Giving Compass' Take:

•  Amelia Harper, writing for Education Dive, explains why self-care for school principals is important to maintain their ability to deal with education and interpersonal issues that arise in schools.

• How can schools provide more self-care resources for their leaders to succeed? 

• Read about the six biggest struggles for school principals. 

In order to be effective, school leaders need to build their own scaffolds of supports by connecting to other leaders through online platforms and by building personal relationships with peers in their community, Jessica Cabeen, an award-winning middle school principal, advises in an Edutopia article.

School leaders also need to commit to reading materials that give them fresh perspectives on issues and share those perspectives with other teachers and students under their charge.

Activities such as journaling and practicing mindfulness can also help school leaders reflect on situations and decisions, reframe them into opportunities rather than challenges and approach other people in a less stressful and more constructive frame of mind, she writes.

Principals and administrators who fail to maintain a good work-life balance, or at least a proper work-life blending, will often show evidence of this failure physically or in their declining ability to deal with other people. The stress of the job can also cause principals to abandon their posts — to the detriment of students and the school district as a whole.

By finding ways to care for themselves, to find balance in their lives, and to preserve their own sanity, principals will be able to do a better job of responding to all the people and demands they daily face. Learning to deal with this stress also allows school leaders to set an example for teachers, who also need to practice self-care techniques to maintain their own positive approach in the classroom.

Read the full article about why self-care is crucial by Amelia Harper at Education Dive