Psychological Safety of School Administrators: A Dual Reality.

Abstract

School administrators are often seen as the middle managers who are held accountable not only to their schools and communities but also to their employers. In order to successfully carry out their duties and responsibilities, school administrators must feel psychologically safe to speak up or speak out, ask a difficult question, voice an opinion, express a dissent, talk about a mistake, stand out for a position, or take a risk at work without fear of negative consequences. Psychologically precarious situations can compromise school administrators' ability to think, feel, speak, and act, and ultimately impact their leadership, performance, and commitment to their work. Regrettably, school administrators' psychological safety has been overlooked over the years. This research provides much-needed insights into their psychological safety in navigating this dual reality between schools and districts. The survey research garnered data from public school administrators in British Columbia, Canada, and explored school administrators' perceptions of psychological safety at their schools and districts and its manifestation across different demographics. The multiple logit regression models show that school administrators felt less psychologically safe in their district than at their schools. The research evidence points to the importance of fostering a psychologically safe and healthy work environment in which school administrators feel psychologically safe to say: "The emperor has no clothes".