Establishing a Culture of Care: The Responsibility of Educational Leadership

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on teachers’ well-being; specifically, how education policies designed to shape the dispositions and attitudes of school leaders and teachers may – purposefully or inadvertently – compromise their well-being and pose a risk to their continuation in the profession. Both national and local policies may be devised, framed and promoted in ways that obstruct the establishment of a culture of care in schools, making it difficult for school leaders to prioritise the well-being of their staff. Our chapter responds to recent research data – published separately by the UK government, teachers’ unions and academic researchers – that excessive numbers of education workers are experiencing poor mental health or work-related stress or are planning to leave the profession. Beginning by proposing an original conceptualisation of the complexities of well-being, we report on an empirical project designed to bring new insights into the challenges facing school leadership, as articulated by teachers in England. Following an online, institution-wide questionnaire made available to all teaching staff, interviews were conducted with teachers. Our analysis brings new insights into individual well-being, well-being culture and the broader ethos of the institution. Under each of those headings, we consider how leadership practices are constrained or enabled by the policy context, how they interplay with the practices of teachers working with students and whether local policy decision-making is informed by a concern to establish and maintain a culture of care, making the institution a place where people want to work and to be.

Citation

Bibi, S. and Rayner, S.M. (2024), "Establishing a Culture of Care: The Responsibility of Educational Leadership", Courtney, S.J., Armstrong, P.W. and McKay, A. (Ed.) Critical Education Leadership and Policy Scholarship: Introducing a New Research Methodology, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 77-89. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83549-472-120241007