Too often, teachers are quickly promoted from the classroom to school leadership positions, whether to fill an unexpected vacancy, act as interim administrators, or take on a permanent leadership role. But having teachers take on administrative roles before they are prepared and without adequate support poses a risk of burnout or, worse, opens up the possibility of causing harm to themselves or their school community, through sheer lack of experience.
In my work at The Teaching Well, where I support teachers and administrators on wellbeing and sustainability, I hear about this topic regularly, and over the decade I spent working in schools, I saw it happen to my colleagues frequently. I also deeply understand the problem on a personal level because it happened to me.
Early in my teaching career, when I was 26 years old, I was offered and accepted a position as a dean at an elementary school in East Oakland, California. The next school year, I was promoted to assistant principal, and a year into that position, I had to cover for our principal while she was on maternity leave. None of these promotions came with special training or additional training; They didn’t even tell me to read any books in preparation. I found myself exhausted and didn’t have the language to advocate for my needs, let alone hold that space for the staff I was responsible for.
It is essential to recognize that prematurely placing teachers in leadership roles comes at a cost. If we are to elevate young teachers, the system owes it to them (and the colleagues and students they serve) to surround them with empathy, support, and comprehensive training.
When promoting teachers, support is key
Given the recent shortage and staff turnover in schools, I understand why many district leaders quickly move teachers to vacant administrative positions. In fact, I was a district leader who occasionally made this recommendation. With that many leaders leave, we are in a hiring crisis and there are no shortage of candidates clamoring for these jobs. What could be a better solution than talent you know personally and can cultivate from within?
A talented teacher is usually a natural leader. But there is a difference between an imposing presence before students and a managerial staff. I know it because I have lived it.
I was an ecological educator catapulted into a leadership role. To some extent, I was open to the opportunity and maybe even sought it out. At the time, I was grappling with decision-making at my school, particularly when it came to serving our Black students, and I wanted to make a change. My proactive nature, my work as a peer observer, and my facilitation of a professional learning community at our school is part of what opened the opportunity for me to take on an administrator role.
When I became dean, I found myself in a demanding position with enormous responsibility. I quickly realized that having a space where educators can gather and share in a grade-level team meeting is not the same as creating a strategic professional development scope and sequence. Observing a colleague is not the same as being able to conduct a thorough evaluation. I had never formally supervised anyone, but I was required to facilitate difficult conversations on a regular basis. No one told me about the ugly parts of managing people, like having to write to people or designing and implementing support plans.
Fortunately, building relationships was easy and when I made mistakes, I did my best to own up to them. It also helped that I was from the community I served, which allowed me to navigate many of the cultural nuances of working at our school. Even with these strengths, my learning curve was steep.
Physically, mentally and emotionally, this was one of the most challenging times of my life. At the time, I was pregnant with my first child and my husband was studying law. Eating balanced meals at work seemed impossible. I fainted regularly and developed insomnia. My inexperience caused rifts with colleagues that I had to repair. In my role, I was often called upon to support students with intensive needs, sometimes having to physically restrain them while breaking up fights or to prevent self-harm. When I got home, I was exhausted. It was hard to want to hug my partner or have my new baby crawling on me. I had immense guilt as a parent and partner and overwhelming feelings of failure, and I felt isolated.
My healing work with school leaders today has helped me realize that I was not alone. The feelings I had were natural and many in the field experience similar emotions.
Over the years, I have worked with school leaders who excel and make things work despite unthinkable difficulties while unraveling the pressures they feel. I have also worked with leaders who have held their position for a few months or years before burning out and leaving as an act of self-preservation. Some have expressed that their reputation was damaged or that they developed an internal narrative of failure. I remind you that you opened your hearts to serve even though no one was serving you, that you are leaders who were not guided.
We talk about our young people as the future, as liberating agents, as those who will elevate our society. We should invest deeply in those who lead our schools, especially new leaders. And when we promote teachers to leadership positions, we must give them the support they need to do their jobs effectively.
