Week 26 - APC - Professional Context

What is the organisation culture (collective values/principles) that underpins my practice? How do I contribute to fostering a positive professional environment in my CoP?

Loburn school vision: Innovative - Dynamic - Exciting. We are growing our children to be: high performers team players thinkers investigators communicators

Loburn School Mission “To support and to encourage each child to reach their full potential within a creative stimulating and nurturing environment. 

Regarding school culture, what does it look like? and what can you see and hear? Stoll refers to, MacGilchrist and colleagues who state that there are, “three inter-related generic dimensions”: professional relationships, organisation arrangement and opportunities for learning”. She goes on to explain that, “School culture, therefore, is most clearly “seen” in the ways people relate to and work together; the management of school’s structures, systems and physical environment; and the extent to which there is a learning focus for both pupils and adults, including the nature of that focus”. (page 10).

For myself, as a new teacher to Loburn school this year, I think that the vision and the mission statement encapsulate the culture of learning that we have here. If we are encouraging our students to be all of the above in our vision, therefore, it makes sense for us, the teaching staff to be the very best teachers that we can for the benefit of the children at our school. We must ‘walk the talk’, and I believe that we do. Since my arrival at the beginning of the year I have felt welcomed by the whole school community and feel comfortable that my contribution to Loburn school is accepted and appreciated.

In my CoP I contribute to the organisational culture (collective values/principles) and I foster positive professional relationships within our school environment daily and weekly. I constantly have professional discussions with colleagues in a variety of situations and across a variety of levels. Firstly, I work collaboratively with my colleague in our year 7 & 8 year level, secondly, I am a member of the Senior syndicate team of four, years 5 to 8. We meet every alternate week, the other weeks I attend a full staff meeting. Our staff meet weekly in the morning for Admin meetings and when we do meet in the afternoons it is for professional development. There are many professional development opportunities to participate in with outside providers. 

Outside of my immediate school community, I am part of another CoP group within our cluster school area, where we meet regularly for professional development, both as a cluster as well as within our respective teaching levels. Within these groups, I feel comfortable and confident to share my views, learning, successes and challenges. The collaborative systems that we have in place for us as adults is transferred and modelled to students. The student leadership group at Loburn is an excellent example of student voice, contribution to school activities, where the students lead, model  and encourage student participation in school activities, inside and outside of the classroom.

It is equally important to connect with each other on a more personal level and take an interest in what each other gets up to outside of the school environment. We live in such a busy world, it is necessary to stop and smell the roses and show that we care about each other and are supportive of what they do outside the work environment. 

What changes are occurring in the context of my professional? How would my CoP address these changes?

In my professional practice over the last five years I have been involved in a shift from teaching in a single cell classroom and moving towards working within transparent and collaborative innovative learning environments. This practice has challenged us at various times to open up and share our teaching philosophies. I thrive in this environment and would not go back to single cell classroom. The positive aspect is that we haven’t just been dropped into flash new modern learning environments. We have been able to research best practice pedagogy. Building student teacher relationships and encouraging student feedback and voice has been a huge focus. This is identified as a high priority for learning by Hattie - What works best for learning in schools?

“10 selected effects of visible learning”.

The implications for this shift has challenged teachers and what they believe. They must  firstly be open to change, share their practice and be open to feedback from others. We spend time discussing our views and feel comfortable not to take anything personally.

With the fast moving change with digital technologies and faster internet speeds we are constantly working to integrate ICT for learning in our programmes. With these changes brings new challenges. We spend more time reflecting, discussing and problem solving every day what we are doing, or how to master something. Rather than wait for the next team meeting, we change and adapt straight away. We use student feedback far more than before, this is very powerful. We are working towards achieving self-regulated learning for ALL of our students. Students are provided with many opportunities to guide their own learning, with us alongside as facilitators.

References:

Retrieved from: http://visible-learning.org/10-selected-effects-from-visible-learning/
Stoll (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved fromhttp://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture