The following is a list of essential ingredients for successful schools according to me!
Shared Vision and Ambition
I have to start with this. Education is such a richly charged area of our society that it is must be impossible to make meaningful progress without both 'Ambition' and 'Vision'. A school and all members of its community must know and agree (broadly) on what they are trying to achieve and how they are trying to achieve it. That vision needs to be more than something written, it needs to be manifest in actions and everyday activity. Schools, and all in them, should be ambitious about what they can achieve. Realism implies patience more than limits.
Inspiration
This is a most powerful emotion and that which I strive to offer my students as much as I can. It can be a catalyst for so many other things and can be so uplifting. Everytime - and I mean every time - a group gathers in a school - assemblies - presentations - staff meetings - information evenings - classes - and so on - Inspiration should be high on the agenda of anyone presenting or participating. OK so we may not always manage it but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. If it is worth getting a group of people together, it is worth trying to make sure they leave inspired!
Helping education to evolve
Education, like all fields, must evolve and schools should have a role to play in that. That doesn't mean chuck out everything old and embrace everything new. It simply means that all stakeholders should keep the benchmarks under question. A school must put 'the educational experience' of its students at the very top of its agenda. This doesn't mean at all costs, but just that you do what you can to work towards that. In doing so, you have to be aware of the ever changing landscape and be open to the corresponding possibilities for change.
IT coherence
Maybe this is a personal thing, but those geeks amongst us often loose site of how much in the minority we are and how off putting the bucket loads of technology being thrown around can be. One of my colleagues talks about how they hate the phrase 'it should work'. Multiple accounts, usernames, passwords and things that nearly work, really work against technology and make it harder to demonstrate and harvest the benefits. Schools really need to get this right to make that teachers students and parents are all on the same page. This covers everything from communication tools to classroom tools to organisational tools and more.
Communication school community
In our age the possibilities for connection and collaboration through communication are unrivalled. E-mail was a revolution and has been largely accepted, but is now outdated. Social networks offer evrything that e-mail does and sooooooo much more. The ability to engage groups of people is amazing and I think schools should be using and getting the most out of these tools. The age old message about the triangle between staff, student and parent has more potential than ever now.
Communication amongst staff - Coherent structures - Ownership and investment
Of course, what is said above is just as true for staff. We need to use the tools that help us to get the most out of each other and to build on each others ideas and work. A simple example - You ask staff for suggestions on 'Improving homework' and staff all send these to you by e-mail -
you get the benefit of hearing about peoples great ideas and
you get an overview of what staff think priorities are. Of course, 10 different teachers may each have spent their time writing the same thing and they will never know what they all wrote. If suggestions are posted somewhere central then ideas build and get refined and the groups opinions can instantly be collected. This is so much more efficient.
Of course, to do this well, you need to have coherent structures set up so that everyone knows where and when to post on different ideas and more importantly, why. With all this set up, everyone in the institution gets a degree of ownership over the way the school develops. The more of this feeling you get, the more investment people will make.
Challenging habits eg. ARR and Homework
This is a crucial point for me. So much of what we do in schools, we do because we always have done and NOT because we have sound evidence that it is a fruitful thing to do. I confess to being heavily influenced by the writings of Alfie Kohn on this and in particular his book 'The Homework Myth'. We have to be prepared to explore other approaches and avenues and accept that much of what we do is based on habit.
Professional development
Schools should always be aspiring. Take care that this does not mean critical of what they are but always having eyes on the other things that they could be. You cant have aspiring school without aspiring staff. Without those, presumably you would be unlikely to nurture aspiring students. Professional development is key.
Team and school spirit and pride in what we do
There are some very subtle things that can be done to build team spirit and there are some much more overt ones. What drives people to have pride in what they do? What can be done to encourage that? Schools must create opportunities to celebrate the things that happen in them. High quality display is one way of doing this and and also contributes towards pride in surroundings and all of these things feed in to each other. Regular gatherings are another way. Give staff and students regular opportunities to speak and share in front each other. There is nothing quite like the feeling that you are part of a group working towards a common goal and the knowledge that your efforts in this are appreciated as much you appreciate others.
