A happy staff is essential to a school’s sustained success. Whilst teaching is challenging, most staff should feel happy to work at the school and feel a sense of satisfaction. An unhappy staff is far more likely to ‘go through the motions’ and just do what needs to be done.
Recent research by the Centre For Marketing Schools highlighted the top 5 problem areas identified by teachers.
- Teachers are not well informed about the school’s direction.
- Communication between the staff and executive is poor.
- The principal is not approachable.
- Staff do not feel consulted about changes.
- The school does not take teachers’ concerns seriously.
When asked if a sense of community unites their school many teachers say ‘No’. Others talk about lack of consultation, lack of transparency in decision-making, suspicion and burnout.
www.marketingschools.net
What would staff in your school say? Do you know?
Staff opinion surveys can be helpful in getting a rough measure of staff satisfaction but are often only an indicator. Few surveys ask the follow up questions about why the staff member is dissatisfied, to give examples to explain their concern or suggest actions that could be taken to improve the situation.
Measuring staff opinion is a start and shows good intentions, however having good intentions isn’t enough – it’s actions that count!
At Happy School we are serious about boosting staff morale and reducing teacher stress. We have developed our own staff opinion survey to ensure that it is action focused and gives the school leadership team both information on staff morale and specific issues to be addressed to improve morale.
If you’d like to know more about Happy School Staff surveys email steve@happyschool.com.au