Current issues in my professional context

Current issues in my professional context

Whakatauki:

He waka eke noa

A canoe which we are all in with no exception.

Socioeconomic status of my community

The school in which I primarily work has the Decile Rating 8.  In Aotearoa /New Zealand decile ratings are based on census data for households with school-aged children within each school’s catchment area. The information is formulated against income, occupations and education of parents, how many people per household and parents on an assisted income.

I am interested in the shift towards a risk index for funding rather than a decile rating as we currently rely on school organisations like the Parent Teacher Association (P.T.A.) to provide extra resourcing. The risk index currently being proposed by the government will provide for the student needs within the school. The decile rating is often not indicative of the real picture of needs within a school. It does not take into account families with ORS or high needs students, the level of household debt prevalent in many of our homes, or the shift in employment or income that can happen within the five year interval of a census.

School Community

Our school is under a Ministry imposed enrolment scheme. This means that when our roll reaches a particular number then only children who live within our school zone, or who have siblings currently enrolled at our school,  are permitted to enrol. This creates some difficult parent conversations at times as we are considered a desirable school to attend.

Our school community has a strong history of support for the school with a proactive P.T.A. and effective Board of Trustees. Parents readily involve themselves with extra curricular activities and class excursions. Every year we hold a Grandparents Day that is attended by extended whanau from beyond our immediate community. We hold a community hangi every second year that is attended by the majority of families and in the alternate year we have an evening picnic/ barbeque and games night. We want, and strive for, an engaged relationship with our community.

We have stable staffing and this provides a strength within the school. Our Principal is a proponent of lifelong learning and this applies to staff as well as to students.  An area in here that I think could be developed further is in encouraging and engaging our parents and whanau as lifelong learners.

Our student cohort is at the centre of everything we strive for. We believe that we are all in this together and that we are all striving for success. This is evident in the student voice collected throughout the year as part of our appraisal process. Students vocalise their learning goals, personal, cultural and academic. We also recognise that some of our students and their families have many material advantages that others do not. Part of our work is around building a sense of equity and a social conscience.

Organisational Culture

I believe that the norms described by Stoll (1998 ) are embedded within the culture of our school but we work constantly to maintain this. We hold high expectations of ourselves as teaching professionals and of our students. We seek to build relationships first and to educate the children in both academic areas and the key competencies. We have had two consecutive Education Review Office (E.R.O.) reports resulting in a five year review cycle.

Each week we hold professional learning community meetings focussing on developing our understanding and application of curriculum, teaching as inquiry, and curriculum review. As a staff and school community we are always aiming for improvement. There is a consistent cycle of review in curriculum and of teaching and learning programmes.

We believe strongly in the biculturalism of Aotearoa/New Zealand and provide a range of opportunities for Māori students and all students to develop in te reo and tikanga Māori.  This includes all staff and students being expected to be able introduce themselves with their pepeha or mihimihi, language development classes (He Kakano) and kapa haka, the development of key units from a Māori perspective, and an expectation that students and staff will use and respond to basic classroom commands and greetings, and include basic te reo within their written work.

At no time do we ever feel that we have ‘arrived’. Every student and their whanau brings with them an ever changing kaleidoscope of need, expectation, and next steps.

References:

School Deciles Sourced from http://www.education.govt.nz/school/running-a-school/resourcing/operational-funding/school-decile-ratings/

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

My practice within the community

My practice within the community

Whakatauki:

Titiro whakamuri, kokiri whakamua

Look backward and reflect so you can move forward

Change Agent or Changed Agent?

When considering Etienne Wenger’s social definition of learning, the morphology of social competence and personal experiences, there is a strong sense of the organic nature of a community of practice. When I considered that tension between social competence and personal experiences it was like a ‘chicken and egg’ argument about becoming ourselves… I was this professional and then through interaction within my community of practice I became this professional. Would I have changed or evolved without that interaction? Was my interaction complicit in the change the community wrought in me or did I create the change within my community? This thinking is a Gordian Knot!

Community Of Practice

I am a member of the Mawhera Kahui Ako community of practice. To date this is a collaboration of thirteen schools, eleven primary and two secondary. We are working together to accelerate the progress of all students within our Kahui Ako, with particular emphasis on literacy for boys. All Kahui Ako teachers have shared in a professional development for literacy, boys education, and cultural responsiveness. These events happened over a range of venues including our newly opened local marae. There are Kahui Ako meetings for lead teachers and principals at least twice a term. I participate in these as one of the across schools teachers. I would like to see within school teachers attending also. As a way of developing this link I have initiated meetings for all across and within school teachers out of school hours. This has been necessary because of the difficulty in our region for accessing relief teachers.

Three Modes Of Belonging

Wenger's three modes of belonging; engagement, imagination, and alignment feel familiar to me. I agree that there needs to be a balance of all three for a community of practice to thrive. I recognise the frustration that people can feel with someone who sits in the imagination (reflection) mode when action needs to be taken, but action without consideration or vision may be ill advised. As part of the Kahui Ako the mode of alignment resonated with me. Working in a reciprocal, collaborative way towards higher goals that sit outside of an individual’s actions but to which the individual’s contribution counts underpins our kahui Ako beliefs.

Practitioners And Participants

Communities of practice within education are not new however the variance in their performance or construction and outcomes is vast. I know that within our own Kahui Ako of thirteen schools this has been the case.  There is room for variance and diversity and as Stoll, L. (1998) points out it is not the cultural differences within a school that matter but the leadership and the mindsets of those working within the organisation. A community of practice can easily become a collection of non-practitioners. I work in number of roles, site specific, colleague specific; a leader and a facilitator within our Kahui Ako, an active member who strongly believes in the goals of our community of practice, and a newcomer too, to the world of connectivity online that would serve us well as a vehicle for supporting each other, prompting each other and sharing best practice.

IN-quiry And Inquiring

Robust inquiry within a community of practice would account for the three dimensions Wenger discusses: Enterprise, Mutuality, and Repertoire. Collegial relationships that demonstrate high trust, allow difficult conversations, provide mutual support and critical review and reflective feedback can engender the desire to continue to learn at all levels of practice. Review and evaluative feedback within a community of practice, being open to scrutiny from outside as well looking closely at evidence based practice is crucial to a successful and progressive community of practice. I sense a few familiar words in here: collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, relationships, mutual respect, learning, problem solving, and underpinning it all... inquiry!

Alive And Living

Developing a community of practice as a living entity requires a commitment from leadership and membership. Having common goals, such as those in our Kahui Ako is a key.  Maintaining interest and momentum requires more than just goals, those far away horizon destinations. Building in short term learning projects or events, developing internal leadership that capitalises on the breadth of skill and knowledge within a community, these are elements that allow a community to thrive.

Sustainability

Sustainability of a community includes the curation of the artefacts developed throughout that communities lifetime. What records are important to maintain?  What format or medium should these be in? Who takes responsibility for mapping the developments? Who curates the artefacts? Questions I am pondering myself as I look to the end of our first round of roles within our Kahui Ako and the handing over of the baton!

References:

Stoll, L. (1998). School culture (School Improvement Network’s Bulletin, 9). London: Institute of Education, University of London.

Wenger, E.(2000).Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), p225-246