A substitute teacher, formerly an engineer, recently took to Reddit’s r/teachers forum to make a bold statement about public schools that many other teachers are concerned about as well.
According to the sub, today’s school principals are “emotionally immature” and aren’t performing their jobs as they should. He wants to know why.
As a substitute teacher, he explained he travels around different schools and districts, which gives him insight into the varying spectrum of administrators. He began to notice a familiar pattern.
“Credit where credit is due, there are some good admin out there,” he wrote in his post. “Unfortunately, the norm seems to be admin that are condescending, out of touch, or emotionally immature. Why does this happen?”
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The substitute raised an important concern about the education system, as the quality of a school’s administration heavily influences the quality of students’ academic performance and teachers’ working conditions.
“When teachers work under a poor leader, morale sinks and negativity permeates the culture of the school or district,” according to Education Week. “When districts and schools are populated with positive and dynamic leaders, students are the ultimate beneficiaries.”
The reason why so many administrators seem to be out of touch and emotionally immature is because of their disconnect from the classroom, leading to them not fully understanding or meeting the needs of the teachers and students.
Oftentimes, public education administrators haven’t actually taught in a classroom setting in what could be decades. Unless administrators and teachers prioritize working together and valuing each other’s roles, their leadership efforts won’t be very effective.
“Teachers are the lifeblood of a school and should be taken care of and treated as professionals who are experts in their field,” said one Reddit user who just received an administration degree. “I think too many admin view themselves as teachers still, but they aren’t, and the longer they’re admin, the less they remember the reality of the job.”
Reddit users pointed out that the roles of teachers and administrators differ vastly, indicating a significant disconnect between them.
“Teachers and admin (and line staff and management more broadly) may share an industry, but they really are entirely different career paths with wildly different responsibilities that require wholly different skill sets,” another individual with both teaching and administration experience shared in the post.
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Others addressed that many administrators tend to be solely focused on “chasing the paycheck,” so their priorities are loosely defined.
“A lot of teachers close to retirement go into administration for only five years (or sometimes less), not necessarily 100% devoted to actually doing things to help students learn and teachers teach, but just looking forward to the bigger paycheck in the current and the bigger retirement in the future,” another teacher wrote in the post.
While it’s valid to prioritize your livelihood, especially in an industry as underpaid as the education industry, to be an empowered leader, you must act with integrity and humanity. Guiding the world’s next generation of leaders is not to be taken lightly, and we can create a healthier environment for them through mutual respect and communication.
It’s not easy taking on the hefty responsibilities of a school administrator, and this lifestyle can pull you away from your own desires and needs, consequently impacting your skills and qualities as a leader. However, this pattern only leads to animosity and mistrust between teachers and administrators.
There is a growing consensus that teachers’ voices deserve to be heard and taken seriously. As many professionals in the industry identified, teachers are the only ones directly working with and guiding students, so their opinions matter significantly.
Of course, this is a systemic issue, but as one educational leadership expert emphasized on ASCDteachers, and administrators can enact change by shifting their perspectives and adjusting their language.
“Animosity between teachers and administrators certainly feels inevitable, based on the assumptions each group is encouraged to make about the other,” Elizabeth Dampf said. “It’s on both ‘sides,’ then, to challenge these assumptions.”
Cultivating a fair and equitable environment can allow teachers and their students to thrive and accomplish their goals without unnecessary conflict from administrators.
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Francesca Duarte is a writer on YourTango’s news and entertainment team based in Orlando, FL. She covers lifestyle, human-interest, adventure, and spirituality topics.
