Current
Issues in Professional Context
(Mindlab - Week
26)
History
Our school is a semi-rural school which is situated 30 kilometres
from the nearest city. It has a rich history, being the oldest school in
continuous use in New Zealand. Next year we will celebrate our 175th
Anniversary. The “we” doesn’t just include the present and past students but
extends to our whanau and wider community, many of whom were also students, or
the parents and grandparents of students at the school. These strong ties
within the community foster a nurturing supportive environment which is evident
within the school and the village in which it sits.
Data
The school is a state-funded contributing primary school. We are
currently rated decile 8. The roll sits at 270, of whom approximately 10% are
Maori, 86% New Zealand European and the remainder a mixture of European,
Pacific and Asian. Although our decile rating appears high I think it has been
artificially generated by the influx of European families into the area over
the last ten years.
Culture
According to Stoll, (2008), a school’s culture is shaped by its
history, context and the people in it. Schools are continuously evolving and
this is evident in our school by its considerable longevity. Our wider community
although physically changed over the last 200 years continues to have strong
links to the rural sector and logging industries and these are contributing
factors to the culture which has developed within our school.
The school community is both static and dynamic. The shared vision
of the staff is to sustain and enrich a culture that promotes human dignity and
continuous improvement based upon mutual respect and genuine partnerships among
students, staff and the community. Within our school the staff are the
central force in creating the stability of the school, whilst at the same time
steering change. It is their shared vision which has steered the school through
a recent period of change and upheaval with the introduction of MLE’s, (Modern
Learning Environments) and a more student-led focus on learning and created a
solid base on which we can continue to evolve.
There aren’t the extremes of
socio-economic status (SES) within the school community although there are a
few families at the lower end of the spectrum. The school and the wider
community support these students and their whanau by ensuring they do not miss
out on any activities offered within the school through financial support from
the school and PTA and on a more practical level with helping to purchase
uniforms, arranging transport and lending sports equipment when needed.
Professional
Environment
The type of teaching culture prevalent within the school is
a mixture of collaborative and contrived collegiality. I work collaboratively
with teaching and support staff, providing support and facilitation in literacy
and information literacy throughout the school where needed but working alone does mean that I have to work hard at
maintaining collegial relationships with good lines of communication and
opportunities for sharing information with fellow staff members. Feedback and
observation has to be actively sought and encouraged. Judith Warren Little
stresses the importance of review and critique which is a result of this type
of collegiality. I recognise that I have some way to go in obtaining this ideal
but some of the ways I could improve on this is by ensuring staff are more aware of ways I can
help facilitate their literacy programmes, perhaps by becoming more involved in
the planning stages and by seeking more feedback.
APA. (2016). Education and Socioeconomic Status.
Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education.aspx
Little, J.W. (1990). The
persistence of privacy: Autonomy and initiative in teachers’
professional relations, Teachers College Record, 91 (4), pp.509–36.
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
TEdEd (2013, Jun 21). Building a
culture of success- Mark Wilson. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_8Bjz-OCD8
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