Week 26
It’s interesting when you get a question to address and you wonder if posting it online will go down well with the leadership team at school…
I had to pose the question of “What is our school philosophy?” to one of our school leaders. While this is a far-reaching question, the intent was to determine our approach on the sports field.
My question was: are we a win-at-all costs team or are we a development team?
Knowing this, determines how I do my job. While there are merits in both (particularly if a marketing aspect of the school is their sporting pedigree), we have to think about the system as a whole. I wish this was an easy answer, but the reality is there’s tension between the two standpoints. And that is just on the sports field! How much more so in the classroom?
With our non-zoned school, students and stakeholders of the school have less identification with the immediate surroundings of the school. This somewhat agrees with Stoll’s (1998) summary of school culture factors. Our students, typically come from higher socio-economic backgrounds - which have their own challenges but are different from the immediate environment surrounding the school. The area around the school has a lower socio-economic background. Consequently, there has been tension and deliberate action was required by our school to prevent a proliferation of negative associations with our school.
Some descriptors that the school may be stuck with:
- Spoilt
- Entitled
- Soft
- Naive
Our students also needed to practice getting alongside people to help and play with younger students - in a way this reduced the negative stereotype but also minimized those negative values that our students can embed. This mutual relationship had to be deliberate because it could not happen otherwise. As many have noted, school culture has to be a deliberate act.
This is all well and good but it needs stakeholder buy-in. The trickiest is probably the staff. While there is an expectation for Excellence, teachers have many responsibilities and it’s easier to take a passive role in the less pushed focuses.
Because let’s face it, doing more work on top of more work doesn’t convince change but being transparent and deliberate about the school culture might.
From the two scenarios, we see that school culture is important. This can often be identified if we ask ourselves how are we viewed and how does it play out? If we don’t like that image of us, what are we going to do about it? What can we try? And if it works, how can we introduce it for the whole school? (Loosely adapted from House, 1974)
#justfoundhowtodomemes #memecity #schoolrep
REFERENCES
House, E.R. (1974). An examination of potential change roles in education. Berkeley, CA: McCutchan. p. 225.
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
Hi Byron, I agree with some elements and disagree with others. Yes, our school is (like most school in the modern marketing environment) concerned about its image. We unashamedly promote our successes and actively work to prevent any negative events occurring to avoid unfavourable publicity. But I don't believe we have a win-at-all costs culture. The Headmaster is renowned for standing students down with no exemptions even in the face of important sports events, and staff are not encouraged or condoned if they play ineligible players in a game. Having said this, there have been special conditions applied to certain sports teams to train and play during the school timetable.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your second point, we are a bubble within a low socioeconomic area where our only interactions were from outsiders trespassing and stealing. But, more recently, we have had a range of interactions with neighbouring schools. The use (free) our sports facility and grounds, students coaching teams, a kidscan appeal and our students reading and playing at the schools.
Yes, a notable number of students want for nothing so do have an air of entitlement, but this is not the school culture. What is valued and exalted by the 'school', both staff and students, is service to others. There has been a shift from passive service (like collecting money for charities) to an active service by which students give of their time and energy to help others. Through this service, they gain so much more from the experience and grow in their empathy and character.