School Climate vs School Culture
In a video by ‘The Academy for Social-Emotional
Learning in Schools’, a clear distinction is draw between the school
climate and school culture.
School climate
is readily accessible to outsiders and forms the basis of their first
impressions of the school. It includes everything from the physical appearance of
the school, to how people interact with one another in public spaces within the
school.
School culture is
the implicit beliefs and values that help to shape the people and practices
within the school environment. Whilst there is some suggestion by ‘The Academy
for Social-Emotional Learning in Schools’ that an organisation’s climate and
culture may differ, my experience has been that the school climate is heavily
influenced by the values and beliefs embodied in the school’s culture.
An example from my own
school would be how outside educators (such as sports coaches and Life
Education teachers) have commented on the enthusiasm and manners of our
students. Positive feedback is always satisfying; however, it is something that
we actively reinforce through explicit teaching of our school values and the
use of our Wonderful Wainuioruian system, in which students are formally
acknowledged for the consistency and effort with which they demonstrate the
school values.
Socio-Economic Status and Our School Community
Wainuioru School is a decile 9 school situated in a small rural community. Whilst many of our students
are from local farming families in the area, the number of students commuting
to school from Masterton is growing. Most of our students participate in multiple
extra-curricular activities and enjoy regular holidays abroad – they are from
middle class families and enjoy a comfortable life.
Nonetheless, there is
a small proportion of our community whose life experiences are very different.
Some families face the struggle of balancing cheap rent (due to the rural location) with the challenging of ensuring that there is enough food and
fuel to last until the next payday. Our school culture emphasises active parent
involvement which further compounds the financial challenges experienced by our less affluent families –
one such example is the expectation that parents will transport their children
to rural sporting events such as cross country, which is a 43Km drive from our
school.
School Response to Societal Changes
Over the past three
years, we have had a significant staff turnover (at least one new teacher each
year) – something easily encountered in a small school with only four teachers
and a principal! We are fortunate in that each of our staff members has had
experience working in larger schools with a lower decile rating, so we are familiar
with the challenges associated with a wide socio-economic gap.
Image sourced from: https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=equity+versus+equality&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiyhO6n4sjUAhWEXrwKHfXBCioQ_AUICigB&biw=1536&bih=736#imgrc=lTFsXR43ySwvdM:
Part of the process
of developing our school culture has been to re-examine our expectations around parent
involvement in school life, especially in light of the growing number of
households in which both parents are engaged in full time work. Whilst parent
involvement is still heavily encouraged, we have established systems for
helping those parents who cannot attend every school function. On rural sports
days, for example, we now offer a limited bus service for those parents who are unable to
attend.
In response to our observations on the number of students who were coming to school without breakfast (due to a number of factors, including early starts; long bus journeys; and -for some students - a lack of food in the cupboards) we established a daily breakfast club, which is open for all
students to attend. Interestingly, the breakfast club program met with resistance
from some families who felt that the responsibility for feeding their children
lay with them. In many respects, this opinion reflects the backgrounds of the
majority of our community. The idea that some families may not have enough food
to feed their children is beyond their comprehension or personal experience.
As a staff, we are continually working on the developing a culture of equity (not to be confused with equality). We strive to achieve the cultural norms associated with
Stoll’s improving schools, however we acknowledge that each of the norms requires continuous effort and a willingness to challenge our beliefs and practices, and to be challenged by others who seek to understand the culture of our school community.
Stoll’s improving schools, however we acknowledge that each of the norms requires continuous effort and a willingness to challenge our beliefs and practices, and to be challenged by others who seek to understand the culture of our school community.
References:
Stoll (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s
Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London.
What is School Culture and Climate? (2015, April 28). Retrieved
June 18, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-_NvhlcusQ
You have looked at a very important point in regard to expectation of parent involvement. With working parents it is extremely hard to get parent help for EOTC studies as an example. What makes me sad though, it that it is always the same parents who are able to attend and from an outside perspective it looks like they are the only ones who are interested or supportive. Which is never the case. Parents must feel so pulled in the situation of loose some pay to go with their child on an outing or not loose pay and don't go.
ReplyDeleteI have always worked in low decile schools and it is really an issue there too.
I enjoyed reading your post.
Great blog Vicky. We too have lots of parents involved with our school but most are aware that there are children who come from backgrounds where there is not as much money/food at home. Our parents support this and being a city school with 300+ children, we have a realistic view that everyone has different circumstances that our special character should support. Our staff focuses on supporting children and create our inquiry goals based on lifting those who are below the standard, and in particular our Māori and Pasifika learners.
ReplyDeleteHI totally agree and parent/ when wider school engagement is vital for the successful running of a school and also enriching everybody's cultural experience. I found in my research and practical investigation, is that a significant number of families are intimidated by the educational setting and some families were just waiting for the chance to be invited, as often there is a barrier up between our communities and schools. The equity concern is that all children are entitled to the same opportunities and education across NZ, unfortunately for some this is still not the case and we need to be working smarter around how we can use our communities better to ensure all our tamariki have the chance of success and given equal opportunities to excel. I enjoyed reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback Louis. Both my husband and I are teachers and we feel that same tension between family and work. It is a terrible position for parents to be in. In these cases it becomes increasingly important to be creative about the ways we find to include parents in their child's learning. Technology has gone some way to achieving this, but it is no substitute for the real thing!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Louise. I just spotted the typo in my reply!
DeleteHi Lauren - thank you for your feedback. Your comment got me thinking about why some of our parents reacted this way. Originally our school was 4 small separate schools. They amalgamated to form one school in 1955. Many of the grandparents and parents of our students attended the school or one of the 4 old schools themselves. Our school remains fairly mono-cultural - approximately 85% of our students are of European descent. I imagine that their expectations of school are based on their own experiences, which may not have included cultural or socio-economic diversity among their school friends. This is why cultural responsiveness and the ability to see things through a different cultural lens are so important to our education system. The information on global trends indicates that these types of problems are on the rise.
ReplyDeleteHi Shelly, thank you for your feedback. I agree with you - teachers do have the responsibility to be proactive in their interactions with parents. I know from personal experience that this can be intimidating for teachers too, however - in the interests of professionalism - it is certainly something that we should strive to overcome. I think that communication should be a priority for teachers. When managing our workloads, it is important to ensure that it stays at the top of the list.
ReplyDelete