My school
I work in a large co-ed secondary school in New Zealand. It is a semi-rural school with an extensive rural/small town catchment. The school is proud of its long history and is notable for having its own farm and for teaching land-based studies. There is a range of socio-economic levels within the school population with some families struggling. The school is ranked as Decile 9 however it has more of a Decile 6-7 feel about it.
Our school values are Respect (Whakautea), Contribute (Tohaina) and Aspire (Wawatahia). These values have been decided with community input and have been incorporated into the historical values and culture of the school. School strengths include positive teacher – student relationships and a popular house system that allows all students to have a sense of belonging. There are provisions to help those in need and a giving, caring staff.
While there is a good deal of collegiality at our school (much laughter and banter in the staff room J), issues that I see include lack of a shared direction to meet our vision and historically poor communication between teaching staff and leadership. Over the last year or so, there has been a lot of work done on the charter and strategic goals of the school. I think this will help focus attention on our shared vision and help us work together, on converging pathways, towards empowering every student to be a life-long learner. There is much work being done to improve cultural responsiveness and student engagement, achievement, transition and retention.
Change
There have been many changes to our school over recent years. Many of these have been initiated by the school to improve student learning & pastoral care. There has been a real sense amongst teaching staff that we start too many initiatives and never see them through. Frustration and time pressures result, with little positive impact.
Significant changes have also been directed by the Ministry. The school has had Governance issues and we have all experienced a lot of uncertainty as a result. The school is currently building a huge new ILE requiring a major pedagogical shift and a significant move towards a 21st Century skills focus. This raised a major communication issue as I see it, as the directive for an ILE seemed to come before de the need to better equip student for the 21st Century.
In terms of a professional environment, there have been times when staff have not been free to voice ideas or challenge decisions. I see this as vital for the health and growth of any institution.
On the way up
Stoll & Fink (1996) (as cited in Stoll, 1998) describe 10 ‘norms’ of improving schools (shared goals, responsibility for success, collegiality, continuous improvement, life-long learning, risk taking, support, mutual respect, openness, celebration & humour). I think our school is moving forward, to a greater or lesser extent, in all of these aspects. This would probably put us in the ‘strolling’ to ‘moving’ category of Stoll & Fink’s model.
I think we are getting better at developing a healthy professional environment and positive school culture. Teaching demands us to be ever looking for ways to improve the quality education for all students. Gargiulo’s research (2014) into students in poverty highlights many ways schools can improve learning for these disadvantaged students and the positive impact this can have on their lives. Our school implements some of the practices described by Gargiulo (e.g. PB4L, trades academies/courses, form teachers staying with their class throughout their schooling) but there is much more we can all do (e.g. continually work to develop better relationships with students & their whanau).
It is worth watching Mark Wilson’s TEDEd talk on how vision, unity, and empowerment lead to success. Our school is on its way with a strong vision statement. We all probably need to reflect on this often. Personally, one of my goals this year is to empower my students more.
I have enjoyed the readings on school culture. It has caused me to take a step back and reflect on the environment we are all helping (consciously or inadvertently) to create.
References:
Gargiulo, S. (2014). Principal sabbatical report. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leadership-development/Professional-information/Principals-sabbatical-reports/Report-archives-for-2007-2014/Secondary-award-recipients-2014/Gargiulo-Salvatore
Stoll. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture
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