POSITIVE SCHOOL COMMUNITY AND CULTURE 5
PositiveSchool Community and Culture
PositiveSchool Community and Culture
Thesuccess of any learning institution is highly pegged on the existingstructures and philosophies guiding the functioning of theinstitution based on the school culture. A school culture refers tothe institution’s pillars in terms of goals, values, norms, beliefsand practices that are highly held in the school. The culturedetermines, and to some extent even dictates what ought and whatought not to be practiced in the school and may act either as themain motivating or demotivating factor(Barth, 2002).A school culture is also referred to as the school climate. Theclimate is mainly steered from the school administration and who inthis case will be referred to as educational leaders. The culture isclosely related and may refer to the institution’s organizationalculture.
Question1
Theoverall performance of a school in various spheres is anticipated tobe higher if the culture is positive. It is also likely to increasethe productivity, participation, attendance and performance of thestudents. This happens if all the stakeholders including thestudents, staff, community and parents feel to be part of theinstitution, feel accepted, valued and involved in the activities.However, for this to come into a reality, certain characteristics andtraits must be exhibited by the educational leaders. First of all,they ought to be inclusive in school affairs. This mainly happens inregards to the decision making process. The process should not becentralized, meaning that the decisions should not only appear to becoming from the administrative arm(Tshannen-Moren, 2004).Other stakeholders such as parents, the surrounding community andmost importantly, the students, should be found to be part and parcelof decision making where necessary.
Again,the educational leaders are expected to be good policy makers andformulators. A culture is created and in equal measures, it can bedestroyed. The policies that exist within a learning institutiondetermine the school culture and climate. In regards to this, theyare further expected to be strategists. The social trait ofeducational leaders is equally important as it determines the extentto which they are able to involve other stakeholders in creation of apositive school culture. The trait is not only important indetermining how the educational leaders will interact with the restof the stakeholders, but also forms a parameter, instrumental ingauging the relationship that is anticipated to occur amongst therest of the stakeholders.
Questiontwo
Asan educational leader, I am an all-inclusive person and therefore, amable to decentralize the decisions made. Some of the decisions thatare required to be implemented directly affect the students, theparents or the community. As such, it is important to include them inthe decision-making process(Karns, 2005).What affects one stakeholder is not necessarily what affects the nextgroup, and equal measures, the mutual issues may not affect them inequal magnitude. With this trait, am able to decentralize the processto ensure that the decisions made are not only right, but alsomotivating. This is in an attempt to create the most ideal schoolculture.
Thesocial trait and public relations expertise is also critical in thatit is core in ensuring that there exists a mutual cohesion andrelationship amongst the various stakeholders. The culture isdependent on how well the various stakeholders can relate. Theinternal publics of public relations, that is, the staff and studentsshould be able to exist in a mutually beneficial relationship. Inequal measures, there should also be a good relationship amongst theexternal publics in existence and finally, a relationship between theinternal and external publics. Also as a good policy maker, am ableto make the most crucial policies that are aimed at creating the mostsuitable culture in the leaning institution. For any traits that Imay realize that I do not possess yet are instrumental in creating apositive school community and culture, I will familiarize myself withthem through both practice of the same and undergoing the relevanttrainings.
Questionthree
TheInterstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium standards, otherwiseknown as the ISLLC standards outline the expected traits of aneducational leader and what is expected of them. The standards givein-depth details of how the school administrators are expected toperform as educational leaders who are expected to promote thesuccess and performance of all the students in a school. This meansthat the educational leader should not be biased in favour of somestudents, neither against some. The success of the students should bewell distributed despite the fact that the performance of all thestudents cannot be at par, considering their different abilities(Ingersoll & Smith, 2003).
Again,the standards also dictate that the leader should have the capacityto nurture, create and sustain a positive culture in the school andits community. The culture is expected to be conducive for learning,while at the same time it promotes the professional growth andmotivation of the staff. The leader is also expected to promoteperformance through collaborating with the families and community ofthe learners. More importantly, they are expected to be very ethicalin all their undertakings. This brings me to a conclusion that mypersonal traits are in tandem with the ISLLC standards.
References
Barth,R. (2002). The Culture Builder. EducationalLeadership, 59(8),6-11.
Ingersoll,R. M., & Smith, T. S. (2003). The Wrong Solution to the TeacherShortage. EducationalLeadership,30-33.
Karns,M. (2005). Prosocial Learning Communities. Leadership,32-36.
Tshannen-Moren,M. (2004). TrustMatters: Leadership for Successful Schools.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.