Week 26 St Francis of Assisi School Community of Practice-Applied Practice in Context Post #2
In order to discuss the values and and principles that underpin my practice within this community I feel the need to describe the context a little more fully in this post.
Stoll (2000) states that a school’s culture is shaped by its history, context and the people in it and that a school's age can impact cultural change.
I am the principal of a new school that opened its doors to students on 4 February 2016 - this year! At the time of writing this we have been open for fifteen weeks. Our school opened after the closure of two schools - St Paul's, Dallington and Our Lady of Fatima, Mairehau.
Our school is new, however it is also a merger of two school communities who both bring with them history of their own contexts. We have staff from both schools, staff from other schools and a contingent of beginning teachers , we have large groups of students from both schools and a few new students as well and we also have two parent communities. These will all have their own impact on cultural change as we move forward together.
What is the organisational culture (collective values/principles) that underpins your practice?
Building relationships, continuous improvement, mutual respect and collaboration are the principles that underpin my practice. As a senior leadership team (SLT) we want to create a culture where all teaching professionals feel supported to take risks and where everyone is focused on shared goals and where everyone takes responsibility for the success of all.
In her Ted Talk Teachers Create what they Experience Katie Martin (2016) talks about the things that leaders need to do to create a shift towards a culture of innovation and for the community to be able to understand what the desired teaching and learning looks like. The building of a shared vision is paramount, teachers need to opportunity to learn and the opportunity to take risks and to be able to perceive learning as a process not an event, teachers also need have opportunity for coaching and rich feedback from their peers, and lastly the chance to work collaboratively with their peers.
How are we as an SLT contributing to fostering a positive professional environment in your community of practice?
- we model collaboration by working together in a shared space on shared projects
- we release teaching teams for collaborative discussions in contact time
- we work hard to show staff they are supported and and that their efforts are valued
- we provide regular professional development opportunities and we are working on delivering PD in different ways
- we are organising visits to other schools so that teachers can see collaboration working in other contexts
Essentially we are trying to provide as much support as we can when we can.
What are the current issues in your community of practice? How would your community of practice address them?
One of the issues in our community of practice is that of building a shared vision that everyone owns and buys into. We are just in a phase of moving from having an establishment Board to electing our first Board of Trustees and this will be one of the first and most important projects they will have to be a part of once they have been voted in.
We need to canvas all stakeholders and find out what it is they want for our students. We need to use many different techniques to ensure we offer many different ways of people engaging in this process. e.g.
- run a What if exercise with all stakeholders.
- Survey the stakeholders
- Blog and use Padlet for an interactive response
- World Cafe
- Focus Groups
The SLT will need to work with the Board and the staff to produce an action plan so that we end up with a vision that serves our whole school community. I am looking forward to having a shared vision that all stakeholders feel they have had a part in creating and that they share a collective responsibility in striving to achieve it.
References
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
Martin, K. (2016). Teachers Create What They Experience [Video] TEDxElCajonSalon
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcDpDPwRxvU&sns=tw
Hi Jo,
ReplyDeleteAn interesting read - great to read that you as a principal value building relationships, continuous improvement, mutual respect and collaboration. These are values I believe are important to practise and when they are built into a school you have developed a school culture that is positive and can be felt by the whole community. I'm sure your SLT and BoT will develop a plan with a clear vision and one that has shared ownership with your stakeholders.
You are in an exciting phase - building the vision takes time as does establishing relationships but as you well know time well spent.The fact that you can hang everything off the vision gives power and direction.
ReplyDeleteI think relationships are the most important things-without relationships you have no connection,trust and no ownerships.
Thanks for sharing-I enjoy reading your posts you are a great role model.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteA very interesting read indeed. You sure are in a very exciting and powerful phase where one can lead the way to build vision and establish culture of a new school. I feel that emphasis on teacher development is paramount and the opportunities you are providing to your teachers will definitely pay dividends. Further building positive relationships with all stakeholders will cement the values and principles which will determine the direction your school will take. Your strategies and the pathway taken to develop the school vision/culture will definitely support innovative and authentic teaching learning. Congratulations and thank you for sharing your views.