Week 26: Activity 2 My Professional Context

Current issues in my professional context

Our school (BBC) is a decile 5 school, with a roll of 450 students.  Approximately 35% of our students are Maori. BBC serves the community of Waipu to the south (a strong Scottish heritage), One Tree Point (newer home development), Ruakaka (the ‘villy’), the Marae-based community of Takahiwai to the North and the farming communities inland. 

The College’s Maori and Scottish heritage is evident on formal occasions and the organisational structure of the Whanau houses. The school has a bilingual Maori unit operating for Year 7 and 8 students and Te Reo Maori courses in years 9 to 13.

Restorative practices, international exchanges to Japan and Samoa, entrepreneurship, and coastal conservation all contribute to the school culture. BBC is future focused with good ICT infrastructure to serve teachers and students, and a BYOD policy.

Decile 5 may indicate the status of the physical community but the socioeconomic status of our school community is very mixed. There are surrounding dairy farms, a large port and refinery, a marina development and many workers who commute to Whangarei city. Sadly many students bus out of the area daily to attend private or large public single-sex schools in Whangarei. Closest to the school is a lower socio-economic area of housing and almost all of the children from there attend BBC.

BBC strives for a balanced education that incorporates academic, arts, sporting, cultural, performance, leadership and service components. Students have been doing particularly well in performance and music fields and have won awards throughout NZ.

The professional environments:

The professional environment encourages innovation, to be proficient with ICT, and making good relationships with the students. There is a staff car available and budgets for PD. Collaboration is encouraged and growing with some cross curricular projects.

We have pass rate goals for all levels and pressure to maintain or exceed the previous year’s rates of academic success.

Issues for lower socio-economic status (SES) students include:

Poor housing (cramped, damp, illness, absenteeism, parental stress), poor diet, difficulty acquiring stationary, and paying for school trips. Often school is perceived as an ‘authority’ and low SES students are less likely to understand the hidden curriculum cues. Families value education but don’t realise what is needed to achieve at a high level.

Bad language and drugs are the norm in many homes and students haven’t had boundaries. Quite a high number of students are in foster care or with extended family.

For students with a slightly higher SES, many work part-time because they want to have purchasing power for things like phones, clothes, internet, and cars.  

 How have the issues been addressed?

Providing breakfast and lunch, student achievement conferences, help with uniform, electronic devices, stationary and school trip sponsorship.

Rubicon counselling for drug use, help for smokers.

Issues arising from the professional environments in your school?

There is often conflict because of the goal of high academic success along with the goal of high co-curricular involvement of students eg lost classroom time because of music & performance practices. In a small school the same students are involved in sports, cultural events and academic pursuits.

 How have the issues been addressed?

We try to have as many performances/practices as possible after school and weekends but that also means students don’t have a lot of time to study at home.

What role does your school’s culture play in addressing the discussed issues?

From a restorative culture students are given second chances and an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. They are made aware of the consequences of their actions.

There are many scholarships available that give students opportunities they would not normally have. Eg. R.Tucker Thompson and Spirit of NZ sailing, and university scholarship awards.

Gateway work experience and trade skill courses.

School Improvement

 

Stoll(1998) p10

These are similar to the norms that BBC is trying to embed in their school culture.In a recent staff well-being survey some staff felt that there was a ‘blame culture when we don’t succeed in some areas’ so I think we can work on ways to increase mutual respect.Our collegiality and mutual sharing is strong in some departments where unscheduled visits are typical and we drop in on each other’s classrooms to help out. It has been noted recently that some teachers are offended by unscheduled observations, so collegiality would be in a weak form in some parts of the school.Gargiulo (2014) in his sabbatical report mentions some strategies to achieve higher outcomes for low SES students. Similarly our school provides breakfasts, and some lunches, promotes academic counselling, has literacy programs and Gateway work programs. Rather than accommodate trade academies in our school, students are encouraged to attend trade schools in Whangarei.Whanau teachers are taking on a wider academic counselling role and perhaps this also helps students to navigate hidden curriculum cues and enhance the relationships with family.Gargiulo didn’t mention ‘celebration of success’ but I think this is also a key strategy to raise student achievement. It is made visible through leadership camps, PST interviews, award assemblies and as many ways as we can recognize the great accomplishments that students are making.

References:

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