When one pauses to think about it, the answer must be “quite a lot”. Colleagues who are motivated, who enjoy their work in the school, and who are willing to go the extra mile, are bound to get more out of their pupils and students than those who are not so motivated.

Enthusiasm, drive and determination are infectious. If a teacher feels good about the job and everything around it, then obviously that will encourage those in the classroom to do more work.

Such observations are easy to make. But it is nevertheless the fact that the overwhelming majority of schools in the UK don’t engage in any sort of programme that focuses on raising teacher morale and then maintaining it, once a high level of morale has been achieved.

Rather, the dominant view has come to be, “teachers are professionals and we expect professionals to work hard and do their best.” In other words it is generally not considered the school management’s job to consider the morale of teachers.

Although this is a widespread point of view the fact remains that, in organisations where the morale of the professional staff is considered, results increase.

Perhaps one of the biggest problems is that it is not immediately obvious to most school managers exactly how one goes about raising teacher morale. After all, one doesn’t want to pry into a colleague’s private life, and one certainly doesn’t want to make overt statements to colleagues which suggest that morale in the staffroom is not as high as it might be.

And yet there is a whole range of strategies available for raising teacher morale which have been used with success in a number of schools and which can be introduced into any school.

These strategies, along with a detailed study of the issues that affect teacher morale and how a broader policy of maintaining high morale can be achieved, are all detailed in the volume “Raising Teacher Morale in a World of Change.”

The volume comes in copiable form, so that several managers can consider the approaches at once and then meet together to discuss them. It is also available on CD so that again it can easily be shared with colleagues.

Publisher’s reference: T1600emn; ISBN: 978 1 86083 648 0

Sample pages can be viewed on: http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1600.pdf

Prices

Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £49.95 plus £3.95 delivery
CD with school-wide rights £49.95 plus £3.95 delivery
Both the Ring Binder and the CD £56.94 plus £3.95 delivery
Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the book…

By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
By phone with a credit card or school order number to 01536 399 011
By fax to 01536 399 012
On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=440