A person at work

Every educator knows the feeling. You get home after a big day, sit down, and realise you're still carrying the problems of the day with you. You've been home for an hour and you're still at work.

We spend a lot of time talking about how educators should treat students: with warmth, patience and what Carl Rogers called unconditional positive regard. But what we see in our work at Greater Space is that once staff have acted that way for students, they feel as if there isn't a lot left in the tank for their colleagues. It's hard to feel open and generous towards a colleague who has just told you they think you should improve something after spending time with challenging students. If we expect our educators to be open to feedback, we have to help them with the feelings that get in the way.

Part of that is being honest about where those feelings come from. Our reactions at work aren't only about the person in front of us. They're often about how we were brought up: whether the adults around us were consistent, whether we learned to manage other people's emotions before our own, whether rules meant safety or threat. Then we walk into a staffroom, a colleague pushes on exactly that spot, and suddenly we're not sure whose feelings we're having.

Nobody can answer those alone, which is why we think educators deserve somewhere to reflect on their work. When Greater Space practitioners sit with a staff member, they provide a warm, safe and reflective space to work through the issues that get in the way of excellent practice.