Transitions-care when educators move between teams/schools
The breaks we take during the summer, winter and mid-semester are vital for reinvigorating our own and our colleagues’ spirit and passion for teaching when school resumes. The way that middle leaders in particular use their time between now and the close of the term can greatly impact their colleagues’ well-being as they enter their respective term breaks. In this post, which will be featured in the Council of International Schools (CIS) Perspectives Blog in April, I ask middle leaders to give their colleagues the best parting gift they can—peace of mind.
This year, this gift is especially important, because for many team members it will be a goodbye gift. Many schools I work with are reporting, on average, staff turnover of 35%. With so many team members leaving, it is important to recognize the important role that middle leaders can play in transitions care. So, let’s talk about the role you can play in supporting transitions of educators between teams, departments, schools and beyond. I’ve outlined 5 ways you can support them, below.
Transitions care was something I became acutely aware of and passionate about after attending a workshop facilitated by Drs Douglas Ota, author of Safe Passage: How mobility affects people & what international schools should do about it. I have since not only continued to advocate for transitions care for faculty but was honored to be invited to serve on the Governing Board of Safe Passage Across Networks (SPAN).
The well-being of transitioning educators is most likely to be taken for granted, as they may be seen as leavers and, therefore, requiring less attention. However, we must acknowledge that the leavers are already in transition—trying to leave the school with a feeling of accomplishment and some dignity, while at the same time processing the move that awaits them. The result is that without recognition and support of their transition, the leavers have limited capacity to collaborate.
In addition, there are also the ‘stayers’, the colleagues and students who have grown attachments to the leavers. Attachment research indicates that the stayers will be impacted as much (if not more) by the transition of the leavers. In fact, the First Law of Transition that Dr. Ota proposes is: “You have to say a clear 'goodbye' in order to say a clear 'hello.'” Without 'stayers' who are emotionally ready and willing to connect, the 'arrivers' (new staff and students) have nobody to connect with.
The danger of not attending to the emotional well-being of leavers, and stayers alike, is that they develop scars that will impact future collegial relationships. Those scars will act as barriers to forming secure attachments with future team members, which is the secret sauce for transformative collaboration.
Below, I’ve outlined 5 ways we can support the leavers and the stayers. I also invite you participate in two live-virtual events that will provide you detailed guidance on how to give leavers and stayers peace of mind:
Register for Jane Barron and I’s April 30th EARCOS webinar, How Middle Leaders can support colleagues affected by transition. (Free for EARCOS Members)
SPAN will share ideas that worked for leavers in their May 5th episode of ‘The Nest’.
Five ways to support educators and school staff
Acknowledge staff are leaving and that this will affect members of the school community, especially those that have formed secure attachments to the leavers;
Give the leavers and stayers a chance to be heard about how transition is affecting them personally and professionally;
Take action to support staff affected by transition;
Create opportunities for staff to connect during the transition and encourage them to stay connected beyond the transition; and
Select a meaningful parting symbolic of the leavers relationship to the school and give it at a good-bye party.
Learn more about the support available from SPAN, the newest CIS Supporting Member. If you would like to experience how we provision transition-care first hand, join SPAN for one of it’s monthly Nest sessions.
