Impact of Culture
In ‘What Divides Toxic And Creative School Cultures’[1], John Sutherland posits that, as influence is to leadership, behaviour is to culture; the first is crucial to establishing the second. The things that are done in a school and the way in which they are done – by pupils, staff, parents, governors and all other stakeholders – are what shape a school’s culture. ‘Culture’ in this sense refers to the shared beliefs, values and attitudes of those within the school environment and the way in which they are expressed.
To shape this culture, Sutherland argues, a school must first become aware of its purpose. In setting out a visionary mission statement for what the school wishes to be (which we might refer to as its ‘ethos’), the tone by which the school’s culture operates is ‘set from the top’. The behaviour of school leadership now becomes crucial, as their willingness to act upon that ethos will be observed by middle leadership and pupils.
This is where the importance of clear expectations becomes apparent in developing school culture. Changing old habits among pupils and staff requires clear communication of both what the needed changes are and why they are needed. These must then be reinforced by the leaders who want to see the change effected, through discipline if necessary. Sutherland uses the example of a uniform code: if a pupil who fails the code is observed to walk past the headteacher without comment, the new measure will not last.
Crucial to influencing culture through behaviour is the existence of trust. A leadership team following through on their clearly communicated word with properly applied incentives (not ‘asking for A and rewarding B’) shows evidence of honesty, reliability and competence, and can expect an easier time influencing the rest of the school to follow their lead. Aligning the ‘drivers of behaviour’ with the school’s ethos in this way affects outcomes all the way down to the classroom level, shaping the school culture into something more desirable.
Getting Schools to ‘Buy In’
When ethos and culture are aligned in this way, the impact on a school is significant; there is a wealth of research to suggest that a school’s culture is a key determiner of the quality of student and staff performance. In ‘It’s the school culture, stupid’[2], Nick Zienau argues that the highest levels of attainment may only be reached when students find their ‘intrinsic motivation’, which is heavily dependent upon the culture within the school – particularly the three facets that he defines as the norms and relationships between staff and students, the quality of leadership and exemplary behaviour, and the relevance of operating procedures.
Zienau demonstrates his theory through the case study of an inner-city secondary school that had been facing problems in motivating pupils, as well as in recruiting and retaining skilled staff. The school was led by a competent headteacher who had begun to doubt his ability to enact needed change. Investigating as a consultant, Zienau found that he had not been clear in what he expected from middle and senior leaders and, instead of pushing for improvement when they had not completed tasks correctly, took those tasks out of their hands and dealt with them himself. This created a culture where responsibility was not taken for enacting cultural change, stunting the school’s development.
To address the issues discovered, Zienau and the headteacher conducted a series of interviews with pupils and staff, asking them what they thought was needed to improve the school. The findings showed a widespread lack of motivation among pupils stemming from uninspired lessons, with staff reporting low morale due to being unable to control classes and not receiving adequate support from their peers. A culture of blame had emerged where neither staff nor pupils felt the tools for improvement lay in their hands.
Zienau shows an effective way to address a long-established culture of negativity: by addressing the school’s underlying dynamic through whole-staff meetings and reaching a common consensus on how it should be improved, rather than imposing wholesale changes ‘from the top’. From there, he recommended that feedback sessions be held with pupils on how they could feel more included in their lessons and excited for the future and that staff become more visible in addressing lapses in acceptable performance. A parallel could be drawn with Sutherland’s notion of changing culture through behaviour – building trust across the school as staff were observed to ‘buy in’ to the changes they wanted to see.
Values-Based Classroom Culture
Collaboration is just as necessary when it comes to promoting shared values, which are central to making lasting changes to school culture. This was the conclusion of Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell at the Harvard Graduate School for Education, who identified[3] common values as being interwoven with the norms and behaviours displayed across a school.
Tyler Chance[4] is another proponent of collaboration as a source of mutual values, having found in his own practice as an elementary school teacher that his personal vision for what his class ‘should’ look like was not one his pupils shared. Simply pinning positive words to the classroom wall was not enough to create the positive dynamic he wanted to see, leading to a years-long struggle to engage pupils.
Chance describes rectifying his mistake through structured exercises with the whole class. First defining ‘values’ (the principles that should guide the class), he asked them how they knew when a lesson was successful, how they wanted to feel when they arrived to learn, and how they felt people should be treated in class. He then helped them put words to the ideas and narrowed them down to eight core values to shape their behaviour. This allowed each pupil to find at least some values they felt strongly about and would strive to achieve.
These values are not set in stone; at the beginning of each term, Chance asks pupils the same questions, ensuring the values and resulting culture remain the chosen consensus of each new class. By having pupils make a conscious effort to enshrine these values, Chance says, the learning environment becomes more inclusive and greatly aids in fostering social and emotional growth among learners. The adoption of a common culture also allows pupils to develop a code of behaviour that they subscribe to voluntarily, allowing them to recognise and correct their own mistakes without the need for discipline.
Other resources in this knowledge bank expand further on the challenges and outcomes of developing school ethos and culture. Consider exploring additional insights from Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell[5], who expands further on the points discussed here and offers practical advice for headteachers in shaping their own school culture.
- https://www.teachingtimes.com/slt84-schoolcultures/
- https://www.teachingtimes.com/slt_its_the_school_culture_stupid/
- https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/18/07/what-makes-good-school-culture
- https://www.edutopia.org/article/developing-classroom-values-high-school
- https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/18/09/building-strong-school-culture