Psychological Safety at Learning Prep; Pat Pingeton, Admissions

Hello Learning Prep Community - for those who have not yet met me, I’m Pat Pingeton. Since September, I’ve been filling in for Korina Martin, our stellar Director of Admissions, who recently welcomed a new child to her family in September. I arrived at Learning Prep after seven years of teaching English in a trauma-informed alternative high school in Amesbury. Last year, I completed a full-time Master’s program at Harvard University in Educational Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship. As this is my last week in this role, I have found myself reflecting on what I will take away from this experience.

During the last four months working in admissions at Learning Prep, I’ve been struck by the dedication of every member of the LPS community: students who leave their homes at all hours of the morning to attend, every staff member who shows up with a smile on their face ready to support young people, and parents and guardians who often take on what amounts to a second full-time job in order to ensure that their children receive and are able to attend a placement at a Chapter 766 school.

It is my sincere belief that what truly makes Learning Prep special is the culture of psychological safety that exists for students and staff. The concept of psychological safety, popularized by Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson in 1998, was initially studied in workplaces and is defined as “a climate in which people are comfortable being and expressing themselves.” Simply put, workplaces that make their employees feel like they belong and can take risks have healthier cultures and produce more - one recent study of more than 36,000 employees’ reports of their perceptions of psychological safety found that companies where employees felt psychologically safe brought in an average of $4.3 million more per year in revenue compared to organizations where it is not present. Tech giants like Google are taking notice and recently found that the single most important factor common among all their most effective teams was psychological safety. 

Much like adults in a workplace, young people who do not feel like they can bring their authentic selves to school and take risks do not learn as well as those who do. Schools with robust cultures of psychological safety allow students and staff to engage in honest, healthy dialogues in order to learn from each other and grow. Students and staff are able to bring their unique lived experiences and identities into schools without the fear or alienation or scorn. I cannot do justice to how much of an honor and point of pride it has been to be a part of the admissions process here; being a part of helping students and families through what can be a complicated and stressful endeavor to the safe harbor of a psychologically safe environment here at Learning Prep has been a tremendous honor. There are many things that make Learning Prep special, but I will always cherish the safe and enriching environment that Learning Prep’s culture of psychological safety creates for students.