How Can School Leaders Foster Teacher Flourishing?
Rehal and Nieuwerburgh’s (2022) research-based ‘Ecological Model of Educator Flourishing’ formed a large part of my last essay on positive organisations where I used it to create a school leadership training programme. They define flourishing educators as: “an educator who feels seen, trusted and valued. They are treated as a professional and encouraged to be authentic. They have autonomy, integrity, and agency and experience positive relationships along with personal and professional growth (p. 36).
I was then excited to find out Brittany Rehal has recently been the focus of this podcast.
Brittany Rehal: Educators Flourishing
Interesting aspects for me are:
-It focuses on flourishing rather than the often-discussed well-being.
-The model highlights the importance of looking at educator flourishing through a deeper systems lens.
-The podcast highlights the need to focus on ‘impact rather than intention’.
The research conclusion highlights that this model could inform school leader training. I would love to hear your thoughts on what parts of the model you feel should have greater prominence in school leadership training. From my own experience, I would have loved a deeper understanding of how to develop and foster trust and how to show recognition and acknowledgement in an authentic and meaningful way. I would have also liked more time to reflect on where and how you balance autonomy and inspire authenticity in the performative culture that education can reside in.
If you love a bit of educational research, here is the link to the full paper:
Understanding the factors that contribute to educator flourishing
Brittany Rehal is also asking for stories from educators to form part of the book she is writing on educator flourishing:
https://educatorflourishing.com/
Reference:
Rehal, B., & Nieuwerburgh, C. van. (2022). Understanding the factors that contribute to Educator Flourishing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v12i2.1931
