Creating Compassionate Change in School Communities: Leading Together to Address Everyday Suffering in Schools

Addressing everyday suffering in schools through compassion

Schools are sites of suffering for many students, their families, and educators. While many books focus on what teachers and mental health experts can do as individuals, Creating Compassionate Change in School Communities focuses on how educators can lead together to cultivate caring and inclusive school environments. District leaders, principals, superintendents, and teacher leaders are an important part of the process as we strive to create more compassionate, dignity-affirming schools. This book will inspire you to make compassion the focal point for your leadership practice and to find strength in leading with others in your school community, offering concrete evidence and case studies that showcase compassion's power to create flourishing school communities and rejuvenate education. To improve the wellbeing and ensure the success of the next generation, we need to better serve our K-12 students with school cultures that promote healing.

• Engage in hands-on writing exercises and reflection questions for influencing school policies and climate
• Access practices and strategies you can implement to bring compassion to the forefront of school culture
• Establish or deepen a daily compassion meditation practice to support you in gaining insight into the everyday suffering in your school and in cultivating an attitude of compassion
• Learn from stories and examples of K-12 educators who have exemplified compassion in action
• Gain perspective on compassion in schools through a multidisciplinary lens drawing from contemplative practices, psychology, and organizational change theory

School culture is driven by district and school leaders, but there are many others whose influence can support students' long-term thriving. Creating Compassionate Change in School Communities offers a valuable approach to integrating wellness into schools, as much for principals and superintendents as for teacher leaders, librarians, counselors, resource specialists, and others who work to create the conditions for compassion and dignity in their school.