Buller High
School (BHS) caters for Years 9-15. It is situated in the small town of
Westport (population 3000) in the Buller District (one of three districts which
make up the West Coast province). The roll is usually around 320. The school
currently has a decile rating of 5 (although this is still a bone of contention
as the rating was raised from 3 to 5 in 2013, at the same time as the community
began to experience further economic hardship due to the woes of the Solid
Energy Stockton Mine located nearby).
School Culture
Stoll (1998) states that school culture is
one of the most complex and important concepts in education, and that it is
shaped by its history, context and the people in it, their assumptions and
beliefs. Therefore, it acts as a lens through which the world is viewed.
Hongboontri and Keawkhong (2014) in looking at the significance of school culture on teaching practices,
similarly defined school cultures as a collection of
traditions and rituals that have been built over time. Heinecke
(2017) describes school culture as a “true game changer [in] … providing optimal educational experiences and
refers to Brian Chesky’s (founder of Airbnb) definition that “culture is a shared way of doing something with passion” – this
definition really resonates with me.
Stoll (1998) goes on to highlight four
Teaching Cultures – Individualism, Collaboration, Contrived Collegiality and Balkansiation. I believe BHS falls predominantly within the Balkanisation culture — we are not
isolated and we tend to work in small collaborative groups, such as departments
and various specialist teams (e.g. Curriculum Team Leaders, ICT, PB4L, Houses).
Using Stroll’s (1998) ten norms for
improving schools as a reference point, we can look specifically at the culture
of BHS:
- We have
shared goals, a responsibility for success and the desire for continuous
improvement — our mission, vision and goal, respectively, are clear – we
are ready for the
challenges of tomorrow; we want to meet future challenges by raising
expectations through quality education and experiences in an environment
that allows everyone to be their best, and we are striving for excellence
through high expectations. The goal is visible throughout the school and
is (generally) known by all.
- A sense of
collegiality, support, mutual respect and opennessare inherent in the
school’s core values, known as the 4Rs – relationships (whanaungatanga),
respect (manaakitanga), responsibility (kawenga) and resilience (manahau).
Inherent in these values is a culture of citizenship, consideration, and
commitment to biculturalism.
- We celebrate success in the fields of
academic, arts, culture, and sport
An integral part of
our school culture is a strong sense of belonging to our community
and our identity and place within it. Although there is an anomaly for a school
which is and sees the reciprocal relationship with the community as vital to
our success . ERO (2017) said “The school
receives strong support from its community which benefits many aspects of
student learning. A number of families and staff have inter-generational links
with the area leading to extended support over the academic, cultural and
sporting aspects of school life”. However, we struggle to get a wide range
of our parents and whanau to participate in parent-teacher interviews, for
example. This could perhaps be explained by socioeconomic factors, about which
there could be further scope for investigation.
Socioeconomic status
APA (2016) defines the SES of a family as “a
combination of education, income and occupation” and links socioeconomic status
(SES) to educational attainment and perceptions. I cannot argue with the
research that lower educational achievement and poverty are linked. This is
supported by Stoll (1998), who looked at the influence of the socioeconomic
background of a school’s students on its culture and the community and its
expectations, and Gargiulio (2014), who researched how poverty in NZ impacts on
the educational engagement and success of students.
The SES of a community
reflects the collective background of the families residing there. Our
area has experienced tough economic times frequently in its history, and
especially so since 2013. The key to how we cater for this in our school is we
focus on being aspirational and we maximise our sense of community. The financial struggles
of our students and their families in the declining SES of our district are
countered by the commitment of the school staff and community to providing our
students with the tools to reach for the sky. As I
often say in my classroom, “we may come from a small school in a small town,
but with an education we will never come from a small world”. I would like to
think that even when our students and families are struggling, they see
themselves as much a part of our school community as we see ourselves as part of the wider
Buller community.
Yes, we do need to consider how SES impacts on our students’ learning
and wellbeing but I don’t think we should perceive this as being an
insurmountable barrier to advancement. SES is a barrier to overcome, but in our corner of the world, it is not the
obstacle some might purport it to be. Our PB4L daily breakfast club initiative
has more of a social focus than an economic one It could be equally important
to ask how other areas overcome the narrow-mindedness of affluence. Many
teachers from BHS have addressed assumptions by teachers from high decile
schools e.g. how do you cope with being so poorly resourced, do you have access
to modern technology? These are assumptions that overlook the efforts of the
Board of Trustees and Senior Management Team to ensure our students have access
to the best, and are a form of deficit thinking that perhaps affluence brings.
Professional (School) Environment
Our professional environment is about
understanding the unique aspects of our setting while placing our students’
achievement and wellbeing at the centre of everything we do. There is
acknowledgement from most at BHS that there is room for improvement but we also
need to celebrate our successes. Our most recent Education Review Office report
sums it up well:
Students benefit from a strong pastoral system, a
committed board, senior management team and staff. Buller High School is an
integral part of its local community. It utilises the wider natural environment
and community well. Leaders and teachers remain focussed on improving outcomes
for students and on providing a meaningful range of pathways for leavers. The
next steps for the school include improving a number of school management systems
and practice. These include internal evaluation, success for Māori and
evaluating the effectiveness of the school curriculum.
Reference List:
APA. (2016). Education and
Socioeconomic Status. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education.aspx
Education Review Office Report. (2017).
Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/buller-high-school-12-05-2017/
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
Heinecke, T. (2017). Positive school culture a true game changer for educational
institutions. Retrieved from http://www.educatorimpact.com/articles/positive-school-culture
Hongboontri, C., & Keawkhong, N. (2014). School Culture: Teachers' Beliefs,
Behaviors, and Instructional Practices. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(5), 66-88. Retrieved
from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2332&context=ajte
Stoll, L. (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
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