Professional Context

Current issues in my professional context:
socioeconomic factors, school culture and professional environments.

Socio-economic factors of the school community
The school I currently work in is an Intermediate school, with a role of 670 students.  The most obvious indicator of socio-economic factors is its decile rating, which is 7.   

The Education Review website states that "Deciles are a measure of the socio-economic position of a school's student community relative to other schools throughout the country."  

However, ERO warns against making assumptions based on the decile rating of a school.
"A school's decile does not indicate the overall socio-economic mix of the school or reflect the quality of education the school provides."

Our school differs from other similar sized Intermediate schools with a similar decile rating due to the large, semi-rural zone encompassing our school.  There are seven primary schools that feed into our Intermediate, and the semi-rural nature of our environment means that nearly half of our student population transports to and from school on a bus.  For some, this means an early start and a longer day than in comparable city schools.  For many students and their families, the transition from a small, semi-rural, primary school to a larger intermediate is a significant one.

Our principal is aware of the need to build relationships with whanau and assist families with this transition process.  To address this, our leadership team are currently identifying ways of changing our usual parent evenings at the beginning of each year to better meet the needs of new families to the school.  The whole student population of an intermediate school turns over every two years, making it more difficult to build connections between home and school and more important for us to make new families feel welcome each year.

School Culture

The culture the school is striving for is highlighted in the school values of RISE (respect,  integrity, self-management, empathy), and WISE (wonder, inquire, self-reflect, engage).  The use of restorative practice contributes to this culture.  The most recently published ERO report confirms this.  RISE and WISE awards (certificates and wristbands) are awarded each week in a whole school assembly, and are embedded in the inquiry part of the curriculum.  The school is organised into syndicates of 3 or 4 classes, and driven by "the timetable".  The organisation of syndicates assists in addressing the issue of belonging for our students.  Students identify with their syndicate theme and colour, and syndicates work together to operate as small schools within the larger school context.

Professional environments

The culture of the professional environment is collaborative, using the definition provided by Louise Stoll's (1998) work 'School Culture'.  There is a high trust model of leadership, enabling teachers to choose to work together; sharing ideas, planning and resources; and sometimes team teaching.  These relationships are not forced, but are allowed to form from within and often happen spontaneously within syndicate groupings.  When using Stoll and Fink's (1996) 'Norms of Improving Schools' (see below) as a guide to evaluate school culture, most of these norms are evident in the culture of our school.  The most significant issue inhibiting these norms is the difficulty in bringing a large staff together.  While, as a school staff, we meet the criteria addressed in most of these norms, there is some discrepancy between staff members.  Within my current syndicate, all of these norms evident in the way teachers interact.  This provides a platform of support for all of us.

"When people have purpose, and you give them autonomy, they'll work towards mastery."

(Building a culture of success, Mark Wilson, TedEd)