Leadership magazine Jan/Feb 2019 V48 No. 3 | Page 11

However, the caring relationships needed to teach in and of itself can become a source of stress and anxiety. Israel, who left teaching at the end of his 4th year, shared, “I wasn’t prepared for the emotional exhaustion I felt. Every day I went home tired from teaching and overwhelmed by the work I needed to do to prepare for the next day. I wanted to give students my best but didn’t always feel like I had more to give. I realized I couldn’t keep teaching when I found myself tired and impatient with my own children.” Financial and emotional invest- ments When we hire a teacher, we commit to making a significant investment in that in- dividual. Teacher turnover is expensive and negatively impacts working conditions for all teachers and administrators (Brown & Wynn, 2007; Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, & Carver-Thomas, 2016). One example is the impact to teacher teams and efforts to de-privatize instruc- tional practices through collaboration. “We have had a new team every year for the last four years. I am the only veteran - 25 years. Everyone else has taught less than three. We can’t assess how well we are doing if we have to start again with a new team every year,” shared Steven. This impact is also felt by administra- tors. One high school principal confided, “I just keep hiring. It’s like starting back at ’Go’ and never moving forward. I keep praying our veterans hang in there. Some talk about retiring because they are tired. That will just kill any academic growth I’m trying to achieve”. The missing element Developing and fostering teachers’ social and emotional awareness and competencies is fundamental to retaining them in the pro- fession. As we focus on school climate and the social and emotional needs of students, we must also implement systems of sup- port to counter teacher stress and emotional burnout. Just as students have benefited from social and emotional learning initia- tives, so, too, can teachers. We know from research that teachers with high social and emotional competence “Building relationships is a core dimension of social emotional competencies, and leaders play a critical role in developing systems of support for teachers.” are more efficacious. They successfully navi- gate social and emotional challenges and experience higher levels of satisfaction and well-being (Goddard, Hoy, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2004). While teachers may come to the profession with content and pedagogical knowledge, they are not trained in the so- cial and emotional competencies essential to their work as educators. Teachers, especially those new to the profession, are learners. Educational lead- ers must attend to teachers’ needs as adult learners and as members of a community of practice. Helping teachers to become “con- fident, supported, and committed to profes- sional growth can make work less stressful and more enjoyable”. (Collie, Shapka, Perry, & Martin, 2015, p. 23). Relationships and clear communi- cation Leaders talk with teachers about the importance of building relationships with students, but is it a priority to build rela- tionships with teachers? Knowing they will experience both the joys and the stressors of working with children, what do leaders do to ensure they have the necessary supports to balance these two realities? Building relationships is a core dimension of social emotional competencies, and lead- ers play a critical role in developing systems of support for teachers. It begins by being transparent. A conversation with Dante, a teacher in his 7th year, illustrates this: "The first time I met my principal he told me there would be exhilarating and exhausting days. He explained how important it is to ’put on my own oxygen mask first’. He made it OK for me to stop, breathe, and think about what I was feeling because if I didn’t take care of that, I couldn’t really take care of my students." How this principal made the teacher feel about himself also communicated the degree of care he had for teachers and the nature of the work they do. Teachers entering the pro- fession come to us with a desire to succeed. They also have a fear of failure and are often too scared to ask for help or to advocate for themselves. The principal plays such an important role in shaping new teachers’ professional capac- ity and sense of efficacy (Brown & Wynn, 2007). Elizabeth illustrates this when ex- plaining her reason for leaving teaching: "If there had been a feeling that the principal truly wanted to support me, I would have January | February 2019 11