Current issues in my professional context

Hooked On Learning

I proudly teach at Taupo Primary School. Our school is situated in the heart of the Taupo township. Being immediately visible to those new to the town, we attract many enrollments from transient and overseas families, as well as the children of people working in town and those who live in the vicinity.  Our school charter says that approximately 40% of the students are Maori and other ethnicities represented in the school population are Tokelauan, Chinese, Korean, South African, Samoan, Fijian, Japanese Philipino, Irish, English, Polish, Scottish and Australian, our roll fluctuating between 480 and 520 students.

We are a Decile 5 school.  

The Ministry of Education explains that: "Deciles are a measure of the socio-economic position of a school’s student community relative to other schools throughout the country.For example, decile 1 schools are the 10% of schools with the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic communities, whereas decile 10 schools are the 10% of schools with the lowest proportion of these students.A school's decile does not indicate the overall socio-economic mix of the school or reflect the quality of education the school provides."

We cannot be seen as a 'straight' decile 5. We are a real mix. We have many wealthy families from farming and professional backgrounds, and many families in minimum wage employment or who are unemployed. In the same way a teacher adopts a variety of strategies and teaching techniques to best suit the different personalities, achievement levels and learning styles of his/her class, our school has developed a broad set of strategies to create an inclusive culture and climate that honours and celebrates the rich cultural tapestry of our makeup. 

In 2016, the learning culture of our school was described by ERO as collaborative. In their report they state that our approach fosters positive relationships and contributes to mutual understandings about the needs of children from different cultural groups. The report adds, that we listen to parent’s ideas and work with them to better understand how to respond to the needs of children. “A friendly, supportive interaction is enjoyed within the school community. Families and whanau are welcome and encouraged to participate in students learning, and give a real sense of whangaungatanga within the school.”(ERO,2016)

In Stoll’s article on school culture, Stoll and Fink describe cultural norms that influence an improving school community:

 Our senior management team adopts all of these norms when planning strategically for our teachers and students. This is clearly reflected in our shared mission, which was developed in consultation and collaboration with staff, students and the community:

In a cultural melting pot such as ours, it has been important that we eliminate as much of the APA’s ‘subjective perceptions’ of social status and class as possible. By focusing on how we treat each other and building our shared beliefs (Mark Wilson) we have been able to put aside the sometimes negative influences that socioeconomic status (SES) can have in schools and just get on with the business of being us. Our entire school is able to talk about our vision: Hooked on Learning. Our school rule is Respect Self, Others and the Environment and our core values around RESPECT are visited and discussed every week at assembly. We are a PB4L school and we celebrate positive behaviour as well as our learning journey's together.

While I object to many of the assertions of the APA factsheet, they make a valid point relating to the issues that can arise due to the SES of a community. Students from lower SES families are less likely to have rich experiences to draw on, and often come to school with less oral language and topic specific vocabulary. This has a flow on to the development of their phonological awareness, writing and reading skills. This is a constant frustration to our teachers of junior students especially, and they do an incredible job of implementing rich learning programs specifically designed to develop oral language e.g. play based learning and the oral language boxes used in Perceptual Motor Programme.

I found the APA reading extremely challenging for a number of reasons. Statements like “Children in lower-income schools are less likely to have well-qualified teachers”, and “Students who were ... assigned to higher quality classrooms” do nothing but feed the negative perceptions of lower decile schools. While the spotlight is frequently on the negative impact lower SES has on educational achievement, I would like to address the positive aspects present in many lower SES schools. Having worked in a decile 2 school for 18 years, and in the East End of London before that, I can categorically state that my colleagues were/are the hardest working bunch of professionals I have ever worked with. The quality of education they deliver is second to none, because it has to be. In lower SES schools, relationships are everything. There is a degree of trust, empathy, encouragement and respectfulness between staff and pupils in lower SES schools that is lacking in higher decile schools I have taught in. Hardship often brings communities closer. 

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