What Is the Most Significant Resource for Helping a Teacher Flourish?

Photo by aldi sigun on Unsplash

As a kid, I imagined the principal as an ogre who sat in a dark cave in the inner recesses of the school, waiting for disobedient children. I got sent there once in first grade: I was terrified. Looking back, it was probably just a protocol—late students were to report in at the office before going to class. But 6-year-old me didn’t know that, and when I showed up at my classroom, I was sent to the office, and by the time I was standing in front of a big desk, I could hardly choke out between sobs my confession of a failed alarm clock and my promise never to do it again. 

As an adult, I’ve sensed that some people think of school administration as the dull but necessary bits of, yes, discipline, as well policies, schedules, and budgets that somebody has to do so the teachers can get on with the real business of educating students. That is, of course, a bare minimum and essential for a school to function. However, in my 35 years of experience in international Christian education, I’ve been blessed to experience leaders who have not only seen how the discipline, policies, schedules, and budgets are a vital part of the larger school vision, but also taught staff by word and example the dispositions, knowledge, and skills that create a culture of purpose, belonging, and learning where staff flourish in Jesus.

So if you ask me what is the single most significant resource for helping me and my colleagues flourish, I'd say it's leaders, more specifically, skillful, encouraging, Christ-centered leaders with a trust-and-inspire mindset. Let me explain:

(1) Skillful leaders are ones who are knowledgeable about education, people, and leadership; they know there is always more to learn, and they delight in mastering, practicing, and sharing that learning. For example, I’ve grown from working with leaders who hosted breakfast discussions of teaching from a Biblical perspective or participated in after school book discussions. 

According to a 2021 ASCD article, what effective principals do, besides manage strategically, is interact with teachers around instruction, build a productive school climate, and facilitate collaboration (“What Great Principals Really Do”, see graphic below). Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine in their book In Search of Deeper Learning confirm that in all their observations “the most skilled school leaders used professional learning time to give teachers the kinds of learning experiences that they hoped teachers would recreate in their classrooms” (location 7545). Skillful school leaders are the chief learners and collaborators of their organizations, showing the way for their teachers. 

(2) Encouraging leaders are ones who provide an environment where teachers know they matter. For example, I’ve worked with leaders who schedule frequent, brief classroom walkthroughs, and follow up with short, specific appreciative comments. This encouraged me. 

I’ve also worked with leaders who start meetings with 5-minute check-ins. This could involve sharing with a partner, small group, or whole group. The question could be as simple as "What is something that made you smile today?" or as focused as "What is an example of student learning you saw in your class this week?" or as broad as "What was a high and a low from this week?" (See this link for a list of 30 reflection prompts for teacher well-being.) 

When teachers are pouring into students’ lives, who is pouring into teachers’ lives? For a deeper dive into helping teachers know they matter, check out the 2021 ASCD article "How Mattering Matters for Educators." 

(3) Christ-centered leaders are ones who can say to teachers, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (NIV I Cor. 11:1). As they do so, they model for teachers what teachers should be doing with their students.

I have been blessed to work with...

• Leaders who have regularly joined morning prayer meetings, praying with and for staff. 
• Leaders who have started meetings with short devotions, focusing on how their faith informs, motivates, and empowers the way we’re going to deal with the topic at hand. 
• Leaders who, as they’ve encountered personal and professional successes and setbacks, articulate and embody what it means to be part of a fallen, redeemed, Spirit-empowered community of grace. 

These leaders weren’t perfect, but they were models of vulnerability and of what it means to be a vital, growing disciple of Jesus in the world of education. 

(4) Leaders who have a trust-and-inspire mindset are neither micromanagers nor absentee landlords. I recently saw a post on social media in a teacher group, asking whether people preferred leadership that micromanaged teachers or that did not really know or care what teachers were doing. Teachers who were limited to a scripted curriculum or required to submit detailed daily lesson plans longed for freedom, and teachers who were languishing from lack of leadership longed for some attention and connection. 

A few voices said, “Wait, it doesn’t have to be an either-or choice!” Stephen M. R. Covey calls the third option trust-and-inspire (instead of command-and-control). It involves leadership modeling (who you are), inspiring (connect to why), and trusting (how you lead). These leaders unleash the best in the people who work for them. And when they are leaders in international Christian schools, they have the opportunity to unleash the best in God’s people, helping these school staff to flourish and to help students flourish. 

Think of it this way: just as a skillful teacher can help more students to learn more effectively more of the time, so a skillful leader can help more staff to flourish even more, even more of the time. I want staff at international Christian schools to flourish in terms of helpful resources, and my deep hope is that staff are experiencing the most significant resource—skillful, encouraging, Christ-centered leaders who have a trust-and-inspire mindset.

How about you? What is your experience with school administration? What are the characteristics of leaders that have helped you flourish? What are the characteristics of leaders you hope the staff at your international Christian school are experiencing?