Teacher morale is a major issue in private and public schools. Low morale decreases engagement with colleagues and students, diminishes productivity, reduces student learning and breeds cynicism. On the other hand, when morale is high and the faculty culture is healthy, students excel socially and academically, teachers are productive and collaborative, and the school environment is dynamic and engaging. Given the significant role that teacher morale plays, schools must work continuously to improve teacher morale.

The major factors that affect morale are school leadership, workload, compensation, student behavior and professional development.

School Leadership: School leaders have extremely demanding and complex jobs. Even with excellent training and experience, school leaders face extremely complicated challenges daily. Ongoing leadership training, executive coaching and professional development are critical to enable school leaders to provide powerful leadership and ensure high faculty morale.

Teacher Workload: There may be no way of getting around the fact that a teacher’s workload is heavy. However, when the faculty is pushing and pulling together, hard work is a lot more fun. Involving teachers in decision making, planning and solving problems, and creating collaborative teams to share the workload contribute immensely to nurturing high morale.

Compensation: Competitive compensation is important. However, the key to compensation as it affects morale is the system for determining salaries and increases. If teachers feel that the system is unfair, compensation, regardless of the amount, will hurt morale.

Student Behavior:  Teachers are experiencing increasing problems with behavior management both in public and private schools. Two major initiatives by schools will help address this problem. First, it is essential to provide behavior management training for teachers who are struggling with discipline. Second, the faculty and staff must work together as a team throughout the school to address behavioral challenges.

Professional Development: Professional development is directly related to student achievement and teacher satisfaction is directly linked to student achievement. When students are making excellent academic and social progress, teachers feel the rewards of their profession. Providing teachers meaningful and effective professional development is fundamental for successful schools and high teacher morale.  To know all these things, visit a school consultant!