You all know the feeling. You visit a school where you have applied to teach, and as you walk through the main door you are struck by the bright, welcoming posters in different languages and the helpful smile of the receptionist. Children are moving to their next lesson purposefully, and there is an atmosphere of focused energy.

 

The next day, you go for an interview in a second school. There is a barrier in the corridor leading up to the headteacher's room, a tired-looking staff photo on the wall, and a teacher rushes past shouting at the child who is struggling with the door. Within moments you have formed a distinct and hard-to-shake sense of what each school 'feels' like, and what it might be like to work there.

This phenomenon, sometimes known as 'school climate', may be more important than we realise. To understand it better, Teacher Support Network is sponsoring a three-year research project, in collaboration with Birkbeck College, London, and the Economic, Social and Research Council. We want to know how headteachers can change their school climate, and what effect this has on teacher wellbeing.