Activity 2: Current Issues in my Professional Context - Week 26

I teach at Taupo Primary School which is a State Integrated School for Year 1 to 6 students. We have a proud history and hold the mantle of being the oldest school in Taupo first opening in 1894 and still on its original site. We even have the original building onsite although this is no longer used as a classroom.  The school has a decile rating of 5 and has held this rating for a number of years. The roll is capped at 500 as we have a limited footprint in area and are restricted as to the number of buildings we can accommodate. As a result of increasing role size, the school introduced a zoning system approximately three years ago and this has since been amended once again in an effort to reduce our catchment area. We have many enrolment applications than are impossible to take which is in itself incredibly frustrating for whanau who live nearby but are in effect out of our school zone due to our central location within the town and the proximity of other nearby schools. Another issue the school has is the transient nature of some families within the community. Factors that influence this may be due employment opportunities, lack of affordable accommodation or changes in family circumstances.

Our school has a diverse range of families at both ends of the spectrum and like many social communities, it is made up of a variety of communities of people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, status in society, and experiences. In my opinion this range of cultural diversity is essential in encouraging our learning community as well as our wider community to value what each other have to offer. Diversity leads to a deeper understanding and respect of each other’s cultures. This fits in nicely with our school values and vision. Our values focus on respect while our vision is that of ‘Hooked on Learning’.

Stoll (1998) defines school culture along three dimensions, the relationship among its members; the organisational structure including the physical environment and management system; and the learning nature. She suggests that some internal and external factors that shape a school's culture include the school's history, the students' socio-economic background, external contexts such as national educational policies, and societal changes (Stoll, 1998).

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), the socioeconomic status of a family is “a combination of education, income and occupation” (APA, 2016). The socioeconomic status of a community reflects the collective background of the families residing there. “Children from low SES families tend to have significantly lower levels of school success in terms of academic achievement than children from middle and high SES families” (Ball 2000, as cited in Thrupp, 2006, p.2).  Salvatore Gargiulo (2014) illuminates the issue of child poverty in NZ in his report.  The sobering statistic is, a quarter of children living in New Zealand lives in poverty and most will remain there permanently. Reflecting on this, it is difficult to know if these statistic tell the true story of the students at our school. Regardless, it is important to understand and consider some of the issues facing our students and their families and the effect these may or may not have in terms of their education.

The school is a welcoming community with a friendly environment. Relievers often comment on how warm and easy going the staff are and most of them seem to enjoy their teaching experiences. We endeavour to accommodate a sense of cultural respect and diversity through providing opportunities for whanau to embrace our school community with such initiatives as an ‘open door policy’, whanau hui, regular powhiri to welcome new students, meet the teacher picnics and student led conferences. We maintain constant and regular contact with our community through platforms such as Seesaw and Class Dojo. In return our community shows support for the school and its tamariki with huge support for kapa haka, sports days, class trips and a myriad of other necessary fund raising events.

Real improvement cannot come from anywhere other than within schools themselves and 'within' is a complex web of values and beliefs, norms, social and power relationships and emotions (Stoll, 1998). Our school is a constantly changing beast. We have numerous challenges on a daily basis. What do we do? We take them in our stride! New ILE's, rapidly advancing and ever changing digital technologies, and constant changes to learning and professional development mean we have to constantly rethink our pedagogies. All of these influences into our daily teaching make life interesting. We work hard to do the best for our students and this can lead to increasingly stressed and exhausted staff. We are extremely fortunate to have a Community of Practice that is amazing in every sense of the word! 

References

APA. (2016). Education and Socioeconomic Status. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education.aspx

Gargiulo, S. (2014). Principal sabbatical report. Retrieved http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leadership-development/Principals-sabbatical-reports/Report-archives-for-2007-2015/Secondary-award-recipients-2014#G

OECD. (2015). Education at a Glance 2015: OECD Indicators. OECD Publishing, Paris.DOI. Retrieved from http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/education-at-a-glance-2015_eag-2015-en

Stoll, L.(1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. https://app.themindlab.com/media/31251/view