A school’s culture: How it can be shaped by history, context and the people in it

Te: the; Atatū: dawn, originally called Ōrukuwai - Ō: place of; Rukuwai: an ancestor of Te Kawerau-a-Maki; coined its current name in the early twentieth century in recognition of the spectacular views of the sunrise.  Until the 1950's this area was largely rural, however the construction of the north-western motorway spurred its development, and during the 1960s and 1970s the area was covered in low-to medium-income houses (New Zealand History).  This increase in residential property prompted our school to open in 1968 to cater for Year 7 and 8 students.  

School culture is influenced by a school's external context, and can be shaped by it's history, context and the people within it.  Since its founding, our school has been recognised for its emphasis on achievement and high standards of academic and sporting excellence, and this is reflected in our school culture.  While learning is no longer based on the book of truth (the Bible), the school strives to instill Wisdom (to make good decisions) with Truth (honesty), and still holds some of its historical traditions quite tightly.  The development of the schools behavioural 'RISE' values of Respect, Integrity, Service and Endurance are embedded in school life and create a sense of connectedness and belonging for our culturally diverse school community. 

According to our school enrolment data, we have over 30 different Nationalities represented within our student population this year.  This includes 20.4% Maori, 21.4% Pasifika, 24.2% Asian, 31.1% European, and 2.7% MELAA.  Our teaching population is similarly diverse, however is very heavily female dominated. 

Few of the schools in West Auckland have an outstanding reputation and thousands of parents choose to send their children out of the area for their education (Prasad, 2011).   Our staff work hard and take security from knowing that our school is highly regarded within the community and "continues to be the school of choice for families in the wider West Auckland area" (ERO, 2011), with almost 40% of our students coming from outside of our school zone. 

Our school continues to be driven by a focus on improving teaching and learning, the development of a global learning community who are future ready, continuous professional development and close working relationships with parents and whanau.  We embrace our diverse social class populations and believe that our students benefit from the richness this diversity offers.

We have recently started to critically reflect on our schools vision, in acknowledging that while it has supported us well, it was developed at a time when the school community and priorities were quite different.  With a school steeped in such a strong and well respected history, this has been a bold move, but must happen to bring our school into alignment with current Educational Policies and to reflect the significant changes in leadership that have happened in the school over the last 24 months.  In joining the voices of staff, students and our community we have drafted Mahi Tahi: Working together, Ako Tahi: Learning Together, Tupu Tahi: Growing together as our new school vision, and feel this reflects the culture we would like to bring into the school much more accurately.

It could be argued that this vision is equally apt for our staff.  Staff acknowledge that over the years collegiality, the desire to take risks, and a willingness to support each other has faded, and I have observed little room for celebration and humour.  In striving for an adapted school culture that encourages these things, I believe even greater things will happen in our school, but Stoll (1998) notes that this change will be much more likely to happen when school leaders play a significant role in steering the shift.  That is not to say that teachers do not have an important role to play though!  Hongboontri and Keawkhong (2014) challenge teachers to consider what role they personally may have had in helping to shape their schools culture - and interesting thought to be left with ...

It is my hope that my influence on our schools' culture is positive.  One that embraces and celebrates diversity, promotes innovative thinking, encourages openness and collegiality and reignites peoples' passions.  I'd like to help bring our school into the future while continuing to build on the strong foundations of the past.

Stoll, 1998 notes that a schools' culture is influenced by the school's students and their social class background.  Our students, who are reaching adolescence, are trying to shape their identities, and certainly flavour our school in their own ways.  Interesting research continues to emerge examining the complexities and effect of socio-economic factors on student achievement, including the work of Hattie (2016) who has found that socio-economic factors, with an effect size of 0.54, are still an important area to examine.  While this is higher than an effect size of 0.4 which is regarded as average or typical, he argues that many other factors are more influential.  Others believe socio-economic factors have a much larger, and detrimental effect, and this is one of the deeply embedded concerns for many residents across West Auckland, where our school is located.