Essay Sample: Shaping School Culture

Every organization has its own unique culture. The school staff, students, and community are responsible for creating culture in a school (Prokopchuk, 2016).It is apparent that a robust culture lacks at Maynard High School. For instance, there is loose coordination between the community, teachers and the top leadership in matters of governance. This is evidenced in the inadequate community education partnerships, low teacher morale and lack of visionary leadership. After the appointment, it was critical for me to do an analysis of these factors so as to gain knowledge on the issues that are hindering the school from keeping its course towards development and academic excellence. Specifically I sought to know why teachers are resigning from the school. As Prokopchuk (2016) advises, a new leader needs to have the feel of cultural factors of the new organization for them to devise effective ways for sustainable school management.

The principal plays a significant role in sustaining the culture of a school (Prokopchuk, 2016) .Armed with this understanding, I considered it crucial to acquaint myself with the schools current culture so as to learn how former administrators conducted their affairs. In effect, I have gained the understanding of the issues that make teachers resign in large numbers and the lack of enforcement of school teacher evaluation programs that are essential for the professional development of the teachers. As research has demonstrated, it is important to learn issues in a new organization before contemplating instituting any changes as a new leader.

The vision and mission statements constitute an important portion of culture (Prokopchuk, 2016).It was imperative to create a vision for the school as it will help to set a clear path to the preferred destination of the school and the means of arriving there. The vision is to make Maynard a center of academic excellence through inclusivity and partnership with all stakeholders. According to the case study, Maynard High School needs to actualize the 12-grade program by providing enough teachers (from the current 35 to one of the best ratios in the country) and others resources in the following year. Due to low standards of education at the school, it is paramount that a strategy is designed to enable the school to meet state academic standards. These standards include alignment of content to meet state requirements, continuous improvement of student instruction and developing a partnership with parents and the community (Habegger, 2008).In this regard, my administration will aspire to introduce 12-grade studies under an environment of adequate resources in terms of teachers and learning materials.

Despite the critical role principals play in sustaining programs at schools, there must be a recognition that culture begins with leadership (Bipath & Moyo, 2016).Leadership and culture cannot be separated if school principals aspire to achieve the expectations of the society(Prokopchuk, 2016).As it can be seen in the text, the school lacks visionary leadership. There is also the issue of inadequate training, development and remuneration of teachers which have perhaps contributed to low morale and mass resignations. For these reasons, I intend to adopt transformational leadership so as to use it an avenue of inculcating the new vision for the school among stakeholders. In a sophisticated society such as ours, transformational leadership helps schools heads to move schools to the next level amidst challenges (Ngang, 2011).

Studies have demonstrated that transformational leadership is an effective tool in the management of schools (Balyer, 2012). Ngang (2011) describes transformational leadership as a process in which leaders take actions to enhance the awareness of the followers of what is right and in the best interest of the school. As such, transformational leaders provide the subordinates with the sense of purpose that transcends the conventional exchange of rewards for the effort offered by teachers in classrooms. As a transformational leader, therefore, I will institute ways of motivating and inspiring those that I lead for the sake of the school. Further, adoption of this leadership is style will key getting the best input from the current teachers since there is adequate scholarly evidence ability of this approach to stimulate followers intellect because it entails extensive consultation with the teachers (Balyer, 2012). For instance, collaboration and consultation encourage innovation which in itself acts a motivator to teachers because they tend to think that the administration values their skills and abilities (Ngang, 2011; Balyer, 2012).This awareness motivated the adoption of this type of leadership because I anticipate benefiting greatly from the teachers and their respective expertise as well as their level of awareness of the current situation in the ground.

Principals in effective schools emphasize on social relationships and societal values (Bipath & Moyo, 2016).This means that such schools recognize the importance of teachers and other stakeholders for the overall success of the school. A majority of urban and rural district schools have common barriers to student learning such as poverty, inadequate resources, lowly educated parents, and a high number of under-qualified teachers (Habegger, 2008). In context, PLCs and CLCs are non-existent around Maynard. Such situation implies that there is a need for the incoming administration institute more collaboration between the community and the school in matters of governance and academics. To alleviate the effects of socioeconomic conditions on students, I plan to develop community partnerships which will be implemented to ensure that parents and other members of the community provide suggestions on how best student learning can be enhanced in the context of barriers.

Safeguarding societal values is essential in the sense that it helps members of a given society to embrace each despite their differences for the sake of common good. The success of Maynard is the success of all in the community. That is why the next plan of action for the school recognizes that students from minority backgrounds often struggle under conditions of poverty and inadequate resources (Habegger, 2008).In this regard, my administration intends to devise a policy that will address issues of lunch programs and learning materials to ensure children from minority backgrounds stay in school and learn in an environment devoid of stress. The plan will also focus on retaining experienced teachers as a way of enabling disadvantaged students to access quality education.

References

Balyer, A. (2012). Transformational leadership behaviors of school principals: A qualitative research based on teachers perceptions. International Online Journal of Educational Sciences,, 4(3), 581-591.

Bipath, K., & Moyo, E. (2016). Principals shaping school culture for school effectiveness in South Africa. Journal of Social Sciences, 48(3), 174-186.

Habegger, S. (2008). The principal's role in successful schools:Creating a positive school culture. Naesp, 1(1), 42-46. Retrieved from https://www.naesp.org/sites/default/files/resources/1/Principal/2008/S-O_p42.pdf

Ngang, T. K. (2011). The Effect of Transformational Leadership on School Culture in Male Primary Schools Maldives. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 30(2011), 2575-2580. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.503

Prokopchuk, J. (n.d.). Unpacking the impact of school culture: a principals role in creating and sustaining the culture of a school. SELU Research Review Journal, 1(2), 73-82.