Title: Changing School Culture
1Changing School Culture
- Shayne Goodrum, Ph.D
- Sherry Ward,
2Today we will
- Share some research-based understandings about
how school culture impacts student success - Share steps for changing a schools culture
- Share 2 tools school leaders can use to surface
culture issues to start the change process
3Defining School Culture
- The shared beliefs and values of a school
- What people agree is true and right
4However --
- These beliefs become entrenched and can persist
after changes in the schools environment render
them irrelevant or harmful - Therefore culture is both a resource and a risk.
5- . . . school culture is the ultimate ceiling on
our ability to transform our school and raise
standards. Other initiatives, whether focusing
on teaching strategies, leadership development,
structure, team work or collaboration are wasted,
doomed to deliver a fraction of their potential,
without the right cultural supports. - p. 6, A Culture for Learning
6The most successful schools have cultures that
- Have the highest ambitions for each student
- Put the welfare of students ahead of the comfort
of staff - Held teachers accountable to the whole school
reduce professional autonomy - Promote teamwork and learning from each other
- Are intolerant of failure and excuses from staff
- Value service delivery
7Culture is transmitted through
- Informal and less conscious channels
- Rites and rituals of school life
8Behavior Generated by Culture
- Operational tasks of running a school or
teaching (e.g. the way we divide our attention to
students in a lesson) - Reinforcing actions that communicate and
reinforce our actions and beliefs (e.g. rites of
passage for a new staff member at a school
9Reinforcing Behaviors
- Rituals celebrations, ceremonies, shared
mannerisms - Hero Making role models, hierarchies, mentors,
scapegoats - Storytelling shared humor, common anecdotes,
oral and written history - Symbolic Displays decoration, trophies
- Rules etiquette, taboos, tacit permissions
10Surface Reinforcing Behaviors
- Your biggest celebration this year-what did you
celebrate? - Who is the most respected person in the
school?-Why is that person so highly respected? - Please name
- The first thing you notice in the school
reception area - Something that commonly happens in other schools
that could never happen in your school - The behavior in an adult that is most frowned
upon - Something that people regularly get away with
(things you know are wrong but still do e.g.
late for meetings) - Something that people worry about a great deal
11Culture changes
- Is difficult through traditional, top-down
managerial techniques
12Dynamic processes of culture creation and
management are the essence of leadership and make
one realize that leadership and culture are two
sides of the same coin. - Edgar
Schein
13Culture may be a challenge if. . .
- Values and beliefs are no longer suited to the
challenges the school faces - You encounter repeated resistance to sensible and
necessary changes - You have a nagging doubt that the school is not
reaching its full potential - There is conflict, poor communication, vocal
disagreements - Lack of a sense of identity
- Culture is so precious and valued that
opportunities are lost
14Steps to Changing Culture
- Create a crisis of faith to look with new eyes at
the world around you and generate some tentative
theories. - Compare these lessons to those implicit in both
your aspirations for the school and in your
current behaviors and activities. - Create a consensus in terms of aspirations that
not only addresses the gaps but also builds on
current strengths.
15Steps to Changing Culture
- Analyze the modes through which culture is
communicated formal and informal, conscious and
unconscious and adapt them to your new
direction. - Create cultural capacity a particular way of
working in school which balances the need to
create a strong shared identity with the need to
constantly adapt and grow.
16Activity Culture Sort Activity
- 30 statement about possible values and beliefs in
a school based on research - In groups of 3-10, sort in order of priority
using the diamond grid as a template - Sort once with groups coming to consensus about
the ideal - Then sort again about the actual state in the
school - Build professional discussion about the gaps
17The Thirty Statements
18Focus on the Highs and Lows
- Top Rows those values for which other parts of
the culture will be sacrificed - Bottom row What might be overlooked and lost
19- I recognized the culture my colleagues
described. I admired the culture they said they
wanted. I just wish they werent so far apart.
20Lessons and Theories Embedded in the Culture
of Successful Schools- Read Discuss -
Select
21Helps along the way
- Chapter 6 - pp. 49-62 Activities for each step
of the cultural change process
22Transforming School Cultures
- Six key strategies to develop collaborative
school cultures - Strengthen the schools culture
- Stimulate and reinforce cultural change through
structured collaboration - Foster staff development
- Encourage direct and frequent communication about
cultural norms values, and beliefs, resulting in
shared vision - Develop leaders at all levels
- Empower staff, give autonomy, build trust
23Feedback on today and close
Even better if
What went well?