Emotionally Healthy School Leadership

Introduction

One of the greatest impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the need for schools to institute student social-emotional growth initiatives. Funding for such initiatives has grown exponentially in many states. Of particular concern is the mental well-being and emotional health of students. Efforts in this area often focus on student self-awareness of emotions and the feelings of others.

While such efforts have made great gains in supporting student social-emotional growth, there has been less focus given to the emotional wellness of staff, faculty and school leadership. There has been some movement by districts to address teacher wellness in this area, but such efforts are in the foundational stages. Early research on teacher wellness suggests that a key component is the actions of the school leader (Cann, Riedel-Prabhakar & Powell, 2021). Research on emotional intelligence and leadership development is not a new construct (e.g. Dearborn, 2002; Sadri, 2012). Yet, little consideration has been given to what makes an emotionally healthy school leader and what is the impact on teacher wellness and other aspects of school climate.

The key question then to address is, “what is an emotionally healthy school leader?” This chapter seeks to address that question. To accomplish this task, this chapter incorporates lessons learned through research, reading, professional development and experiences during the author’s 16-year journey as a school leader. A small number of vignettes are also incorporated. Most are true events observed by the author. Some are hypothetical and a few come from outside the field of education but have been adapted to a school setting. The purpose is to afford the reader an opportunity to reflect on the topics discussed as played out in real life settings.

Emotionally healthy school leaders acknowledge that growing emotionally healthy schools is not an easy venture. One reason for this is the role of teachers in the process. To find success, school leaders recognize that teacher wellbeing is a critical element for effectively implementing initiatives that have a positive effect on student achievement and socioemotional growth (Cann, Riedel-Prabhakar & Powell, 2021). In addressing both teacher and student wellbeing, school leaders are challenged in a myriad of ways, all of which have an impact on time and energy that can be put into such efforts. Such challenges include minimizing teacher burnout due to conflict that may arise from change efforts, overwhelming expectations, role ambiguity and negative pupil relations (Sava, 2002; Papastylianou, Kaila, & Polychronopoulos, 2009; Jomuad et al., 2021).