A school is something that needs a full staff, whether it is teachers or other positions. If that doesn’t happen, things can quickly get messy. K-12 staffing can especially be challenging.
The first two years of the 2020s made staffing schools difficult. Many people got sick or just left the educational field. That doesn’t mean you can’t staff these schools – if you know certain things about the process and potential pitfalls to look out for.
What to Know About Staffing a K-12 School Share on X
Mistake: Not Giving Staff Extra Incentives to Work
The worldwide pandemic had a devastating effect on education. All kinds of school staff left due to health or concerns, which wound up leaving a vacuum. So it’s important to show potential staff how valuable they are.
How do you do that? Easy. Pay them a good wage and give them job security, which will act as an excellent incentive to come work at a K-12.
Mistake: Not Focusing on Day-To-Day Work Life
The money will get the staff through the doors at your school. Now you need to do something to keep them there, since money can only get you so far in terms of satisfaction. That thing is to make sure that they have a good experience each day.
A school can be chaotic … and teachers and other staff that feel like they have been abandoned are not likely to want to stick around. Make sure that they have a support system. If they know that the higher-ups have their backs, then they will be able to focus on doing their jobs and not worry about what is going on around them.
It can be easy for the days and weeks to blend into each other. You can fight that feeling by focusing on how important each day is – and if your staff sees you doing that, then they will translate that to their own classroom work.
Mistake: No Stressing Flexibility
Teaching children all day can be mentally draining. Not having any flexibility makes it even more so. Also, having an administration that does not care about how outside life can affect their teachers makes them feel like they are locked in a very rigid box.
There are things outside of work that need to be done at times. A teacher should be able to leave early for a doctor’s appointment or to go to their own child’s parent-teacher conference. They should feel like there are reasonable accommodations for when these things pop up.
You need to acknowledge that the real world does often intrude and that they should not be penalized for that. If you do this in a fair way, then chances are quite good that they will not abuse it and make up things. Treat them like the adults they are and you should be in good shape.
Mistake: Not Celebrating The Teachers You Have
We all want to be acknowledged for doing good work – it’s part of human nature. When you go into work, you want to feel like you are being seen while you are there. An indifferent administration is a surefire way to get people to leave.
This doesn’t mean that you have to be going into every teacher’s room every day and be giving them accolades. That could be overbearing. But do let them know that you have seen them handle difficult situations with grace and strength.
One way to do that is to send out emails highlighting things that have gone right. They should know that their efforts have been observed. Do this on a routine basis so that they know it is not just a one-off thing.
Mistake: Not Communicating With Your Strongest Teachers
The people who work at a school know who the really good teachers are. They go to them for advice. If they look like they are ready to jump ship, then the others are likely to want to follow them right out the door.
Be aware of who those teachers are and do everything that you can to keep them on your side. You can do this by regularly communicating with them and hearing what they have to say.
A good way to stop that from happening is to talk with those superstar teachers. Let them know that they are highly valued and appreciated and try to get them to commit to staying. The others will see their dedication to the school and likely set roots too, which is good for students in terms of continuity.
Mistake: Not Surveying Your Current Teachers
Yes, you may have your vision of how to run a school. There are certain tenets that you may feel need to be stressed and adhered to. But you don’t want the staff to feel like they are part of an inflexible dictatorship.
Teachers should feel like their opinions are valued. Find out what they like about working there and what could be fixed. Make it easy for them to reach you.
The best thing that you can do is to get feedback from the staff about how they think certain things should be done. Listen to their ideas and concerns … and we mean really listen. Implement the best ideas that you feel would be able to help the school run even more smoothly.
Mistake: Making The Teacher Feel Like They Are Alone
Being a teacher is a very hard job. They have to plan out lessons each day that will educate their students while also trying to keep their attention. Sometimes those classrooms can feel hostile if the students are unruly.
One solution could be to have teacher teams. Try to pair the ones that will work the best. with each other or where one could help an inexperienced teacher learn the best way to do the job. Knowing that someone else is there can boost morale.
You don’t want your teachers to go in there feeling like it is just them alone facing that room each day. It is important that they feel like you have their backs. Otherwise they may be the ones abandoning you at the end of the school year … or even before then.
Staffing and running a school is a very delicate balancing act. You will be encountering all kinds of people who have differing work philosophies and work ethics. You are also trying to avoid being the one who could be gumming up the works. A K-12 school requires people who are familiar with working with kids whose age ranges will run from a young child to a teenager who is on the cusp of adulthood. By paying attention to the above pitfalls, the people who are there will be able to serve them in the way that they deserve.
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General FAQs
Students need an educational overhaul to help them build a strong foundation for the economy of the future.
Staffing is the process of hiring eligible candidates in the organization or company for specific positions. In management, the meaning of staffing is an operation of recruiting the employees by evaluating their skills, knowledge and then offering them specific job roles accordingly.
K-12 system aims to improve Filipino students’ mathematical, scientific, and linguistic competence. With the new curriculum, DepEd promised to offer higher quality education through tracks. Each track will give students enough time to master a field and enhance their skills.
