Continuation from yesterday's ramblings.....

I am a firm believer of the thought that we should never let our problems stop us from making the right decision. My observations from yesterday afternoon’s teacher staff meeting highlighted to me that this is a frame of mind that’s not held by many of the staff at the school - and that is my honest point of view. Here's my take on the outcomes of the discussion from yesterday's meeting:

Q: (Principal) What is the data telling us about our school as a 'healthy' environment for staff and students.
A: (Some teachers) The major areas of conerns for the students of this school are student safety and self esteem. For teachers, the major concerns are in the areas of motivation (individual and school morale), role clarity, professional interaction, goal congruence, effective discipline policy, student motivation, student / class misbehaviour.

Q: Can we address some of the issues (identified in the survey) or are they too great and beyond our control? If yes, how? If no, what next?
A: No response.

Q: Can we transform this school into a place where students are motivated and well behaved and where staff enjoy coming to school?
A: No response.

Yup. To my amazement, the last two questions did not get any definitive 'no's or 'yes's. Just a lot of eyes gazing around the room, and a group of around 20 teachers who seemed to be reluctant to say a word, lest they get their heads chopped off for having an opinion.
Sensing the tension in the room, I kept my opinions to myself, wary of being labelled as the 'smart-alec-thinks-she-knows-it-all' student-teacher. hehehe. :-)

But, thanks to blogger.com and freedom of speech, this is my opportunity to vent. :-)

My understanding is that these teachers are reluctant to speak up because they don't want to acknowledge that perhaps their approach to education and teaching doesn't work. They spent a good 30 mins questioning the validity of the data (which is fair enough), but if the data this year is no different from the results of the past 5 years, then gee whiz, why is it so hard to take a hint that maybe, it just may be, that something is not quite right in this school. Helloooooo!!?!?

When teachers were asked to expand/explain/elaborate on their understanding of the 'major issues' highlighted by the survey results, some had the audacity to make comments along the lines of:
"The smart students are better off in another academic school; at least they'll be able to get an education there. "
"You have to consider the socio economic background of these kids. That explains why they are the way they are."

I find these types of comments are disappointing, coming from teachers, who are supposed to lead and act as role models to these students. To what degree does a student's socio-economic background determine their ability to succeed in school? It's naive for me to say that it doesn't, influence a student's direction in life, but I've also seen and experienced the truth that your
ability to be a successful student is not dictated entirely by your socio-economic background or upbringing. As William Rogers puts it, discipline and classroom management is probably the most taxing part of a teacher's role. Make no mistake about it; a teacher's job is not merely teaching content (literacy, numeracy, science, art, I.T...etc), it is managing a group of disparate individuals so that learning can actually take place. The better part of a teacher's job is to lead, guide, direct and enable students so to govern their behaviour that each student can cope with, even enjoy, their life in that social mix called school.

If there is lack of discipline in the classroom, whose fault is it? Who is responsible for ensuring there's no annoying, aggravating or hostile disruptions? Most of you would say it's the teacher's right?

My honest point of view (and yes, I'm being really honest here) - is that the teachers at this school don't speak up in these meetings, and don't want to face up to the hard truth of the facts of the figures, because they are afraid that it may be a reflection of their ability or (lack of) to manage a classroom.

Anyway, if I were to answer the question, 'Can we improve this school ....', my response would be, of course, 'Yes'. I believe every problem is solvable. I don't know how to solve every problem personally, but that doesn't mean every problem is unsolvable. It just means I haven't found the right person to help me; I haven't worked hard enough on it; I haven't thought it through, or I need to bring some resources to help me solve it. Every problem is solvable.
If this school is going to make progress, they need to get the right mind set to begin with.

If Mr. Principal were reading this blog entry, I would say to him ;-)

"Mr.Principal, I suggest you take the following steps for process improvement:
1. Define your school's problems clearly on paper.
2. Organise to divde and conquer your problems.
3. List all the possible courses of action.
4. Choose the best course of action and get going.

Success in solving the school's problems is more related to the people invovled than the problems themselves. The school may not choose problems that it's students come with, but they (the teachers) can choose their responses. It's all about teachers getting the right perspectives, Mr. Principal."

Sweet.

Day 11 - It all begins with the first step....

For those of you who have been following my entries on this blog, you'd be fully aware by now that the school I'm doing my placement at has more than it's fair share of challenges.

Well, I've just arrived home from today's Monday Staff Meeting, where the Principal delivered the results of school survey recently conducted and indicated that the results were, frankly, 'not acceptable'. He indicated that the results of the survey (taken from feedback by parents, teachers and students), were indicative of a school that just not conducive for teachers to work in, nor was it an ideal place for learning. He indicated that he didn't want the meeting to be depressing in nature (although, with all the long faces in the staff room, clearly it was), but his point was that clearly, the school cannot continue to function as it is, unless some drastic changes are made.

After the few awkward moments of silence concluding the Principal's presentation had passed, the principal asked us all to go home and think about the following questions, with responses ready for tomorrow's meeting:

• Can we address some of the issues (identified in the survey) or are they too great and beyond our control? If yes, how? If no, what next?
• Can we transform this school into a place where students are motivated and well behaved and where staff enjoy coming to school?
• Can we develop pride in our school? If so, how?
• What do you see as your role/responsibility in helping to bring about change?
• What is the school's short and long term future?

My two cents on all of this?

There is not one simple, single strategy that can change a school like this. For starters, I think there needs to be a lot of work done together as a team to establish the 'vision', 'values' or 'ethos' of the school. (I don't actually think it has one? If it has, I haven't seen it! ) I think setting values / vision for the school is a good start as it will give it direction. Any decisions that need to be made can be measured up against the values/vision, and if it's not aligned to the values/vision statement, then it's contrary to it, therefore should not be pursued. (Simplistic thinking, but that's basically the gist of it!) Further, I think that a truly effective school will begin to eventuate only if those values are embraced and are lived out and are seen as foundational to everything.

Anyone who's ever worked for the 'big blue' will hear, see or be confronted by the "IBM Values" at least once a day. If it's not in the poster in the tea room, it's plastered on the Intranet sites, or in weekly email updates from the company leaders. In other words, in a company like IBM, values are not just abstract - they are articulated and put into concrete form - to help it 'sink into' the minds of its employees. It not only cements the values in the minds of employees, but also adds a level of accountability. Thus, as IBM'ers go about their daily decisions, the expectation is that they measure their choices against these values. :-)

At the end of the day, I think that values are more than just words. It really is about a culture; and it's all about people.

Don't you wonder how or why a school like this, which has been around for at least 20 years, has gotten to the stage where it's at today? I know I do. I've asked some teachers. Some blame it on the student's parents (for the lack of discipline in the home). Some blame it on the Kennett Government (for abolishing 'Technical Colleges' and converting all high schools to 'Secondary Schools'). Some teachers just blame it on the students (which is naturally tempting as you can imagine :-)

Anyway, playing the blame-game is futile. I think teachers at this school need to start collaborating. I've noticed about the teaching profession is that it is largely autonomous. And it's quite easy for teachers to get bogged in their own mire of classroom problems. They try to put out fires in each lesson, hoping to fix behavioural problems on their own strength. (Maybe some teachers want to feel that they can deal with the 'rough' classes by themselves - to admit struggle or defeat is seen as a sign of weakness in the profession???) But that's just like putting a band-aid solution on something that needs surgery.

It'll be interesting to see what the outcomes of tomorrow's meeting will be. Despite the gloomy expressions of the majority of teachers in today's meeting, I actually think it's an exciting time for the school, as it goes about trying to set up a framework for improving the school as a whole.

In the mean time, I've googled for some articles for me to read up on, which I'm including it here for my own personal reference.

I'm sure you'll only click on these links if you want to catch a few zzzzzz's or need a serious diversion from your work! ;-)

Turning Around Low-Performing Schools (American Publication)

Values Learnt in Schools (The Age News Article)

Troubled Students Crying Out For A Serving of Leadership (The Age News Article)

School Improvement Framework (ACT Gov't publication)