How Administrators Can Empower Teachers

Teachers are among the most important people in our societies, as they play the role of a central pillar in the welfare and growth of any community. They nurture and transform young and clueless minds into intelligent and dependable minds that are responsible for the great innovations we see today. What is the work of a teacher? Is it just entering a classroom, lecturing students and marking books? Well, in the current society, a teacher has to be at bar with current trends in order to successfully guide their students. This means a teacher has to create time to mingle with colleagues either in the staff room or on over the internet to discuss new teaching tips, share lesson plans and access information that can enable them to think and teach differently. It is the duty of an administrator to empower teachers of their organization.

1. Trust

One aspect that can make teachers to thrive in their working environment is trust from their school administrators. When teachers feel they are trusted, they always work hard to give out their best. This will result to a positive impact to the students in class. Trust will enable teachers to transform pockets of innovation into a school culture.  This can majorly be achieved through distributed leadership. When a school principal empowers teachers to head some crucial departments such as admissions, new teacher mentoring, etc, will always make teachers to own what they are in-charge of. In 2000, Terry stated that,” in schools where teachers are empowered to be leaders, the focus of control changes from principal to teachers. ”

In 1989, Bolin said that,” teacher empowerment is defined as investing teachers with the right to participate in the determination of school goals and policies and to exercise professional judgment about what and how to teach. ”

2. Teacher Recognition.

The administrators need to recognize teachers and their accomplishments. When teachers are given the opportunity to grow as professionals and their efforts recognized, they will feel empowered and will be willing to explore future experiences resulting to more growth.

3. School Mission

Administrators can provide avenues for growth to teachers through making them committed to the school mission. When the administration delegates duties to teachers and show trust, teachers will become more creative and willing to take risks. By giving more freedom and independence, teachers are likely to fall in-line to the school’s mission.

4. Decision Making.

Teachers should be part of the decision making process. This will avoid future complains from teachers. When some teachers don’t get things done their way, they will trust their colleagues as long as the process is consistent. As much as decision-making should be collective, at certain points an administrator should make some critical decisions such as lay-offs, alone to preserve working relationship among teachers.

When distributed leadership is done well, it creates a unified team of people who always read from the same page. When teachers feel valued and trusted, they also trust and empower their students. The students will in turn learn to trust their capability and will work hard to give out the best results.

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