches to teaching, learning, and, especially, leading in all school contexts.

This book outlines practical steps that both government and schools can implement to significantly reduce the demands placed upon school leaders. It also provides highly effective tools and strategies to enable school leaders to reflect upon and improve their own wellbeing. Packed full of research-led approaches this book: Examines school leader burnout, what causes it, how to recognise it, and how to prevent it Reflects on why school leaders fail to prioritise their own needs and how this can be addressed Provides a comprehensive framework for schools to support leader thriving and resilience Shares effective, evidence-based coping strategies for leaders. This is a must-read book for all school leaders and those looking to support and improve school leader wellbeing.

'This is a practical, down-to-earth toolkit for a wide range of leadership areas, and the authors helpfully include practical examples and reflective exercises. Any new leader will appreciate this book' -Gillian Gee, GL Education 'This engaging and very practical book shows how leadership and management should "work" to help meet the challenge of raising pupil achievement' -Professor Peter Earley, Institute of Education This accessible and jargon-free book addresses key everyday topics faced by practising leaders. Providing hands-on examples and advice, the book shows you how to handle difficult decisions, resolve conflict, and prepare for Ofsted. Each chapter, written by a specialist in the area, contains: - bulleted chapter objectives - vignettes, thinking points, student quotes - case studies, figures and tables - ideas for best practice - further book and web reading This guide caters for leaders at any level, especially those undertaking further professional development and practice-based assessment. It will also be valuable to entry-level Master's students, and anyone on NPQH, Leadership Pathways and national programmes for headteachers and academy principals. Until recently Mary Dawe was Head of Leadership Development at The London Centre for Leadership in Learning at The Institute of Education, University of London. She is now an independent consultant.

School leadership instability is particularly problematic for scholars and practitioners concerned with PK-12 school improvement, as second only to teachers, campus leadership has been identified as a primary factor in students' academic success (Young et al., 2007). Yet, while principals play an indispensable role in students' academic success, the job has become considerably more stressful as the role of a school leader continues to evolve. Specifically, added responsibilities, increased work intensity, and the ever-present menace of high stakes accountability have intensified the stress levels encountered by today's school leaders (Carpenter & Brewer, 2012; Chaplain, 2001; Darmody & Smyth, 2016; Wang, et al., 2018). This intensification negatively impacts a school’s teaching staff and its students, as the overall quality of the school experience can deteriorate if principals are unable to meet their potential due to the burnout and fatigue associated with chronic stress (Darmody & Smyth, 2016; Devos, et al., 2007). For principals to fully realize their ability to serve as catalysts for school improvement, they should be allowed to prioritize physical, mental, cognitive, and emotional health. Desired levels of wellbeing occur in the absence of chronic physical, social, psychological, emotional, economic, and cognitive distress (La Placa, et al., 2013). As authors in this volume demonstrate, many school leaders have commenced specific practices targeting cognitive, emotional, and behavioral wellbeing to cope with occupational stress and flourishing- or, at the very least, surviving in such a challenging environment. Among coping strategies leaders have adopted include mindfulness and other wellbeing interventions/strategies intended to facilitate healthier lifestyles, relieve stress, and improve personal resilience (Aviles & Dent, 2015; Mahfouz, 2018; Wells, 2015). Recently, there has been a call to consider educational leadership through a positive human flourishing lens. Research in this area focuses on integrating wellbeing practices in professional development programs for teachers and school administrators to highlight the positive effects of personal and collective wellbeing in schools (Cherkowski & Walker, 2014). For example, empirical studies have examined how incorporating mindfulness practice promotes positive adaptive skills, stress resilience, and social and emotional skills needed in a school environment (Abenavoli, et al., 2013; Benn, et al., 2012; Dvor a kova et al., 2017; Jennings, 2015; Meiklejohn et al., 2012; Mahfouz et al., 2018). New understandings about the relationship between school administrators' wellbeing and school improvement efforts should ignite interest within the field. As such, this book’s chapters are organized into four distinct sections that provide: (a) an overview of the field (Section I), (b) an empirical argument for why such research is essential (Section II), (c) wellbeing models to be considered for use in the PK-12 setting (Section III), and, (d) specific wellbeing practices and frameworks currently being in PK-12 (Section IV).