Welcome to tonight's #edchatie discussion.
As usual, before we begin, please introduce yourself and remember to add the hashtag #edchatie into all of your tweets for the next hour of live discussion.
Young people returned to school today after the Christmas holidays but for young carers like Shauna Tighe (14) who cares for her severely disabled brother Daniel (11), the past fortnight has been anything but a break #edchatiehttps://t.co/NurBIXNA3I
Dublin Maker has an exciting new job opportunity. We are looking for Dublin's first Maker Advocate - a person to promote, engage and live maker culture over the next two years at least. Check out full details here https://t.co/UiqalrxnCR#JobFairy#NowHiring#Maker#SciComm
Welcome to tonight's #edchatie discussion on "Dealing with a negative school culture"
I think there's a very active LIT Animation Course account down there on Facebook
#edchatie
For the next hour on tonight's #edchatie we are set to discuss "Dealing with a negative school culture"
What are your thoughts, ideas about tonight's topic?
Welcome to tonight's #edchatie discussion.
As usual, before we begin, please introduce yourself and remember to add the hashtag #edchatie into all of your tweets for the next hour of live discussion.
From experience in a few second level schools & having had teachers/staff come talk to me, in a lot of cases poor communication leads to negativity #edchatie
An article I read recently:
'In a toxic school environment, "teacher relations are often conflictual, the staff doesn't believe in the ability of the students to succeed, and a generally negative attitude" prevails.'
Would people agree?
https://t.co/CQ4okBufD9#edchatie
Negative culture Insecure teachers sarcastically critical of management, backbiting and deeply insecure about their own practice. Key diagnostic, lack of trust in all directions. Student to teacher, teacher to student, management to staff etc... #edchatie
Agreed. I'd say there's a lot of ways to get to a negative school culture. Top down, with leaders who are very dictatorial and agressive, or the opposite where leaders are too hands off and permissive and the students don't treat staff with respect. #edchatie
An article I read recently:
'In a toxic school environment, "teacher relations are often conflictual, the staff doesn't believe in the ability of the students to succeed, and a generally negative attitude" prevails.'
Would people agree?
https://t.co/CQ4okBufD9#edchatie
Also bottom up, where staff are unmotivated or unwilling and act as strong resistors to any change at all
The most toxic type for me, is the 'clique' style in some places where staff treat each other poorly leading to a very difficult environment for some people.
#edchatie
There will always be a spectrum of engagement & negativity irrespective of cause, the solution as far as it is reachable is to communicate, determine with each individual what the issue is #edchatie of course who asks the questions & how are important
It can be. I wouldn't say it's the only possible cause though. Dictatorial leadership can lead to staff giving up, regardless of whether they would have tried to communicate previously. There are leaders who simply don't want to hear it. My way or the highway style.
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In part. It may also be a result of lack of recognition of the effort a teacher has put in, or a dismissal by management or fellow teachers of their voluntary efforts. #edchatie
When one digs down, the source of negativity is some emotion, often hurt #edchatie nobody’s or anybody’s fault, but if negativity isn’t addressed it is contagious like stress or calm
Sometimes, particularly in smaller schools, just the personality mix is a huge factor. And it's a difficult one to judge when hiring. You have to get that sense of being a team right which can be an enormous challenge.
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@AlbemarleHigh and the School PTSO were very good at looking after teachers with free BBQ and candy (sweets) #edchatie we also had a monthly faculty breakfast which always help with morale
This can be very disillusioning. An older teacher can circle the wagons and make a staffroom a very hostile place. This can happen because they feel threatened by new blood full of ideas and enthusiasm. We tried that and it never worked. These students are unteachable. #edchatie
#edchatie alot of factors contributing to negative school culture have been identified through tweets tonight. Any suggestions on how to deal with negative culture though? Dónal, pp teacher of Gaeilge and history, currently seconded to @NCCAie
To be fair, it's not always an 'older' teacher thing. I've seen groups of young staff isolate other staff members.
I've also seen huge oneupmanship between staff which can lead to a very toxic culture where staff are overworked and exhausted trying to live up to it.
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We're just past the halfway mark in tonight's live #edchatie discussion on the topic of "Dealing with a negative school culture"
What are your thoughts?
It’s amazing the conclusions we come to about people without talking or communicating with them #edchatie assumptions & projections etc if a colleague appears negative it is important to find out why, many times I’ve found that others assumed wrongly
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HERE:
https://t.co/9oM2tz8XUi
Management that don't listen, policies that look good on paper, but which get no support when you go to implement them, communications that just disappear into a vacuum, these can all contribute. #edchatie
@AlbemarleHigh and the School PTSO were very good at looking after teachers with free BBQ and candy (sweets) #edchatie we also had a monthly faculty breakfast which always help with morale
Some good stuff here for leaders on shaping change
https://t.co/ijP70Pn3ha
For Teachers, my recommendation would be that is a school culture is so negative that its affecting your mental health, and you don't have the agency to change it, leave. Lifes too short.
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Good call on me being ageist, and your right a group of bright young things are perfectly capable of dismissing all the old fuddy duddies out of hand. #edchatie
Must say good night, #edchatie thank you @fboss just sometimes we (human nature) forget communication two way, top down bottom up, across Dept, nothing improves if we don’t all try, give, take #Wellbeing
#edchatie it was a great way to get people to hook up for cross curricular projects. Also we would have a very long spring term-11 weeks long so any break from the grind was always welcomed
#edchatie each dept would host it on a rotation. My smoked salmon was always very popular. The PTSO ( Parents Council basically) would sponsor a couple of events. Also local business would donate stuff. Two local pizzarias were also very generous.
There's actually a lot about this in the corporate world https://t.co/bj3gKoGlc9 I found Orla O’Donnell and Richard Boyle "Understanding and Managing
Organisational Culture" quite readable, though long. #edchatie
In reply to
@CatrionaGolden, @obuachallas, @NCCAie
I did a Masters in Leadership a few years ago. One third of the course was based on culture and cultural change. The body of research around it is absolutely enormous. Very easy to get list down the rabbit hole but very interesting stuff.
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Pupils who present as hyper-vigilant, anxious & out of control - due to experiences of #trauma - can elicit similar feelings in the adults around them. Policy/practice, communication & support from SMT determine how well staff can guard against compassion fatigue #edchatie
For the next hour on tonight's #edchatie we are set to discuss "Dealing with a negative school culture"
What are your thoughts, ideas about tonight's topic?
Think this is a key point “break from grind”. A bit of planning should identify key times when pressure is on teachers & arrange events like this or others to break that up. Imagine six events would probably cover it. #edchatie
#edchatie in September our school mgt organised a talk for us from @DeclanCoyleNow , he spoke of the green platform and how to see things postively...most people got it!! Enhanced a positive attitude in the workplace..
Indeed. But I think we don't have to re-invent the wheel on this, and even a fairly cursory run through the literature can yield a lot of understanding when your in toxic situation. Naming the disease can be a huge step towards curing it! #edchatie
In reply to
@CatrionaGolden, @obuachallas, @NCCAie
We're into the famous final fiv e minutes of tonight's live #edchatie hour of discussion on "Dealing with a negative school culture"
Any last thoughts, ideas, questions or solutions?
#edchatie I think as long as tchrs feel valued & work done appreciated, then a positive workplace will prevail. Systems need to be in place to enable a collaborative workplace and rotate some jobs etc big events if possible...team work is vital...and support each other.
