Activity 2: Current issues in my professional context
My school community including socioeconomic factors.
My school was established in 2005 following on from a District Network Review merging five 1 and 2 teacher schools merged into one school with an additional site in another location. The two sites are approximately 18 kilometres apart. Thus, joining 7 small distinct communities into one school. Feeling all cohorts are part of our community is a focus of the strategic plan. In addition, the one morgan (Wilson, 2013) approach resonated me one as focus is one school on two sites. This challenge still needs to continue to be a focus at my school. As my school is a decile 5, the school has students from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Other than census data, the school doesn’t hold any specific statistical data other than knowing all the families within the school community. At my school some correlations concur with the American Psychological Association (2016) statements linking educational achievement and socioeconomic status. However, using Gargiulo (2014) sabbatical report, I could relate to elements of the report that my school have actioned, such as having fruit in school and milk for learners, having flexible rolling 3-way learning conferences and implementing PB4L. Having food means that learners are able to concentrate without being hungry. In addition, having flexibility in learning meetings provides whanau with more time with teachers and a place that they feel comfortable with. In contrast, despite having a shared understanding of PB4L and clear expectations, not all staff are implementing this effectively. In order to continue to support learners, this is an area that we as a school need to collectively focus on. Using tuakana teina, senior tamariki taught waiata, and tikanga to our junior learners providing opportunities for all to achieve success in authentic contexts. Unlike, Gargiulo (2014) my school uses a mixed ability group approach and uses multi-modal sites to engage learners in areas of their interest. After reading Gargiulo (2014), I am interested in focusing on how my school could use mentoring training to support senior students.
My school was established in 2005 following on from a District Network Review merging five 1 and 2 teacher schools merged into one school with an additional site in another location. The two sites are approximately 18 kilometres apart. Thus, joining 7 small distinct communities into one school. Feeling all cohorts are part of our community is a focus of the strategic plan. In addition, the one morgan (Wilson, 2013) approach resonated me one as focus is one school on two sites. This challenge still needs to continue to be a focus at my school. As my school is a decile 5, the school has students from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Other than census data, the school doesn’t hold any specific statistical data other than knowing all the families within the school community. At my school some correlations concur with the American Psychological Association (2016) statements linking educational achievement and socioeconomic status. However, using Gargiulo (2014) sabbatical report, I could relate to elements of the report that my school have actioned, such as having fruit in school and milk for learners, having flexible rolling 3-way learning conferences and implementing PB4L. Having food means that learners are able to concentrate without being hungry. In addition, having flexibility in learning meetings provides whanau with more time with teachers and a place that they feel comfortable with. In contrast, despite having a shared understanding of PB4L and clear expectations, not all staff are implementing this effectively. In order to continue to support learners, this is an area that we as a school need to collectively focus on. Using tuakana teina, senior tamariki taught waiata, and tikanga to our junior learners providing opportunities for all to achieve success in authentic contexts. Unlike, Gargiulo (2014) my school uses a mixed ability group approach and uses multi-modal sites to engage learners in areas of their interest. After reading Gargiulo (2014), I am interested in focusing on how my school could use mentoring training to support senior students.
Organisational Culture and Professional Environment
The professional environment of the school is interesting as we are split site school. Both sites have different climates.Therefore we have two classrooms on one site operating in a collaborative space and we have three classrooms on the other site operating in single cells but are increasing their collaboration. The split site impacts on our time and we are not always on the same site to have those informal discussions most staff have. Our vision is to empower learners to be successful citizens. Similarly, creating a sense of belonging to our school is vital to support learners. We worked together to develop shared expectations for our school so all staff members had clear understandings about what it looks like to work at our school. Sharing in each meeting about are successes and challenges is a key way that I have used to develop my school’s expectations. Teachers are becoming more confident to share when things are not working and are supported by their colleagues. My literature review on teacher self-efficacy and the implementation of my inquiry plan, I realised the importance of supporting our team through Teaching as Inquiry. This supports teachers by giving them as Wilson (2013) suggested the power to act. At times, staff can become overwhelmed with day-to-day classroom management and true inquiry can take a back seat. Therefore, having fortnightly meetings with the colleagues has supported teachers to be reflective and to take risks for learning. When evaluating this using Stoll and Fink (1998) norms for improving schools, I noticed that one aspect is missing from our expectations - celebration and humour. Although, we share our successes at each meeting to celebrate what is working well, this is not stated in our expectations.
The professional environment of the school is interesting as we are split site school. Both sites have different climates.Therefore we have two classrooms on one site operating in a collaborative space and we have three classrooms on the other site operating in single cells but are increasing their collaboration. The split site impacts on our time and we are not always on the same site to have those informal discussions most staff have. Our vision is to empower learners to be successful citizens. Similarly, creating a sense of belonging to our school is vital to support learners. We worked together to develop shared expectations for our school so all staff members had clear understandings about what it looks like to work at our school. Sharing in each meeting about are successes and challenges is a key way that I have used to develop my school’s expectations. Teachers are becoming more confident to share when things are not working and are supported by their colleagues. My literature review on teacher self-efficacy and the implementation of my inquiry plan, I realised the importance of supporting our team through Teaching as Inquiry. This supports teachers by giving them as Wilson (2013) suggested the power to act. At times, staff can become overwhelmed with day-to-day classroom management and true inquiry can take a back seat. Therefore, having fortnightly meetings with the colleagues has supported teachers to be reflective and to take risks for learning. When evaluating this using Stoll and Fink (1998) norms for improving schools, I noticed that one aspect is missing from our expectations - celebration and humour. Although, we share our successes at each meeting to celebrate what is working well, this is not stated in our expectations.
APA. (2016). Education and Socioeconomic Status. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education.aspx
Gargiulo, S. (2014). Principal sabbatical report. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leadership-development/Professional-information/Principals-sabbatical-reports/Report-archives-for-2007-2014/Secondary-award-recipients-2014/Gargiulo-Salvatore
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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