Current, but common, issues in my professional context.

Our school is about 98 years old but it’s still growing and changing. In my opinion, our school is in its midlife development period (Stein (1985), cited in Stoll, 1998, p.9). I have experienced change from the time I started, with the principal, having started just a year ahead of me, being new as well. Nine years later, the latest changes include shifting into our new purpose built ILE, as well as adapting to a new principal with all the changes/improvements he plans to facilitate.

We were not impressed with the narrow focus on Reading, Writing and Mathematics created by National Standards. In spite of this, we still focus on educating the whole child. We teach an integrated curriculum to contextualize our teaching. Our children, climb trees (in spite of the latest Health and Safety Rules), play sport, music, act in plays, ride bikes and ramps at school and are exposed to activities to develop their maturity and confidence.

A handful of parents has their own ideas on what should be taught in schools. To remedy this, we try various ways to keep parents informed of what happens in the classroom. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to explain to a parent why we do maths the way we do when he sat in on a lesson I modeled for parents on one of the Parent and Grandparent days we hosted. We also started using blogs, which was not as successful. Our latest strategy is using Yammer, a social media website where we hope to build on our sense of community.

We are also competing with intermediate schools to keep our year 6 students with us until year 8. This is an ongoing process which is reviewed regularly. Making use of specialist teachers in Science, Music, Art and PE, appropriate use of ICT and providing a caring environment is a strength. We are lucky to have a special group of Year 7 & 8 teachers. The culture of care and emotional displays are common, especially at Year 8 Final Assemblies. According to Stoll, 1998, this sense of family is typical of Primary Schools (P.10).

A small number of parents have also taken their children elsewhere in anticipation of us moving into our ILE’s this year. We’ve managed this process by keeping the parents informed through parent meetings and inviting them into our classrooms, by acknowledging their concerns and through our commitment to keep their children safe. We have also shared the research and motivation for the change through community meetings and through daily contact with parents. The message was: We are also scared, but it is the right way to go and we are up for the challenge!

We are also competing with intermediate schools to keep our year 6 students with us until year 8. This is an ongoing process which is reviewed regularly. Making use of specialist teachers in Science, Music, Art and PE, appropriate use of ICT and providing a caring environment is a strength. We are lucky to have a special group of Year 7 & 8 teachers. The culture of care and emotional displays are common, especially at Year 8 Final Assemblies. According to Stoll, 1998, this sense of family is typical of Primary Schools (P.10).

Most of the norms listed in Stoll and Finch’s list, such as shared goals and responsibility for success, are embedded in our school. We are a happy, supportive group but most of us still find robust reviews and critique difficult and are perhaps not as open as we could be. Therefore, with reference to Judith Warren Little (1990), cited in Stoll, 1998, who states that collegiality creates greater readiness for reviews and critiques, we have room for improvement to be truly collegial.

Reference:

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