Sharing Good Practice
TIMELESS TOOLS FOR BUILDING A HEALTHY
SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT
BY LISA FATIMAH
BEGIN WITH THE
END IN MIND.
CLARITY
In almost any relationship there is
an element of pain. Great and small
businesses, organisations and schools,
are no different. Pain exists. It is
the anticipation, analysis and open
processing of pain (without back door
emotional complaining), that can make
a relationship stronger, weaker or bring
it to a higher level of understanding
and success.
Timeless tools that will help any school
build and maintain a healthy working
environment, begin with clarity and
beginning with the end in mind.
The core success ingredients - the
nuclei of each successful school’s
vision are: Value. Respect. PRO-
ACTIVE Patience.
By going beyond lip service, healthy
school environments value, respect
and show patience toward teachers
and students. Happy teachers usually
equal victorious schools whose
vision and reputation are transmitted
globally.
If you enter a school where turnover
is low, teachers leave only when they
absolutely must or die, and where new
teachers are knocking down doors to
enter, you know you’ve got a school
where integrity is its essence. They get
it. This school does not waste money
on expensive, exhausting and counter-
productive repetitive recruiting. It
does not need to because they drool
honor and understand the difference
between connections vs. relationships
and proactively, positively, paying it
forward.
Just as classroom educators must have
a vision of what we want our students
to achieve, administrators must also
have protocols and parameters in
place, with the understanding that
our scholars and our teachers, may
PROACTIVE
PATIENCE
RESPECT
VALUE
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not immediately meet our goals within
our timeline or reach our perihelion of
perfection. And guess what? That’s
okay, particularly if teaches are hired
based upon character and are allowed
“to do their excellence” without being
micromanaged
S
O
L
U
T
I
O
N
S
As the above layout of the word
SOLUTIONS suggests, there will be
many ways health can be achieved.
Often, the best routes will not be
presented in the most traditional
formats. In short, while there is no
one size fits all model; authentic paths
are never wrong, particularly when
cues from conflict are taken, written
down (for reflection) and a reward
system established, where all can
build mistake mountains. The GREAT
make mistakes in policy, curriculum,
teacher placement, etc. Learning from
mistakes and honestly stress-testing
ideas, are wonderful authentic growth
opportunities.
There are schools the world over
that could win Academy Awards and
Global Awards for presenting an
image of success. However, at its core,
the imagery is a lie, reflecting smoke
mirrors and unacknowledged errors
or poor judgement. The kicker is that,
lies never live, forever.
Let’s talk about authenticity in action
and operations.
Authenticity in
academia entails good faith efforts,
genuinely paying attention, putting
the best people in the right positions
based upon their core beliefs, intrinsic
talents and complimentary skill sets.
Note, I said nothing about degrees,
years of experience or just filling any