People Management in Schools: Practical Strategies Headteachers Use to Create Supportive and Respectful Working Environments for Teachers.

Headteachers who overlook the importance of teachers’ professional expertise and contributions can negatively affect teachers’ occupational well-being, by increasing the risk of attrition, and breaking an element of the UK Headteachers’ Standards (Department for Education, 2020). These challenges may often stem from ineffective people management, particularly the failure to nurture a working environment in which teachers feel valued and respected. Although existing literature acknowledges these issues, there remains a gap in research concerning the practical, day-to-day strategies local UK headteachers as people managers could employ to foster such environments. To address this gap, this study investigated the following research question: “As people managers, how could headteachers nurture a working environment where staff feel valued and respected?”Using Microsoft TEAMs and the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc) Online survey platform, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with six headteachers from two underrepresented regions in England—namely the Midlands and Yorkshire—which are seldom explored in existing research literature relevant to this study. Additionally, four more headteachers contributed through an online qualitative survey. Purposeful convenient or opportunity sampling was used to select interviewees, and a snowball strategy was used to attract survey participants. The NVivo software was used to analyse the data. Both Universities involved granted ethical approval.The findings revealed that, as a key aspect of people management, selected local UK headteachers fostered a working environment in which teachers feel valued and respected by engaging in a range of supportive practices. These include supporting teachers’ personal and professional welfare, treating the process as a moral responsibility and high priority, being mindful of their time and emotional well-being, offering meaningful recognition and rewards, communicating effectively, motivating staff, treating teachers as professionals, enabling teacher voice, providing leadership opportunities, and promoting collaboration. While these findings are not new, they contribute to the literature by validating and extending knowledge within a new geographical context—Midlands and Yorkshire, England. Although well-documented in broader educational discussions, applying previous findings to a localised setting provide valuable evidence of how national and international occurrences manifest in regions often overlooked by the literature.