3 Types of Boundaries For Teachers Working Flexibly in Education
As teachers, we set boundaries all the time. We communicate to students what is and is not okay in our classrooms, then we give them support to act accordingly. When you start working flexibly in education, there are a few types of boundaries for teachers that you’ll want to set right away.
Boundaries are vital in all areas of our lives. Setting boundaries helps us to live in line with our values and dreams while protecting our peace. There are six different types of boundaries that you might need to set at different points of your life.
When transitioning to working flexibly in education, you likely will find yourself with a lot more control over your day-to-day life than you had as a teacher. Setting strong professional boundaries from the beginning can help you to set up a sustainable and joyful work life.
These three types of boundaries are especially important to consider as you build a professional life that works for you.
3 Types of Boundaries For Teachers Working Outside The Classroom
Teacher boundaries don’t stop when you leave the classroom. In fact, setting boundaries may be even more important when you start working for yourself or running your own business. Explore these professional boundaries for teachers working outside the classroom.
Time Boundaries
Time boundaries are one of the most important types of boundaries for teachers working in flexible roles. When working flexibly, your work can begin to take over your life. As teachers, we’re used to this. But when we’re creating more sustainable lives beyond the classroom, we need to be intentional about how much we want to work and when we want to work.
Consider your ideal schedule. When would you start work? When would you stop work? There’s no right or wrong answer here and your desires might change as you go through different phases of your life.
Let’s say you don’t want to work after 3 PM or on the weekends. After setting your ideal schedule, communicate it to the people you work with. Block off your calendar and don’t take meetings after 3 PM. Make it clear to the people you work with that you won’t be checking or responding to emails after 3 PM or on the weekends.
Then— this is sometimes the hardest part of all— implement your professional boundaries. Truly step away from your work at 3 PM. Turn off your computer, stop answering the phone… whatever you need to do to make sure you don’t start encroaching on the boundaries you set.
Emotional Boundaries
You give your heart to your work, but you also need to protect your peace. Just like teaching, many education jobs beyond the classroom are full of emotional commitment. How can we care about the work that we’re doing, but not let it drain us? Boundaries! When you set emotional boundaries, you get to put parameters on your emotional involvement.
For example, if you are leading coaching sessions for burnt-out teachers, you want to be able to fully empathize with and support them. But you might not want to carry these teachers’ struggles and trauma too far into your own life.
You can set emotional boundaries by being fully present with the teachers you work with, then intentionally trying to leave their struggles within the container you do your work in. For example, when you step out of your office or log off a virtual coaching session, spend some time releasing the feelings you experienced during the session.
Emotional boundaries are one of the most important types of boundaries for teachers because they also include how much you share about your own life. You get to decide how vulnerable and open you’d like to be with the people you work with. If you work with new teachers, you might decide to share the challenges you experienced as a beginning teacher. Maybe there are some parts of your struggle that feel too personal for you to share comfortably and that you’d rather keep private. That’s okay too!
Set boundaries by considering how much you will share about yourself. By gaining clarity of what you will and will not share, you prevent having awkward moments where you’re deciding what feels like the right move.
Intellectual Boundaries
What ideas and conversations do you want to be a part of? What ideas do you not want to be a part of? For example, maybe you want to lead conversations on teacher wellbeing, but do not want to participate in any conversations involving teacher shaming. Set those boundaries!
If you’re in a conversation where someone mentions teacher shaming, you can say, “I believe that teachers should not be blamed for these problems. I will not participate in conversations that encourage teacher shaming.”
Intellectual boundaries are one of the best types of boundaries to set if you’re committed to working with individuals and organizations that align with your values. When you have strong intellectual boundaries, you protect and stand up for your values. This doesn’t mean that you won’t listen to other people’s opinions. It means that you are assertive about the viewpoints and actions that you will not tolerate (just like you likely were in the classroom).
Intellectual boundaries also include the ways in which you expect others to treat you. For example, you might have the desire to keep conversations respectful. If people don’t treat you with the respect you want, you can assert your boundary by saying things like, “I would love to talk more about this with you, but let’s do that when we are able to come at this topic calmly and with compassion.”
Explore More Boundaries for Teachers
By having clear boundaries, we can create the next chapter of our careers in a way that feels purposeful and sustainable. As you explore work beyond the classroom, make sure that your boundaries are taking care of you and setting you up for success.
Want to learn more about boundaries? Check out the great book Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab.
And if you’re ready for more support as you build a flexible career in education, join our Beyond The Classroom program to get started on the next phase of your career.