"Criterion #7 My School Cares About Me As A Staff Member
And Has
Reasonable
Expectations Of Me (Aligns with SDP elements
#s17, 18, 21)
Tom was
committed to the view that consistent best practice teaching was essential in a
school. He indicated that while this
seemed obvious it needed to be said because school communities had to work hard
to ensure that second best was unacceptable.
The teachers who could bring rigour within a context of creating for
their students a sense of wonder and delight about learning, that is could
create eureka moments, were the ideal.
Tom also knew
from experience that teaching was a complex and demanding job in which burn out
for teachers was too common. Some ultra
conscientious teachers always felt they could do more and pushed themselves too
hard. In an effective school an
effective principal respects and nurtures the teachers. Also there were the
support staff members to consider.
For Tom in an effective school
each staff member, teaching and non-teaching, as much as they were dedicated to
their work, had to be encouraged to take time for their loved ones. He believed in his down-to-earth metaphysics (….apologies
to Professor Grove, Tom’s brilliant old philosophy teacher) that an ultimate
reality of life is the relationships one has with those close to you. These moments are too precious to be given
second place to work.
Secondly Tom wanted the teachers
to recognize that theirs is a true profession defined by the uniqueness that an
effective teacher has the special knowledge of knowing how to implement the
prescribed learning program from an organizational aspect and the provision of
appropriate learning experiences. At a
more refined level this uniqueness is manifest in effective teachers knowing
the moments when students are ready for the next lot of new learning. He knew that it was very risky for anyone to
enter teaching because they couldn’t do anything else. Such persons often struggled to be effective
professional teachers. Tom wanted teachers to have a belief that theirs was a
true profession and one to be proud of.
Tom also considered that teachers
in an effective school should be happy in the job. They should want to be at work.
Tom was convinced that effective
teachers have many strings to their bow of pedagogic skills but one he almost
demanded was the ability to do direct teaching as appropriate and be sparing in
the application of the oft cited view that each student should be responsible
for their own learning. Tom’s experience
was that the Leopards might find this very difficult even into their 12th
year of school.
Tom also believed that in an
effective school there is no stereotyping in the staff interactions with
students and for that matter student to student. Examples might be the view
that students from single parent families do not get the support that those
from two parent families receive; that indigenous students are being rude when
they do not look directly at whoever is talking to them; that somehow there is
a job hierarchy where garbage collection is not as prestigious as brain
surgery; that there could be a self-fulfilling prophecy about the vocations
that the Leopards might be headed for.
He felt that the best way to achieve a school with no stereotyping was
to provide opportunities for staff members periodically to have an informal
discussion about such matters. A no
names no pack drill approach if you like.
It was all about being an inclusive sort of professional. It was about
watching what is said to students such that the comment might reflect upon or
be seen to be criticizing the parents.
The instruments designed to
evaluate student well-being could also embrace some questioning about any
cultural intolerance that a student might feel at school.
He was aware that sometimes in an
unobtrusive way a school may need to take on some parental responsibilities in
respect of some students. A frequent
example was the provision of breakfast at school in some communities. At an
extreme level was the need for teacher vigilance and action if they saw signs
of a child having been abused in school or out of school. Reporting this latter
was a legal requirement.
Another
delicate and complex staff management matter Tom contemplated was the keeping of
tabs on teacher performance in the classroom.
In his experience at primary school level the principal perused each
teacher’s monthly programs for teaching/learning. This process had a bit of the big brother
about it, however it would be fair to put to teachers that whatever their
programming looked like it should clearly show where the students were heading
or the anticipated learning outcomes; how the teacher is going to get them
there or a sample at least of the teaching processes and student learning
experiences; and how they will ascertain whether the students have arrived,
inclusive of the data bases for storing this information. Tom wanted this to be a mentoring process
whereby early in term 1 the principal and/or the deputy principaI and/or the
senior subject teacher in a secondary school could spend some time with each
teacher as they walked their mentor through their programs of work and data bases.
This mentoring process was especially important for rookie teachers. For the experienced staff once the mentor was
satisfied about the effectiveness of programming then a trust system would kick
in and the mentoring meetings could be decreased or even left to a request by
the teacher for such a meeting.
Tom now turned his thinking to one of the
trickiest priorities on the list of teacher management processes. What was to be done when a teacher was having
major problems working and managing in the classroom? At a general and preventative level there should be the
ongoing week by week processes of ensuring that teachers and support staff are
doing the jobs for which they had been hired.
This could be facilitated by providing teachers with the opportunity to
come together and decide on the core indicators of best practice teaching.
There are plenty of ideas in the education literature about this matter, such
as on the website for the Australian Institute for Teaching and School
Leadership (aits) titled “Australian Professional Standards for Teachers” (aits
is funded by the Federal Government).
Current staff could measure themselves against these core indicators and
seek development in areas they felt needed upgrading. New staff would be
recruited in a context of these indicators.
Part of the building of performance indicators
would be each staff member being totally clear on their role and being invited
to indicate how they will demonstrate their effectiveness. One size does not fit all but over time it could
be expected that a set of core pedagogic practices would emerge. During these discussions staff members would
be given confidence that no matter what, they would always receive natural
justice and due process if problems occurred.
At the time of recruitment with reinforcement at induction each staff
member would be made aware of the processes that exist if their performance
ever had to be formally investigated.
Teachers are locked away in isolation with students in one
organizational form or another and for an external person to judge what happens
is at times necessary in that setting, but complex and worrying to the person
being investigated. This whole process
Tom knew needed to be in place and well understood even if its activation was a
rarity.
Tom
considered that if it all went pear-shaped for a teacher, a designated mentor would have to work constructively with that
teacher to diagnose the problems and seek solutions with input from the
troubled teacher. A program of repair
should emerge and the teacher should be given a few weeks to put it into
action. If this results in a teacher
back on the track of effective work then all is well. If not the situation
requires discussion about the teacher continuing in the profession. For government schools recommendations for
possible termination would probably have to go to a higher authority like the
state Education Department for decision by the appropriate officer(s). If need be so as not to disadvantage the
students part of the repair program might mean the teacher being diverted from
class duty to undergo an observational period in the classrooms of effective
peers. This would be a cost to the budget
to employ relief teachers. Whoever is
delegated to the mentoring role must regularly brief the principal who has
ultimate responsibility for the final outcome. Tom was worried that in the
emerging independent government schools the principals might need much coaching
about these processes. He was also
concerned how the principal might manage the inevitable staff uneasiness when
one of their number is involved in such a serious mentoring process.
Tom also
recognized the contribution made by the non-teaching support staff inclusive of
counsellors, clerical staff and contracted staff such as gardeners and
cleaners. Professional counsellors such
as School Psychologists would be expected to have multifarious roles such as
contributing to the well-being of students; helping with the management of
recalcitrant students, to the nurturing of students and staff members
experiencing personal problems and assisting with the evaluation of school
effectiveness. Clerical staff would have key front desk roles as well as the
normal run of administrative work. There
was an expectation that cleaning and gardening contractors would maintain a
clean, tidy and safe environment for all members of the school community.
With the rise
of the government independent school principals would have major responsibility
for recruiting new staff. Non-government
school principals had always carried out this task."
Criterion #8 My School Was Rigorous In Taking Me On (Aligns with SDP
element #17)
SE Criterion #8 will follow shortly.
May the Force be with you!
GD
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