PROF ED 10 - REVIEWER

UNIT 3

UNIT 3: Creating a positive classroom culture

SCHOOL CULTURE DEFINITION

 can be defined as the beliefs, perceptions, relationships, attitudes, and written and unwritten rules that shape and
influence every aspect of how a school functions.
 it covers and encompasses concrete issues such as the physical and emotional safety of students, together with the
orderliness of classrooms and public spaces, or the degree to which a school embraces and celebrates racial, ethnic,
linguistic, or cultural diversity.
 in essence, school culture can be understood in term of underlying influences and attitudes within the school based on
the norms, traditions, and beliefs of the staff and students.

IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL CULTURE

 School culture is important for the fact that the prevailing atmosphere in a particular school affects everything that goes
on within that school. Such as teachers’ interaction with each other, with their students, even the parents and the
community as well contributes to forming a school culture.
 It is just like the social culture, a school culture results from both conscious and unconscious perspectives, values,
interactions, and practices, in which the institutional history of the school serves as a foundational factor in shaping up its
culture.
 Therefore, we can say that school culture defines human character, and sets standards and expectations for human
behavior. With this, it will serve as a warning for us that we need to be very careful where do we send our kids for school.
Remember, there is a possibility that what they experience becomes what they know.
 Social psychologist R., Barth (2002) writes, “A school’s culture has far more influence on life and learning.” His peer,
sociologist Nancy Watson, warned that “if the culture is not hospitable to learning them student achievement can suffer.”
 Certain studies show that highly related academic schools also have positive school cultures that value high academic
achievement.
 It follows, then, that if a school community- including teachers, administrators, parents, and support staff- all value
academic achievement, students will strive to fit in accordingly.
 Unfortunately, the opposite of it is also true - if an establishment does not value and expect high academic achievement,
then there is a possibility that no one will learn.

TYPES OF SCHOOL CULTURE

According to the Glossary of Education Reform

1. Positive Cultures
2. Negative Cultures

Types of School Culture

 COLLABORATIVE SCHOOL CULTURE - this collaborative culture comprise evolutionary relationships of openness, trust,
and support among individual where they define and develop their own purposes as a part of the institution.
 COMFORTABLE-COLLABORATION - a congenial culture exists, that values cooperation, courtesy, and compliance.
Teachers may hesitate to voice disagreement with one another for fear of hurting someone’s feelings. “In comfortable
school culture it is more important to get along then to teach effectively”.
 CONTRIVED-COLLEGIAL - leadership may generate contrived collegiality when they enforce collaboration: expecting
teachers to meet and discuss student progress and then file a report to prove they did. A contrived element maybe a
necessary starting point charge but teacher ownership of collaboration needs to be fostered.
 BALKANIZED - despite the unity shown by the institution, there is an imaginary wall among staff. Collaboration occurs
only among like - minded staff. Teachers recruit colleagues forming cliques that compete for position, resources, and
territory. Stronger cliques bully others by slowly bringing them down and backbite.
 FRAGMENTED - teachers function as individuals with classroom doors staying closed and teachers having their own
territory and for that most part liking it that way. For case in point, at faculty meeting most teachers are very quiet, there
is a calm sense of apathy.
 TOXIC - the fact that there is no perfect institution. There is a victim mentality that serves as an excuse to do nothing.
Good teachers are uncomfortable and either regress to fit in or leave. Regarding conversations about improvement, toxic
teachers want the school to improve, however, they define improve as making their jobs easier.

COMPONENTS OF POSITIVE SCHOOL CULTURE

Positive school cultures can be credited as conducive to professional satisfaction, morale, and effectiveness, as well as to
student learning, fulfillment, and well-being. Positive school culture is one where individuals feel valued, cared for, and
respected.

THE GLOSSARY OF EDUCATION AND REFORMS

 Relationship and interactions are characterized by openness, trust, respect, and appreciation.
 Enhancing self-esteem. Staff relationships are collegial, collaborative, and productive, and all staff members are held to
high professional standards.
 Fostering inclusive and respectful language.
 Creating a health-promoting physical environment. Students and staff members feel emotionally and physically safe, and
the school’s policies and facilities promote student safely.
 School leaders, teachers, and staff members model positive, healthy behaviors for students.
 Mistakes are not punished as failures, but they are seen as opportunities to learn and grow for both students and
educators.
 Students are consistently held to high academic expectations, and a majority of students meet or exceed those
expectations.
 Important leadership decisions are made collaboratively with input from staff members, students, and parents.
 Catering for individual needs. Criticism, when voiced, is constructive and well-intention, not antagonistic or self-serving.
 Developing democratic processes. Educational resources and learning opportunities are equitably distributed, and all
students, including minorities and students with disabilities.
 All students have had access to the academic support and services they may need to succeed.

There are different suggestions and ideas about ways to build positive school culture that have come out in various
educational forum which is beneficiary to education students. In this particular topic the work and ideas of Justine Raudys will
adapted.

ELEVEN PROVEN WAYS TO BUILD A POSITIVE SCHOOL CULTURE by Justine Rudys

 CREATE MEANINGFUL PARENT INVOLVEMENT

Generating clear, open communication with the parents of your students can help you avoid misunderstandings and
remove feelings of mistrust or hostility.
To involve parents in your school culture, give them a platform for feedback on classroom activities or school
programs. Ask them about their hopes or concerns regarding their children’s education. Go beyond parent-teacher meetings
and organize workshops where teachers and parents can discuss homework, study skills, and tests.
 CELEBRATE PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT AND GOOD BEHAVIOR
This means more than the occasional “good job”. complimenting kids helps them to feel that they are cared for
individually. Both you and your staff play huge part in this aspect of your school culture.
Set goals for the number of compliments each member has to give during the day or week. Encourage them to give
specific compliments that highlight each what each student had done well.
 ESTABLISH SCHOOL NORMS THAT BUILD VALUES
Your school and classroom rules should be clear to all students and should be well-regulated. However, this doesn’t
mean that you need to establish rules for every possible situation. Instead, create school norms that focus on building positive
values in your class. This help kids to learn, not just what they should and shouldn’t do, but why they should or shouldn’t do it.
 SET CONSISTENT DISCIPLINE
When rules are not followed, discipline must be administered. However, broadening the range of discipline methods
can help encourage a positive school culture.
Instead of constantly putting our fires, trying a more proactive approach to discipline. Giving student detention after
bad behavior teaches him that he did something wrong. But giving him a task that helps correct the wrong teaches him what
he should’ve done instead
 MODEL THE BEHAVIORS YOU WANT TO SEE IN YOUR SCHOOL
Role models are important to human development. When a person consciously exhibits specific behavior in the hope
that it will be imitated this is referred to as “modeling”.
Remember that inappropriate behavior can also be molded. Peers often serve as such models; throwing spitballs,
cheating and name calling are often serve as models for inappropriate or undesirable behavior, such as swearing and smoking.
For this reason, it is very important that you view yourself as model whenever you are around students whether or not
modeling is your intent.
 ENGAGE STUDENTS IN WAYS THAT BENEFIT THEM
When in school, your students are learning more than just secular instruction. They ’ re also developing their social
skills and learning how to become successful adults. Schools that help students develop essential skills are preparing them on
an even deeper level for their future after graduation.
One way to engage students and develop these types of skills is through social-emotional learning (SEL). Throughout
the day, encourage teachers to include activities that help students develop their qualities such as empathy, reliability, respect,
concern, and a sense of humor.
 CREATE RITUALS AND TRAIDTIONS THAT ARE FUN FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
The school day - and school year - should be punctuated with time for fun. This helps students engage with each other
in positive events and builds morale in school.
Creating appropriate times to have fun and laugh breaks up the day and gives students a chance to relax between
learning. This helps them become more refreshed when returning to the classroom.
 ENCOURAGE INNOVATION IN THE CLASSROOM
Innovation in the classroom starts with you - the school leader. When talking with teachers, encourage them to try
new methods of teaching. You can even set up regular meetings to discuss new research on teaching methods or new teaching
tech and how these can be implemented in your school.
These meetings will help the whole teaching staff to brainstorm and implement new ideas, bringing teachers into the
process of building your school culture.
 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS
Students are not the only people in your school who should be learning. Helping your teachers to develop their skills
will encourage a positive school culture by giving them the ability to improve their craft.
Supporting new teacher in this way can help promote a consistent atmosphere across your school. Also, it’s good to
make sure that you as the school leader are aware of what your teachers think and feel in their work. Set up regular times to
ask for feedback, hear out concerns, and suggestions for improvement.
 MAINTAIN THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OF YOUR SCHOOL
Surprisingly enough, the physical surroundings of students and teachers have a huge impact on the culture of your
school.
 The HEAD project (Holistic Evidence and Design) took evidence from over 3,700 students in 27 diverse schools. They
found that the physical space where students are learning can account for 16% variation in the learning process over a school
year.
 WHAT ASPECTS OF A CLASSROOM HAVE THE MOST IMPACT?
It was found that half of the learning impact came from the light, temperature, and air quality. The other half of the
learning impact came from factors such as individualization of the environment and color of the room.
Adopting a policy that allows for flexible seating in classroom is one step school leaders are taking more frequently.
Adjusting these seemingly insignificant factors isn’t difficult and can increase student and engagement and improvement in
learning.
 KEEP INFORMED (TABS) ON YOUR SCHOOL’S CULTURE, AND MAKE ADJUSTMENT WHEN NECESSARY
Unfortunately, creating a positive school culture isn’t just a matter of following a checklist. As a school leader, you
need to stay informed of what’ s going on your school and understand the attitudes and atmosphere that permeate the
hallways and classrooms.
As we mentioned above, starting the process of improving your school culture involves analyzing the current situation
of your school. This analysis process should become a regular part of your schedule.
Set aside time every few months to analyze your school culture. Keep on the watch for the specific factors that indicate
a positive school culture, and keep using the steps above to reinforce those aspects. Also, be aware of any negative factors that
have started to seep in, and take decisive action to remove those.

NEGATIVE SCHOOL CULTURE

Negative School Culture or “toxic ” cultures can inhibit, slow, and even stop school improvement. School culture is the
underlying set of norms, values, traditions, ceremonies, and unwritten rules of behavior, action, and thinking. The school
culture is built over time as educators cope with problems, deal with changing students and staff, and deal with successes and
failures. Over time the group develops a set of values and beliefs that are the glue that keeps it together.

 View students as the problem rather than as their valued clients.

 Is sometimes part of negative subcultures that are hostile and critical of change?
 Believe they are doing the best they can and don ’t search out new ideas.
 Frequently share stories and historical perspectives on the school that are often negative, discouraging, and demoralizing.
 Complain, criticize, and distrust any new ideas, approaches, or suggestions for improvement raised by planning
committees.
 Rarely share ideas, materials, or solutions to classroom problems.
 Have a few ceremonies or school traditions that celebrate what is good and hopeful about their place of work.
 These schools are not fun places to work in and seldom try to improve what is going on. Toxic cultures inhibit and limit
improvement efforts in several ways.
 Staff are afraid to offer suggestions or new ideas for fear of being attacked or criticized.
 Planning sessions led by the school improvement council or committee are often half-hearted due to the negativity and
sense of hopelessness fostered by hostile staff who refuse to see that improvement is possible.
 New staff who bring hope and a sense of possibility are quickly squelched and re-socialized into negative ways of
thinking.
 Programs that are planned are poorly implemented because the motivation and commitment to change are weak or
nonexistent.
 Plans fail for lack of will.
 No one wants to work in these kinds of schools. But, it takes leadership, time, and focus to rebuild these festering
institutions. Fortunately, most schools are not this negative, though many have some of these cultural patterns that make
change problematic.

HOW TO DEAL WITH NEGATIVE SCHOOL CULTURE OR “TOXICITY”?

How do schools deal with “toxicity ” in their culture? Deal and Peterson (1998) suggest several things educators can
do. These include:

 Confront negativity and hostility head-on and work to redirect negative energies.
 Protect emergent sources of positive focus and effort.
 Actively recruit more positive and constructive staff.
 Reconnect staff to the mission of schools: To help all children learn and grow.
 It is up to school leaders - principals, teachers, and often parents - to help overcome the debilitating influence of negative
cultures and to rebuild and reinforce positive student-focused cultures. Without positive, supportive cultures, reforms
will falter, staff morale and commitment will wither, and student learning will decline.

THE NEED FOR REFORM

Scholars of different degrees do have a common stand that school culture has become a central concept in many
efforts to change how schools operate and improve educational results. While a school culture is heavily influenced by its
institutional history, culture also shapes social patterns, habits, and dynamics that influence future behaviors, which could
become an obstacle to reform and improvement.

For example, if a faculty culture is generally dysfunctional - i,e., if interpersonal tensions and distrust are common,
problems are rarely addressed or resolved, or staff members tend to argue more than they collaborate or engage in productive
professional discussions - it is likely that these cultural factors will significantly complicate or hinder any attempt to change
how the school operates.
SUGGESTED WAYS TO IMPROVE SCHOOL CULTURES

Derived from the glossary of education reforms the following describes a few representative examples of common
ways that schools may attempt to improve their culture:

 Establishing professional learning communities that encourage teachers to communicate, share expertise, and work
together more collegiably and productively.
 Providing presentations, seminars, and learning experiences designed to educate staff and students about bullying and
reduce instances of bullying.
 Creating events and educational experiences that honor and celebrate the racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of the
student body, such as hosting cultural events and festivals, exhibiting culturally relevant materials throughout the school,
inviting local cultural leaders to present to students, or making explicit connections between the diverse cultural
backgrounds of students and what is being taught in history, social studies, and literature courses.
 Establishing an advisory program that pairs groups of students with an adult advisor to strengthen adult-student
relationships and ensure that students are well known and supported by at least one adult in the school.
 Surveying students, parents, and teachers about their experiences in the school, and hosting community forums that
invite participants to share their opinions about and recommendations for the school and its programs.
 Creating leadership team comprising a representative cross-section of school administrators, teachers, students, parents
and community members that overseas and leads a school-improvement initiative.

COMMON DEBATE CONCERNING SCHOOL CULTURE

 Since most members of a school community will benefit from a more positive culture, and cultural factors tend to
contribute significantly to emotional states such as happiness and unhappiness or fulfillment and dissatisfaction, the
concept of more positive school culture is rarely, in itself, controversial.
 For this reason, debates tend to arise (if they arise at all) in response to specific proposals, rather than to the general goal
of improving school culture. Yet given that organizational dysfunction is, by nature, an entrenched pattern of often
unconscious behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs that tend to obstruct organizational change and improvement. It is a
common knowledge that human beings can become deeply attached to emotions and behaviors that may make them less
happy, fulfilled, productive, or successful, so many attempts to make reforms to school cultures may be more likely
encounter resistance, criticism, or controversy in school that are most in need of cultural reforms.
 In recent years, problems related to school culture are being cited as reasons for why schools should be closed or why a
significant percentage of the teaching faculty should be fired. In these cases, “school culture” may become a flashpoint in
larger debates about specific school-reform policies and strategies.

 Considering that all school cultures are unique, it is important to investigate and develop an understanding of the
underlying causes of any debates, including the preexisting cultural conditions that may be contributing to the debates.
To adapt Tolstoy’s famous opening line in Anna Karenina: “All positive school culture share common features, but each
negative school culture is negative in its way”.
 If schools are to change and improve, many things must be in place: leadership, a clear mission, high expectations,
resources, time, collegiality, knowledge of teaching and learning, a systematic approach to planning, and a positive,
professional culture.
 Many of these ingredients are structural requirements for change and improvement efforts to flourish. But remember
some of these are aspects of the school’s culture and climate.