School culture and climate are enormous factors when it comes to teacher retention, staff recruitment, and building morale.
Teachers emphasize the importance of fairness regarding how administration treats employees. More specifically, teachers hate it when they perceive that certain individuals get away with more than they should, especially if those on the receiving end of preferential treatment are subpar educators.
This leads me to the question:
“Should teachers care how others are treated if they, themselves, are being treated fairly?”
Let’s examine this question by looking at three teachers:
- Teacher A
- Habitual rule follower
- Strong educator
- Students perform well in their classroom
- Administration is very supportive of Teacher A
- Teacher B
- Habitual rule breaker
- Strong educator
- Students perform well in their classroom
- Administration is very supportive of Teacher B, in spite of the fact that Teacher B takes liberties in certain areas
- Teacher C
- Habitual rule breaker
- Poor educator
- Students perform poorly in their classroom
- Administration is very supportive of Teacher C, and has been working with them specifically to improve their effectiveness
This is a pretty common school scenario, where I imagine most schools are made up of Teachers A’s with a sprinkling of B’s and C’s.
Returning to my overarching question:
- Should Teacher A be bothered by how administration continues to support Teacher B despite the fact that Teacher B doesn’t always follow guidelines?
- Should Teacher A be bothered by how administration continues to support Teacher C despite the fact that Teacher C isn’t effective and doesn’t always follow guidelines?
In my experience, Teacher A doesn’t mind as much that Teacher B receives favorable treatment, because they deserve it. However, Teacher A is extremely bothered that Teacher C gets away with not adhering to school mandates and initiatives. In fact, Teacher A’s frequently unite in the declaration that the continued presence of Teacher C’s in a building is a school culture killer.
The three options for Teacher A:
- Be complicit with Teacher B receiving special treatment, because they deserve it. Demand that Teacher C be accountable for their lack of rule adherence.
- Demand both Teacher B and Teacher C be held accountable for their lack of rule adherence.
- Focus on their classroom and not worry what other teachers are allowed to “get away with.” After all, they are being treated respectfully and with full-support, and the treatment of Teachers B and C have no meaningful impact on the teaching and learning happening in their classroom.
Okay, okay, okay. I tipped my hand, by making choice 3 far more specific. And at the end of the day, I know teachers are always watching what happens to/with other teachers in the building. I simply think it would be refreshing if teachers appreciated the support they received and focused on their classrooms instead of worrying what is or is not being done to fix/remove the Teacher C’s of the world.