Taking Care of Staff, Takes Care of Students

In the desire to make education spaces student-centered, the needs of teachers, coaches, paraprofessionals, custodians, administrators, and many other adults are often overlooked.

A school building is not only a place for student learning, but also a workplace for adults with their own needs, concerns, and daily challenges. As K12 architects and designers, we balance the focus to equitably take care of staff as well because taking care of staff, ultimately takes care of students.

Evolved Perspectives of the Profession

Teaching is a long-standing profession that provides meaningful opportunities to build community and make a lasting impact on future generations; reasons why many people get into teaching in the first place.

Despite the positive outlook many have of teaching early on, we’ve seen an increase in the number of teachers leaving the profession and fewer students enrolling in teacher prep courses. The reason, according to a June 2022¹ report by Rand on teacher well-being, “is the context in which they are teaching that is stressful rather than teaching itself.” One teacher put it this way:

“It has nothing to do with the teaching. I love being in the classroom. I love being with my students, but it has been an exhausting experience.”

The current environment teachers are experiencing is drastically impacting their view of the profession, how long they stay, and how excited they are to continue doing the work. When they reach the stage of burnout where they consider leaving the profession, the reasons for leaving seem to fall into four categories: 1) High levels of burnout and stress, 2) Economic factors, 3) Increased demands on teachers, and 4) Poor working conditions.

Feeling the Burn

When staff needs are overlooked, stress increases, leading to a sharp decline in mental health and an increase in burnout and teacher turnover; none of which helps students to grow or thrive. In fact, research has found that “teacher burnout is predictive of student academic outcomes, including being correlated with lower levels of student-effective learning and motivation.”² When a teacher isn’t motivated to teach, students aren’t motivated to learn.

The role of the building is more important than ever, and teachers are speaking up about the impact of their surroundings. A 2022 report by Corgan,³ found that surveyed teachers increasingly found “the design of the classroom to be important for their ability to be a good teacher, rising from 38% in 2019 to 71% in 2022 — a marked 33% difference.”

How Can Better Buildings Build Better Teachers?

While a building cannot solve every challenge teachers face today, a better-built environment can help remove many of the day-to-day obstacles standing in the way of happy, productive, and meaningful careers. As architects and designers, we are dedicated to improving the environments that uphold teaching and learning. Our goal is to ensure teachers feel heard, valued, safe, and well-supported within their schools — having the tools they need to be the inspired leaders their students need.

The benefits of spaces designed with both staff and students in mind can not only help teachers be good teachers, but can also lead to increased job satisfaction, improved health and

 well-being, increased morale, reduced absenteeism, and higher levels of overall well-being.⁴

There are also documented economic impacts for the district and community. When staff feel their needs are being met, there is less teacher turnover and more incentive to stay as part of an engaged and thriving community. All of this leads to better student outcomes and happier teachers.

What does a CARE-ing space look like?

A school facility focused on teacher needs and addresses the concerns mentioned earlier that impact teacher retention and recruitment, starts with space that focuses on CARE:

Conditions that are clean, whole (not broken), and safe | In order to thrive we must first meet our basic needs. In a school building this means making sure buildings are in good physical condition, address safety and security concerns, and have necessary supports, such as whiteboards and plenty of outlets to teach and learn in the 21st century. Are there existing building conditions that are impacting the ability of your staff to do their job?

Audience-centered environments | Everyone who walks into a space has different needs. Some needs are universal between staff and students, some are student-specific, and others are staff-specific. Consider how the needs of staff change based on their age, gender, or tenure in the profession. Staff who speak all day may suffer from vocal strain, or if they are standing, foot fatigue. What “symptoms” become apparent when time is regularly spent in a poorly designed space?

Relief from stressors | Teaching is a highly empathetic profession, and because of the amount of physical, emotional, and mental stress, there is a higher likelihood of burnout. According to a 2023 report on teacher well-being by Rand,⁵ teachers’ top-ranked source of job-related stress was managing student behavior. How can the building provide relief from the day-to-day worries and stressors so that the impacts aren’t felt by educators or those they interact with?

Excitement for occupants | Staff and students should be excited to come to school. With rising teacher turnover and pipeline challenges, it’s more important than ever that the space in which they do their work excites them as much as the work they are doing. As it turns out, when you lean into what keeps them coming back, and addressing the items above, you also serve their need for excitement. What sort of space would make staff excited to do their job?

The chart below outlines some of the most common staff concerns we’ve heard and opportunities for how the built environment can make an impact through the principles of CARE.

Valuing Self-CARE

Centering the building around the principles of CARE is what allows teachers to put on their own oxygen mask first; self-care that prepares them to take care of others. When designed to be supportive and uplifting spaces, without  disconnection and dysfunction, your district gains a stronger foundation to support a proud and productive workplace, an inspired learning environment, and ultimately leading to future-ready students.