Building a Great School Faculty

BUILDING A FACULTY Recruiting, Training, and Retaining the Finest Teachers Peter Gow for The Canadian Association of Independent Schools October 2008

Some general thoughts
We are professional optimists who inhabit little would-be Utopias in the hope that our ideals will take root and spread.
Our actions and practices must transcend the mediocrities and compromises of the external culture to enact our values and our missions.
As teachers, administrators, and staff we have to aspire to the greatness that is embedded in the values and missions of our schools.
We owe it not just to ourselves and our students but to the future of this planet to become as good as we can possibly be at our work.
18 October 2008 Building Faculties—P. Gow

1. Pre-Hiring, Recruiting, and Hiring Some principles, practices, and reflections

Some principles of hiring
Hire to further the school’s mission
Each hire is an opportunity for school improvement and advancement
Hiring is for keeps
Match is everything
Students’ interests come first
Patience is a virtue

Pre-hiring reflection I
What is the essential task of teachers at the school?
What “glue” binds the community? Where is the school community’s “center of gravity”?
What is unique about the school? How or where do teachers see or experience this?
What are the special rewards and challenges of teaching at the school?
Does the school culture truly support and value people who bring or raise new ideas?

Pre-hiring reflection II
Collect and use exit-interview data
Reflection on success
Who are we?
Who has succeeded here? (“The successful teacher is …”)
Who has struggled here?
Needs assessment—beyond the obvious
Community needs on a cultural/moral level?
Broader programmatic needs and desiderata?

Hiring thoughts
Don’t hire just to get the process over with
Be clear about academic freedom, classroom autonomy, and institutional initiatives
Be clear about expectations and challenges, too—“informed consent”
Consider the “ages and stages” of recruited candidates. What do they want to know? What can you do to meet the distinct needs of older or more experienced “new” teachers?

Recruiting
Prospective teachers are an important marketing audience for the school
Cast the widest net you can afford
Demand good service from any “middle man”—you’ll get out what you put in
Walk the walk of diversity—find the resources and sources, and utilize them
Build connections and create links wherever you can: universities, teacher organizations, industry
Not a plug, but the U.S. agencies are willing to serve ( Cave : Agencies can be helpful, but over-dependency can miss great candidates)

Recruiting ideas
Make employment webpages informative, dynamic, comprehensive, and inviting
Have important work-related materials downloadable from your site
Consider print recruiting materials (does CAIS have a little monograph on this?)
Create links (digital or otherwise) to community resources that will help promote the cause (realtors, religious institutions, cultural and recreational resources)
Sell the advantages of your community

Hiring/recruiting miscellany
Consider a bounty system for hiring referrals
Be clear about whether internal candidacies will be considered—post consistently
E-mail chatter regarding candidates is a very, very bad idea
Exceed statutory minimums in background and credential checks
Consider hiring work—fairs, interviewing—as leadership development

2. The New Teacher Experience What all teachers new to a school need

Some key teacher aspirations
To be taken seriously as an adult person
To be good at one’s craft
To be recognized for being good
To be inspired and supported to become even better—with resources, feedback, encouragement
Just to be Mr.. Chips—to have warm, rich professional and personal relationships

A glance back into (my) time
Autonomy (touted) = isolation (sad fact of life)
Half a day’s induction and mentoring, followed by trial and error (and here some intelligent design beats survival of the fittest)
Professional development a matter of inclination; Bartleby could prefer not to
No one came into your classroom unless they were lost or you were in trouble
Evaluation encoded in the size of your raise

What new teachers need
LOTS of academic and classroom management support
Access to necessary resources (books and chalk, but email and server, too)
Trustworthy peers; help in recognizing friends and foes
Knowledge of local norms, local standards
Life-management support
Useful, focused, non-judgmental feedback
Identity in the community
Authentic appreciation

Best practices in induction
Create a point person for new teacher programming
The goal is to bring new people up to speed in
Valued skills and techniques
Assumptions about teaching and learning
School idiosyncrasies—language, traditions, procedures, structure
School culture
Build in time for interaction with lots of peers and administrators; include parents, if you can.

Induction and orientation
Priorities (think like an anthropologist!):
Culture and values
People and hierarchies
Language
Curriculum
Policies and procedures
Geography and resources
Another anthropological tip: Think of, support, and utilize each year’s intake as a cohort
A comprehensive teacher handbook is a huge benefit to all teachers

Best practices in mentoring
Structure time to achieve specific goals that acknowledge the year’s trajectory.
Mentors should be passionate about teaching and about your school as well as wise owls, cheerleaders, great listeners, and—above all—optimists.
Mentoring should not be evaluative or supervisory.
Proximity on campus matters more than most other factors in successful relationships.
Mentoring is a leadership-development opportunity.

3. Some Nuts & Bolts in Teacher Retention What every school should be thinking about

Some key satisfaction and retention factors
School culture matters as much as money and benefits
Maximize positive factors
Location
Benefits
Perks of membership in the school community
Compensate for negatives
Geography—help teachers connect to resources
Social (i.e., dating) opportunities—be creative!
Remuneration limitations—warm culture, smart spending
Comprehensive professional development helps

Compensation issues (NAIS, 2007)
Important that pay be comparable to other local school salaries, including public
Moderate to high satisfaction when salaries are comparable to other independent schools
For those planning to leave education but not retire, the most frequently mentioned reason was to increase their salary to be able to provide for themselves and their families
Desire for transparency in how salaries and raises are determined

Factors in teacher satisfaction
(From 2007 NAIS Teacher Satisfaction Survey)
High Importance/High Satisfaction
Positive interactions with students
When teaching style matches school culture
Manageable class sizes
Engaged students
Safe work environment
Adequate room, supplies, and equipment
Positive interactions with parents

Factors in teacher satisfaction
(From 2007 NAIS Teacher Satisfaction Survey)
High Importance/Low Satisfaction
Being able to balance work and personal life
Affordable cost of living
Affordable housing
Diverse faculty
Not so good, either, when benefits don’t conform to needs: child care, tuition remission, elder care, support for housing
An observation: When a faculty gets itchy about job descriptions, there’s something else going on

Some thoughts on benefits
Design benefit programs by age and family situation
It’s not just ages and stages; read up on how Millennials, Xers, Boomers, and Echo Boomers view responsibility, authority, autonomy, work/life balance, and rewards
Put limited resources where they will do the most good; include faculty in the design of programs
Creativity is critical; so is avoiding the creation of categories that appear privileged

Some heterodox thoughts on satisfaction
Some turnover is good: new blood, new opportunities, new strengths.
Change is challenging. A school experiencing transition may seem like a school with “low satisfaction”—this may be real, but it may not be all bad if the “change” will ultimately make the school a better place
Hence: Don’t avoid necessary institutional change to avoid friction with teachers; the good ones will understand. (But do it well!)

More thoughts on satisfaction
School culture is the most significant aspect that schools can control without significant expense:
Communication
Visibility of leadership
Recognition and appreciation of effective work
Opportunities for authentic growth
Transparency of decision-making
Involvement of teachers in policy decisions
Paternalism is no longer a good model, if it ever was

4. School Culture and Professionalism How to increase satisfaction and retention

Some hard truths
A vibrant professional culture is not enthusiastic eccentrics operating in isolation, tolerated by one another and celebrated as embodying in the aggregate a school’s commitment to teaching.
2. A focused and mission-driven approach to curriculum and pedagogy (and hence professional development) is in some conflict with the traditional autonomy afforded independent school teachers — but these can be kept in balance

Some ideas on school culture
Keep channels of communication open between administrators and faculty
Actively seek faculty input on school-wide issues and decisions
Schedule occasional interactive sessions between governors and faculty so faculty members understand how the board operates
Make a first priority of building a strong professional culture through collaboration, supported innovation, and thoughtful, mission-driven professional development

More school culture ideas
Use exit interviews with teachers to gather feedback on satisfaction, “hidden” issues
Stay on top of :
Teachers’ personal issues and needs in the context of adult development
Best practices in professional development
Best practices in salary and benefit programming
Best practices in school governance and decision-making
If your school hasn’t yet enumerated standards for effective teaching, soon is a good time to do this work (and it’s not hard)

Great professional development
Is carefully planned around the mission and strategic goals of the school
Serves identified institutional needs as well as individual aspirations of teachers
Puts resources where they will do the most good
Is for everyone (no oversights, no escapees)
Acknowledges individual capacities but holds all to high standards of participation and action

Another kind of P.D.
Professional collaboration can be powerful in-house professional development
Create collaborative structures that allow individuals to work in small groups focused on specific ideas with specific goals
(Protect time for this kind of collaboration)
Make it possible for departments, grade-level teams, or ad hoc groups to retreat for a day or an afternoon
(Reliable, competent substitutes make doing this much, much easier)

P.D. and the Bottom Line
A few premises, as points to ponder:
A school’s resources are finite.
An independent school trades on the quality of the educational experience it offers.
That quality is enhanced by the expertise and professionalism of its faculty.
Professional development is the equivalent of R&D for independent schools.
Funding a comprehensive, broad-based, equitable professional development program is good for the bottom line (all the bottom lines, in fact).

Great professional evaluation
Connects to the school’s articulated standards for effective teaching
Connects to personal and professional growth goals
Is simple, clear, and do-able
Is about meaningful feedback, dialogue, self-evaluation, and reflection
Includes ALL aspects of a teacher’s work
Includes multiple points of view
Is consistent, including and especially insofar as it is part of a contractual process

Resources
Handout notes from this presentation (CAIS website)
NAIS Teacher Satisfaction Survey (2007)
NAIS Principles of Good Practice for the Hiring Process (2006) and for Supervisors of Teachers (1990)
Michael Brosnan, Guide to Hiring and Retaining Teachers of Color (AISNE, 2002)
The Conference Board et al., Are They Really Ready to Work? (2006)
Gow, An Admirable Faculty (NAIS, 2005)
The Admirable Faculties blog:
http://admirablefaculties.blogspot.com
Your school attorney or CAIS for special issues and circumstances

I’m done
But now please tell your neighbor what two ideas or practices that you will take away from this presentation.
I’d be interested to know, too, if you want to send me an email:
[email_address]

Building a Great School Faculty

by Peter Gow on Nov 08, 2008

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