Even the best intentions can run aground…

Ethics Over Tactics

A quick reflection on school administrator directives.

Having now spent two full decades at work teaching kids (with a spot of administration thrown in for good measure), here’s a thing that I’ve noticed: When administrators give directives, they are much more successful when they focus on the ethics of teaching kids than the tactics of how to do it.

An illustrative example

Here’s a completely hypothetical example¹. An administrator notices that there is not as much of an adult presence in the hallways of their school as they might like. There are a variety of thoughts that an administrator might think on this topic:

• Why aren’t teachers more present in the halls?
• Wouldn’t it be helpful if more teachers were present in the hallways?
• Aren’t there benefits to having teachers interacting with, and inviting students into their classes as they enter?
• How does this factor in to our school priorities on student well-being?
• Should I/we address this issue?

Two possible frames for action

Assuming the administrator does decide to address the issue, it will likely be in some form of directive to the staff². Does the…