 We know teaching is a wonderful job It's a privilege to spend time with lots of pupils in any school or college environment but we also know it's very challenging and a demanding job and for the difference for teachers who work in toxic schools is that difficult times appear to have no end with many seeing Their only option is leaving and so if we immerse ourselves in the world of the classroom and the Experiences of those who work in them. It's crucial in understanding not only what effective teaching is For people's but also what kind of work environment is best for the staff who work in them And the only way that we can achieve this is by hearing authentic voices of teachers who experience this world on a daily basis So here are eight characteristics of toxic schools and co-publishing a great book from Dr. Helen Woodley's PhD research an ethnography of Six teachers voices of their experiences working in challenging schools and these eight Characteristics are explained in greater depth. There's a resource as a little mini webinar There's the book of course and there's lots of blogs and although it's a topic. We don't necessarily want to talk about And when whenever I Shouldn't say reluctantly because I also have a duty to speak up for all teachers Particularly teachers who don't have a voice And I'm always hesitant to because of my large platform But when I do I'm inundated with Countless stories of teachers who are struggling and of course I don't know the full story And I have to take their word for what they share with me Privately, but some of the stories are horrific And So the aim of toxic skills I suppose is to highlight the impact that negative teaching experiences can have on All our careers and the health and well-being of the people that we work for Or work with and there's a profession We have to acknowledge the fact that there are teachers out there who struggle on a daily basis because of the teaching environment that they work within and Is more challenging than perhaps other places and as a teaching profession We have the capacity to change the culture of all schools and of course those external forces League tables parents off-stead all those types of things and how we handle these changes Simply ball down to the leadership of the school and individual characteristics and I guess school leaders out there Yes, we all you know, we all have a choice Yes, we all have certain things that factors that influence our decision-making You know, there'll be a lot of external things that will also influence our choices and Yes, there's one or two bad egg teachers out there and one or two teachers that have lost their way or lost their love of Teaching etc etc and I'm reminded of a great quote from Dr. Tina Owen Moore Who published a book called the Alliance way the first bully free school in America? And she said something I've never forgotten When people don't take time to understand one another there is more opportunity to do harm And I think of all those incidents where perceptions myths bias Where we make sweetened sweeping accusations about other people or we see this on Twitter We don't like someone because of their personality or you know, how I present this video without really understanding the real person behind The the kind of conversation the behavior the message etc etc But in in schools We don't have a lot of time to sit beside one another and talk about teaching and learning talk about Appraisal professional development needs all the challenges that we all face. I think that often stems with You know decisions of accountability and leadership that generate this kind of toxic school culture So So there you go eight characteristics of toxic school I just thought I'd just share this as a kind of food for thoughts, you know, maybe just think about where you work Does your school show these characteristics? Does your team do you work alongside? You know a bully or someone that shows these kind of hallmarks where they shout you down Your voice is not heard etc etc. And so I'll leave it there I just thought I'd share a little mini clip of these eight characteristics in this link You can find the resource the blog and the book. Thanks for watching