ThinkFives asked teachers how well their administrators were doing. The answers were certainly mixed with them rating their administrators a 3.6 out of 5.0 on average. Most teachers rated their administrators a 3, 4, or 5, which is great, and a few teachers said there was absolutely nothing they would change about their administrators.
When we asked teachers what their administrators should stop doing immediately, there were a lot of alarming behaviors listed. Hopefully, these are limited to some bad experiences and not more widely seen.
Stop Not Listening to Teachers
A common theme in the teacher responses is the failure of administrators to listen, respect, and work with teachers. It all starts with communication and teachers listed these behaviors which they believe should change immediately.
- “Giving advice on things they know nothing about”
- “Putting themselves over staff”
- “Not asking for teacher’s input”
- “Not enough relevant Professional Development courses”
- “Implementing PD that we aren’t interested in”
Stop Creating Extra Work for Teachers
Teachers are also very sensitive about their workload, particularly coming out of the last several years. The pressure of meeting the needs of all students as well as communicating with parents and administrators is very taxing.
- “Stop making excuses”
- “ Stop being disorganized and causing me more work”
- “Don’t give us more busy work”
- “Don’t expect teachers to do the impossible with no help”.
- “Stop asking us to do more than we’re contracted to do”
Stop Disrespecting Our Professionalism
Some teachers believe their very professionalism is not respected appropriately. This would be obviously one of the harsher cultural behaviors that we would hope would not be exhibited by an administrator.
- “Listening in the hallway to my class”
- “Sneaking around the school like we don’t notice”
- “Micromanaging everything we do”
- “Allowing disrespectful behavior in the school”
- “Not respecting the staff”
Stop Not Putting Kids First
A number of teachers shared that they don’t believe their administrators put children first. They compromise children’s welfare with financial pressures, parent criticisms, or district bureaucracy.
- “Ignoring children and teens when they say they don’t feel safe with a teacher or administrator (and this can be an advisor as well)”
- “Putting too many kids in my first-grade class”
- “Stop letting bullies slide”
- “Giving in to political and public pressure when it is definitely not in students’ best interests”
- “Agreeing to any new district mandate”
Stop Being Negative
And finally, the comments that were not necessarily the most common but were certainly the most alarming were when teachers had very little good to say about the administrators and instead felt that they were a significantly negative influence on the school.
- “Stop being so negative about everything”
- “Stop Doing Everything you do”
- “Everything being done makes us less enthusiastic”
- “Support your teachers more”
- “Make this a better place to work”
How does your administration rate and do you see any of these negative behaviors?
I’ve worked for some great administrators. Thankfully, putting students first has been a priority. ❤️
I’ve been lucky to work for some great administrators. The fact this has to be posted makes me sad 😢 but I know it exists.