Caring School Leadership

Mark A. Smylie, Joseph F. Murphy, Karen Seashore Louis

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781544320120
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Leadership in Education

The purpose of this book is to argue for the importance of caring in schools and school leadership and to provide understanding and guidance for the practice of caring school leadership. This book will provide a counterbalance to today's emphasis on academic press and accountability. Caring is at the heart of successful school leadership and successful schooling for students. The authors wish to enrich the understanding and practice of caring school leadership through the perspectives of other human service professions.

This book will affirm for educators the importance of caring as a fundamental part of schooling for students. It will help practicing educators develop deeper understanding of caring as a quality of human relationships and it will help them understand the relationship of caring to student academic success and well-being. Most importantly, the book will benefit practicing educators by promoting understanding of caring school leadership and promoting its practice.

Chapter 1 Caring: The Heart of Caring School Leadership

We begin our exploration of caring school leadership by examining the concept caring. We make a case for why we should care about caring in schools. Then, we turn to what we mean by caring. We examine key elements that make a person’s actions and interactions caring. Following this discussion, we explore how caring works, that is, how it leads to particular outcomes for ones cared for and ones who are caring. As part of our analysis, we examine conditions that enable or constrain caring and its functions. At the end of this chapter, we explore briefly the problematic aspects of caring. We speak of caring with few references to school leadership. Our purpose in this chapter is to develop a general understanding of caring before we apply it to school leadership.

A Case for Caring in Schools

There are four important reasons to care about caring in schools and to work to promote it. First, caring is an intrinsic good, a key element of the human condition. Second, caring contributes significantly to students’ learning, development, and success in school. Third, the alternatives to caring are unacceptable. And fourth, although caring is thought to be what schools are by definition, caring’s presence cannot be assumed. There is evidence that caring is highly variable in schools today and that caring is made difficult by the ways in which schooling is organized and by the primary approaches to school improvement that we have pursued. Indeed, this problem of caring in schools is symptomatic of broader social trends and a long-term “crisis of caring” across human service professions.

Caring Is an Intrinsic Good

The first reason to care about caring is because it is an intrinsic good, a worthy human endeavor in its own right. It is elemental to the human condition, a foundation stone of being moral. Education philosopher Nel Noddings (2013) contends that

Natural caring [is] the condition that we … perceive as “good.” It is that condition toward which we long and strive, and it is our longing for caring—to be in that special relation—that provides the motivation for us to be moral. (p. 5)

In a similar vein, philosopher Milton Mayeroff (1971) argues that

through the caring for others, by serving them through caring, a [person] lives the meaning of his [or her] own life. In the sense in which a [person] can ever be said to be at home in the world, he [or she] is at home not through dominating, or explaining, or appreciating, but through caring and being cared for. (pp. 2–3)

Such observations about caring can be found in literature and the arts, religion, and the human service professions. For example, in his 1957 play Simply Heavenly, through the voice of the character Jesse Simple, author Langston Hughes writes, “When peoples care for you and cry for you—and love you—they can straighten out your soul” (L. C. Sanders, 2004, p. 201). Emmanuel Levinas (1969), scholar of Jewish philosophy and theology, calls caring a moral imperative. Nursing theorist Patricia Benner and medical researcher Judith Wrubel (1989) speak of caring as “the most basic human way of being in the world” (p. 368). According to occupational sociologists Pamela Abbott and Liz Meerabeau (1998) and political philosopher Joan Tronto (1993), caring is particularly important in human service enterprises and political and social institutions that affect the lives of those who are vulnerable and in need.

Caring Is Crucial to Student Success

A second reason that we should care about caring is because it is crucial to the learning and development of children and youth and to their success in school. We agree with former school administrators Helen Regan and Gwen Brooks (1995), who write, “We understand care to be the essence of education” (p. 27). And we concur with Noddings (2005), who calls caring the “bedrock of all successful education” (p. 27).

Students tell us this as well. Research repeatedly emphasizes the importance students place on caring (Jeffrey, Auger, & Pepperell, 2013; Luttrell, 2013; Murphy, 2016b). Students see teachers’ willingness to care and their ability to bond with students as essential ingredients of a positive school climate and an effective classroom environment (Howard, 2001). Among the things students say they like most about school is when adults, particularly teachers, care about them and work hard to help them learn (Poplin & Weeres, 1992). Among the things they like least are feeling invisible, unsupported, and uncared for.

Students see caring as a crucial dimension of their relationships with teachers, in their perceptions of the quality of instruction they receive, and in how much they care about their own education. They see caring as key to their success in school. Students say that when they feel cared for, they are more likely to engage in school and work harder academically. They say they are less likely to behave in ways that might jeopardize their success. Conversely, students say that when they do not feel cared for, they do not invest much time and energy. These perspectives are clearly summarized in the common sentiment of highly successful African American and Latino young men, graduates of New York City high schools, naming the primary source of their success: “Teachers really care” (Harper & Associates, 2014, p. 21).

There is abundant additional evidence that caring benefits children and youth in and out of school (Murphy & Torre, 2014). These benefits derive from the positive nature of relationships with adults and peers. They also derive from the academic and social supports and resources that can be provided through these relationships. Caring relationships and commensurate support seem particularly powerful for students placed at risk, a subject we will explore in Chapter 2.

Research has linked caring relationships with adults and peers to healthy brain development and functioning (Cozolino, 2014). This relationship is especially strong during infancy and early childhood, when the brain is most rapidly developing. Early interactions build neural networks and establish biological “set points” that can last a lifetime. Because the brain remains malleable and experience dependent, caring relationships can shape the brain and its functioning throughout childhood, into adolescence, and across the lifespan.

Caring and nurturing relationships contribute to brain development and to cognitive and social-emotional functioning in several ways (Hawley, 2000; Newman, Sivaratnam, & Komiti, 2015). They provide positive emotional and cognitive stimulation that biochemically promotes healthy brain development and function. They provide safety, comfort, and pleasure that mediate stress, threat, and trauma, which further shapes the brain in healthy ways. Finally, in caring and nurturing relationships, adults (and peers) can provide repeated experiences of emotional responses and behaviors that become sources of social learning, which also contributes to brain development and function.

In school, experiences of caring lead to a number of positive psychological states, including self-concept, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. They also include feelings of psychological safety, hope, and persistence. Research indicates that caring by adults in schools can help develop children’s capacity for resilience when they experience stress and mitigate some of the direct negative effects of trauma (Allensworth et al., 2018). Experiencing caring leads to social-emotional development and prosocial behaviors, such as cooperation, communication, empathy, and responsibility. These, in turn, enable academic learning and performance (Farrington et al., 2012; Reese, Jensen, & Ramirez, 2014).

Caring in schools also promotes students’ sense of connection and belonging, trust in others, and social integration (Crosnoe, 2011; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Caring can lead to student interest and engagement in school and in classroom activities (Cherng, 2017; Roorda, Koomen, Spilt, & Oort, 2011). It also can result in improved motivation and effort, as well as persistence and retention (Kotok, Ikoma, & Bodovski, 2016; Rutledge, Cohen-Vogel, Osborne-Lampkin, & Roberts, 2015). These effects have been found from elementary grades through high school.

Students also experience academic success from caring and the social and academic supports that come from it. When their relationships with teachers and peers feel caring, students’ academic achievement can increase (Roorda et al., 2011). The effects of caring on achievement are best understood in relation to academic challenge—high expectations, rigorous pedagogy, intellectual demand, and accountability. It is the mutually reinforcing combination of what Hallinger and Murphy (1985) long ago called pastoral care and support with academic press that makes the greatest positive difference (see Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, & Easton, 2010). Indeed, academic challenge without sufficient caring and support from teachers and fellow students can lower performance.

Caring student–teacher relationships are also related to students’ expectations for success in school and aspirations for postsecondary education (Cherng, 2017). Indeed, there is evidence that supportive, caring relationships have an indirect positive effect on college enrollment (Demi, Coleman-Jensen, & Snyder, 2010).

A final benefit is that caring can beget caring (Luthans & Youssef, 2007; May, Chan, Hodges, & Avolio, 2003). Children and youth who experience caring from adults and peers are more likely to act in caring ways themselves. Experiences of caring can model and teach caring (Noddings, 2013). Caring can neurologically and behaviorally promote caring among those experiencing it, biasing those cared for toward tend-and-befriend behavior—contributing to safe and protective school environments—and away from disassociation or fight-or-flight behavior (Newman et al., 2015). This can be seen in neuroscience research on infant and child development. And it can be seen in neuroscience research examining adults who serve as caregivers. Adults’ ability to be caring is influenced positively by their own earlier and contemporary experiences of caring relationships. Experiencing caring (or lack of caring) as a child can have long-term consequences.

The Alternatives Are Unacceptable

We also should care about caring because the alternatives are unacceptable. Lack of caring or harmful uncaring can impede positive learning and development. Neuroscience research indicates that lack of caring and support can negatively affect the development of cognitive capabilities and of caring social behavior (Perry, 2002). It can negatively affect children’s ability to regulate stress and form attachments with others (Newman et al., 2015). High-level stress and trauma that might otherwise be mediated by caring can be particularly damaging. The more adverse childhood experiences or toxic stresses a child has, the greater the chances of long-term physical and behavioral health issues that can even affect mortality (Felitti et al., 1998). Chronic stress and trauma can affect brain development and influence children’s capacity to focus attention, recall information, exercise planning and self-control, and get along with others (Bailey, Stickle, Brion-Meisels, & Jones, 2019). These effects, in turn, can have negative consequences for children’s lifelong learning, behavior, and health (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2005/2014). As we suggested earlier, even persistent low-level stresses can bias the brain toward hyperarousal and dissociative fight-or-flight behavior rather than the tend-and-befriend behavior associated with caring. Even as social and emotional development can suffer, so too can intellectual and language development.

Lack of caring relationships in schools can negatively affect students. It can lead to feelings of isolation and detachment (Kotok et al., 2016). Students who perceive their teachers as not caring say they do not pay as much attention in class and lack concern about classroom rules. In their review of research, McGrath and Van Bergen (2015) found that the effects of negative student–teacher relationships are extensive, including antisocial behavior, peer rejection, negative attitudes toward school, adjustment difficulties, lower attendance, and poorer academic engagement. Others have made similar findings (Cherng, 2017; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Roorda et al., 2011). Not surprisingly, lack of caring is also associated with lower achievement gains (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Roorda et al., 2011). Students are more likely to drop out of school and hold lower expectations for their educational attainment when they do not see their schools as caring (Kotok et al., 2016).

On the other hand, when students at risk of experiencing negative relationships with adults in school experience a positive relationship, particularly valuable benefits can accrue. McGrath and Van Bergen (2015) tell us that these benefits include reducing student aggression, promoting positive peer relationships, improving students’ attitudes toward school (particularly for students who perceive school to be a hostile and unsafe place), and facilitating social, behavioral, emotional, and academic adjustment. A negative student–teacher relationship history can shape students’ and teachers’ expectations negatively. But as McGrath and Van Bergen (2015) observe, where positive relationships form despite such expectations, the impact may be particularly positive and powerful.

Caring Should Not Be Assumed

A fourth reason to care about caring in schools is that we cannot assume that caring is a present and unproblematic quality of schooling. There is a paradoxical notion that caring is present and strong in schools because caring is what schools are supposed to do. This is an assumption of caring, an idealized sense of what health and social-care expert Ann Brechin (1998a) calls spontaneously occurring caring (p. 2). When we ask educators whether they and others in their schools care about their students, they respond with a unanimous and resounding “Yes!” Yet, when we ask whether caring receives the same attention as academic instruction and assessment, whether their schools enact strategies to bring caring to life, and whether their schools have evidence that individual students feel cared for, very few respond affirmatively or without equivocation.

Educators often see caring when students do not (Murphy, 2016b). This point is made clearly by Poplin and Weeres (1992), whose research finds that teachers generally perceive themselves to be very caring people who go into teaching to serve children and youth. Yet teachers are shocked when they learn the extent to which students feel that adults in their schools are not caring for them. The principal of the high school featured in the 2018 docuseries America to Me speaks eloquently and sincerely of how much he cares about the students in his school, especially, as an African American, how much he cares about the educational opportunities afforded to African American students. Yet this principal is disconnected from his students. Late in the docuseries, when he realizes that he needs to have greater presence among them, students react to him with ambivalence, wondering who he is and questioning what he is doing.

This assumption of caring is further illustrated in research conducted by the Making Caring Common Project at Harvard University (Weissbourd & Jones, 2014a). Data collected from ten thousand middle and high school students and a sample of teachers and parents in thirty-three school districts revealed that most teachers and parents say that caring and developing caring children is a top educational priority. They rank caring as more important than children’s individual achievement and personal happiness. According to students, however, teachers’ and parents’ daily actions and the messages they send about individual achievement and personal happiness drown out messages about caring for others. In this contradictory-message environment, the assumption of caring is not borne out.

The fact is that caring is highly variable in schools today, particularly for students of color, students of low socioeconomic backgrounds, low-performing students, and students placed at risk (McGrath & Van Bergen, 2015). A national study found that of nearly 150,000 sixth- through twelfth-grade students surveyed, only 29 percent indicated that their schools provided a caring, encouraging environment (Benson, 2006). Another study focusing on racially and ethnically diverse high school students found that barely a majority reported that their teachers cared about them as both persons and learners (Cherng, 2017). Further, this study observes that not all teachers have positive personal relationships with students of color and children of immigrants. Some students reported no interactions with faculty and staff or discriminatory experiences. Indeed, de Royston and her colleagues (2017) observe that positive teacher–student relationships are not the norm for African American males.

Other research has reported similar findings. One study of middle-grade students in Chicago found that only 24 percent reported high levels of school social support for learning that reflects caring, whereas 26 percent reported low levels of such support (Lee & Smith, 1999). African American and Latino students were less likely than white students to report high levels of support. A more recent survey of Chicago students revealed that 14 to 19 percent reported that their teachers did not provide personalized academic support in ways that would suggest caring (Consortium on Chicago School Research, 2012).

Ironically, the way in which schools are organized makes caring problematic. Bureaucratic structures and hierarchical relationships, lack of resources, inconsistencies among programs and policies, and the stresses and strains these conditions impose restrict space and create obstacles to meaningful, caring relationships in schools (Green, 2014). The size of schools and classrooms, the way that time is allocated, the focus of teaching on transmission, the selection of content, and the singular emphasis on academic achievement together make caring difficult (Noddings, 2005). According to Murphy (2016b), rule-based hierarchy, a guiding principle around which we have organized schools for more than a century, is not designed to foster care. Indeed, Murphy observes, such hierarchy impedes caring in human service organizations generally and schools in particular. According to Poplin and Weeres (1992), when they feel...