Activity 2 Week 26 - My Professional Community

Rangiora Borough School (RBS) is a large full primary situated in the heart of the town which has been running for more than 130 years. 

The vision is: "Providing Pathways to Lifelong Learning'. To be a Lifelong Learner you must be multi-skilled and self-motivated."

In 2001, I had a teaching placement at Rangiora Borough School and I found the place had a warm and inviting climate to it. I felt accepted as a student teacher as soon as I entered the gate, and I found the teachers were helpful and focused on achieving student success. 

Years later, I found myself again stepping through the gates of Rangiora Borough School. But this time as a teacher of year seven and eight students.

As I reflect on the school culture of Rangiora Borough today, I feel like there is still a warm and inviting climate. There are a still large number of highly skilled, hard working teachers. But a '2016 RBS' is quite a different learning environment to '2001 RBS'. 

A lot can happen in 15 years. 

Instead of the single-cell teaching styles from the past, over the past 5 years, RBS has been transitioning into a modern learning environment. Instead of only having one teacher, a student can now have up to five different teachers. 

A couple of years ago, my year seven and eight colleagues and I started working collaboratively as a team. No more single sell classrooms! Through working, planning, teaching, evaluating, and reflecting together, we established a unified, well-oiled teaching team. We were all on the same page - we constantly reminded ourselves of the purpose of our practice. How are we doing what we are doing? Why are we doing what we are doing? Other pods around the school went through the a similar journey as us and now they work in close-knit collaborative teaching and learning teams. Teachers at RBS have learnt to work together, with one another. 

It hasn't always been easy letting go of the 'old ways' and trying new things out can be daunting and scary, but at RBS I've come to realise I feel safe as a teacher to try out new things and experiment. Sometimes things fail, but sometimes things turn out great. It's all a part of the teaching journey we go through, together.

Last year, my pod had three teachers and about 65 year seven and eight students. Both the teachers and the students developed a wonderful feel of 'whānau'. We began running 'Whānau Time' every morning where, as a whole pod, we got together to take attendance, run through the daily notices, sing, share work, acknowledge each other's achievements, talk about random acts of kindness, share news from the weekend. Our students were from different social and economic backgrounds, from different cultures and from different walks of life. But somehow, through the pod culture we had established, kids as different  as 'chalk and 'cheese',  could suddenly sit alongside each other, enjoy learning together, work together, and show empathy towards each other. 

There are challenges to school cultures where the staff are working collaboratively in teams, especially in large schools transitioning to becoming MLE. 

• There may be a disconnect between teams/pods ie teams not communicating with each other effectively. 
• Within teaching teams there may be different teaching styles and behaviour expectations within the teams. 
• With the introduction of MLE's, parents may feel unsure about the pedagogy behind the change from single cell classrooms to collaborative teaching and learning.  

"If schools are to continue to be effective in the future, they will need to build structures which promote interrelationships and interconnections, and simultaneously develop cultures that promote collegiality and individuality." (Stoll, L. 1998, p 9).

"Locally, a school’s community, including the pupils’ parents, may have their own conceptions of what a “real school” is: “a real school is what I attended when I was a child.”" (Stoll, L. 1998, p 13).

Possible solutions?

• Observe how other large schools with strong positive school cultures work, and look at ways in which teams within the school communicate with and support each other. 
• Leaders leading by example. 
• More communication between and across all teams, eg senior management, teaching teams. All teams involved in the decision making process. All teams having a voice.
• Parent voice - inquire and acknowledge the concerns of the whānau. More effort to encourage parent's feedback on their child's learning, eg. are they commenting on their child's blog? Why not?
• Inviting parents in to see what and how the student learn in a MLE to help them understand the changes that have taken place since they were at school.

Stoll, L. (1998) School Culture. School Improvement Network's Bulletin.
No. 9, Autumn 1998, Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from: http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture