We talk a lot about making schools supportive places for students. But what about the adults in those schools: the teachers, specialists, aides, and administrators who shape students’ daily experiences? Educators spend their days thinking deeply about community, trust, and belonging for their students. Yet when the adults in a school lack those conditions themselves, it negatively affects morale, increases turnover, and makes truly excellent teaching harder to sustain.
Positive Adult Cultures Are Essential
Research consistently shows that a school’s working conditions matter deeply, not just for teachers, but for students as well. A brief from the Learning Policy Institute on teaching and learning conditions found that when schools provide supportive leadership, meaningful collaboration time, and opportunities for shared decision-making, teachers are more likely to stay and improve their practice.
In schools where teachers experience a strong sense of professional community, they’re also more likely to develop collective efficacy, a shared belief in their ability to positively impact students, which research identifies as one of the strongest predictors of school improvement.
Read more about how teaching and learning conditions shape teacher retention, instructional quality, and student outcomes. 👉 “The Importance of Teaching and Learning Conditions”
Belonging Boosts Engagement and Drives Growth
A workplace analysis from Gallup reinforces what many educators already know from experience: when people feel engaged at work, they perform better and are more likely to stay. Gallup’s research highlights the role of recognition, clarity, and strong relationships in reducing burnout and turnover.
In a school context, this means that fostering connection and appreciation among staff isn’t just about morale. It’s about building healthier, more effective learning communities for everyone.
Learn more about how employee engagement shapes productivity, retention, and workplace well-being. 👉 “The Importance of Employee Recognition: Low Cost, High Impact”
What Schools Can Do Starting Now
The research is clear that teacher well-being can’t be addressed through individual resilience alone. In an Edutopia interview, Laurie Santos, host of the podcast The Happiness Lab, explains that burnout is often a signal that something in the system needs attention, whether that’s unrealistic workload expectations, chronic time scarcity, or a lack of control over one’s work.
Rather than relying on reminders to practice self-care, schools can respond by creating structures that protect time, invite teacher voice, and strengthen relationships. One practical step is forming a Culture Committee made up of teachers, specialists, support staff, and administrators who regularly reflect on how school routines, expectations, and norms are affecting adult well-being.
This group can help plan schoolwide cultural events such as community lunches, gratitude boards, spirit days, or informal gatherings that bring people together and remind educators they’re part of something shared. Just as importantly, leaders can build in regular opportunities to ask educators what they need and listen without defensiveness. When well-being is treated as a shared responsibility, schools move away from reactive burnout fixes and toward a more sustainable, human-centered culture.
Learn from Laurie Santos how small shifts in thinking and practice can make a meaningful difference for teachers. 👉 “The Research on Protecting Teacher Well-Being”
Making Feedback Part of the Culture
Another cornerstone of strong adult cultures is how feedback lives inside the school. In healthy environments, feedback isn’t limited to evaluations or formal observations, it’s a part of everyday practice. Colleagues learn by observing one another, reflecting together, and offering specific, respectful insights. Leaders ask for input early, listen carefully, and follow through. Feedback focuses on impact and growth rather than judgment. When feedback feels safe and reciprocal, it becomes a tool for learning instead of a source of anxiety.
What Makes Positive Adult Cultures Work?
Across research and practice, thriving adult cultures share a common foundation: trust. In these schools, leaders involve teachers in meaningful decision-making, collaboration time is protected, feedback is part of daily work, and emotional support and recognition are normalized. Together, these conditions help educators take risks, grow, and stay connected to their work.
This matters even more as educators navigate today’s realities, including the rapid rise of AI, ongoing safety concerns, and the anxiety many carry into the school day. Strong adult cultures help schools adapt and move forward together rather than leaving individuals to carry that weight alone.
What We Can Build Together
Belonging isn’t something a school can create with a single initiative or a poster on the wall. It grows in the small, everyday moments when a colleague takes the time to really listen, when we collaborate on a lesson and share what’s working (and what isn’t), when someone notices you’re struggling and simply asks, “How can I help?” It shows up when feedback is honest but kind, when successes are celebrated, and when adults feel safe being human at work. When educators feel that kind of connection, morale lifts. That sense of belonging doesn’t just support individual classrooms, it spreads, strengthening the school community as a whole. Over time, it creates a place where teachers want to stay, where adults feel valued, and where students naturally experience the same trust, care, and connection we cultivate every day.
Written by Sadie McFarlin,
Communications & Marketing Director at the New England Institute for Teacher Education,
where we believe thoughtful teaching begins with meaningful connection.