As conditions in education become more difficult and funding remains restricted, it becomes harder to sustain the current education offer, let alone implement improvements. Staff goodwill is the difference between grimly hanging on and rising to meet the challenges the pandemic is still throwing at schools.
Until now, the government has taken it for granted that schools will step into whatever role is required of them to get the country through this emergency. Unfortunately, negative messaging from some pressure groups and media has eroded everyone’s positivity. If the public is suffering from Covid-fatigue, the teaching profession is now heartily sick - from it, and of it.
Goodwill is the only (highly problematic) card left to play. According to Professor Dan Ariely “goodwill can be seen as the gap between the minimum someone needs to do to keep their job, and the maximum they will do if they are really excited about doing it. It is something that is completely at the discretion of the individual.”
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Some schools may not think goodwill is necessary. Teachers are vocationally driven and naturally altruistic, and there’s always the fear of Ofsted which makes staff draw on extra reserves. So why cultivate it rather than simply tell teachers to fill the gaps?
There are, in my opinion, three major benefits of goodwill:
- School budgets are running dry, which makes it very difficult for leaders to incentivise staff to volunteer more of their time. These gaps can only be filled through goodwill, and it could be a lifeline in the remainder of the academic year.
- High levels of goodwill provide a more resilient and supportive working environment. When performance management operates solely by directing more work from teachers, sometimes in intimidating ways, the consequences can be a rush of resignations and an unsettling working environment which adversely affects everyone’s wellbeing and impacts the quality of education provision.
- Establishments that cultivate cross-organisational goodwill adapt much better to ongoing crisis. When staff have been encouraged to be more proactive, they look to see how they might fill in gaps that senior and middle leaders have failed to identify. Schools I’ve worked in have been bursting with goodwill - teachers know when someone has an unexpected appointment and so volunteer to take their lesson; they cover when a colleague has had a really bad day and needs a short time out; they even help with report writing and extra marking. It isn’t just the gift of time that is appreciated, the givers feel good too. At best, a culture of reciprocity develops over time.
So how can leaders develop goodwill and really embed it across school culture? It’s all about long-term thinking: yoga classes and cakes might temporarily cheer teachers up, and kind messages and gifts left in colleagues’ pigeonholes may briefly lift spirits, but they may make others feel excluded. It’s not actions in isolation or between friends that make the difference. Goodwill needs the right climate in which to flourish - and here’s how I think it can be done.
Have teachers’ backs
Critical emails from parents can have a disproportionately negative effect and can cause teachers to lose self-belief and feel isolated. Leaders who operate on a no-blame basis and deal effectively with the lengthy and persistent email traffic from some parents themselves can give their teachers confidence. Collective morale is maintained and overworked, overstressed individuals’ workload is reduced because they don’t have to spend hours responding. If necessary, training and support offered in the right spirit can fix any shortfalls.
Trust your staff
Teachers are governed by ethical values. They feel privileged when they are free to make the right decisions. The greater the trust the more willing teachers are to act on their initiative and support their organisation. They are more flexible in times of need as they repay their leaders’ faith.
Keep the narrative positive but realistic
It’s far easier to keep going and even to encourage more input when staff feel valued. Avoid empty praise - and instead, pass on positive specific feedback from parents and pupils. This can work wonders - after all, who can forget the parental outpourings of support for teachers that clogged the DfE’s inbox for weeks when Gavin Williamson invited parents to complain if they were dissatisfied with online provision?
Keep the Ofsted anxiety as low as possible
Teachers will not perform at their best if they dread a visit for months - even years - before it materialises. Their work will suffer if they are paying too much attention to the latest idea of what the inspectorate might want to see. Amanda Spielman could do everyone a service by setting more realistic expectations and even withdraw from classrooms for the moment unless health and safety are at stake. Schools are not only catching up but managing a volatile situation as Covid infections are still rising.
Minimise administration
Teachers love being creative and engaging with their pupils. Paying too much attention to written inputs and outcomes saps both goodwill and vitality in the classroom. Are the detailed lesson plans every Sunday afternoon vital? Is deep marking really doing the job? Are data drops too frequent to allow genuine improvements to be made and evaluated before the next one?
Reduce formal meetings and encourage informal mutual support within school
There are teachers who always support each other and maintain their networks. Leaders can fill the gaps for quieter teachers who don’t share their problems. Checking in with these people informally can help those who aren’t coping. A climate of goodwill needs everyone’s needs to be covered. Support can work upwards as well as downwards; so, if teachers offer a listening ear or support, accept it graciously.
Inject excitement and experimentation into the shared enterprise
Encouraging people to take risks, innovate and implement and then to share their happy moments can lift everyone out of a siege mentality.
Yvonne Williams taught for 34 years, 22 as a head of English and is involved in various teacher education projects. Her latest article in the National Association for the Teaching of English’s Teaching English looks back to the English 21 consultation
