Culture and Community

 

Emran Kashem
Assistant Headteacher (Careers and Community Links)

 

If I think back to my school days, my best experiences and fondest memories are ones that can never be recreated. They are unique, entertaining, fulfilling, sometimes controversial and always character building. I am fortunate enough to have made lifelong friends who I am still close to and know that a connection is there irrespective of what, where or why. Each and every moment has shaped who I am.

At face value, in school, we are expected to learn content that prepares us for examinations and assessments. Initially this is called ‘playing’ in the early years and later becomes ‘working’. We sometimes fixate on getting the best grades and making the best progress which all contributes to achieving qualifications and accolades that embellish and cultivate a glowing CV.

However, if I am honest with myself, the person that I have become is more about the experiences and feelings more than the qualifications. Make no mistake, I am fully aware that the grades matter and the assessments along the way are indicative of the trajectory but what I am saying is that the grades are only the end point. Behind the grade is so much more.

What leads to the best results are factors that are harder to measure such as attitude, resilience, maturity, motivation and purpose. These are qualities that create the ambient conditions for success; they align with mindset that achievement is a journey. These are sometimes called soft skills or competencies.

It sometimes feels like these factors are qualities some people just have, and others do not. For example, having good judgement (or absence of) can be factors that lead someone to two very different outcomes. So how do you prepare someone for something that they are not prepared for? How do you get to a point where nothing will stop your thirst for success? What gives someone the patience to spend hours of their time to make the world sustainable?

 

Before we can establish how we acquire these qualities, it is worth considering how we learn.

According to William Glasser we learn:

• 10% of what we read

• 20% of what we hear

• 30% of what we see

• 50% of what we see and hear

• 70% of what we discuss

• 80% of what we experience

• 95% of what we teach others

It made me realise how important community was to them and it makes perfect sense; if we become closer as a group, we will support each other through the course. If we explain our understanding to someone in our group, it will be our reputation and credibility which will solidify our own understanding whilst uplifting those around us. How we feel is what directly shapes how we think and the way in which we do things is what students gain the most from.

What stands out to me here is the same thing that shapes my own teaching practice. Our collaboration and exposure allow us to learn the most. Being able to articulate our understanding and seeing it applied into the real world provide a deeper understanding that we learn more of.

 

My time at the University of Warwick was also a fantastic experience. One aspect that stands out to me upon reflection is the expectation that was communicated in the first week by our lecturers. In our first session, we were given timetables and I remember looking through it with excitement seeing that I had various lectures and lab sessions. Alongside this we had tutorials in smaller groups. When speaking with my peers it became apparent that the students grouped for tutorials would be together for every tutorial over the three years. Our lecturer then drew our attention to one particular session that we were timetabled for. He said that this tutorial was different as it was not scheduled to be in a specific location or even with a lecturer. He explained that this session was allocated for each tutorial group to meet and socialise; to grow close to the group and become more than just classmates. 

This encapsulates the essence of my theme and title. If we can strengthen further as a community, we can bring out the best in each other. Supporting our community and our community supporting us will provide opportunities to experience what we learn in a textbook in the real world. Not only will it allow us to learn better but it will nurture and cultivate those soft skills that are perceived to occur naturally. The beauty of this is that it is self-perpetuating. Enhancing someone’s experience, inspires them to enhance another person’s experience. This indicates that the momentum gained is exponential and the impact is that everyone benefits. The shared beliefs and core values are what shape our school, our work and our family.

 

The Harvard Graduate School of Education held a session (National Institute for Urban School Leaders) where culture and its components were explored. “In a strong culture, there are many, overlapping, and cohesive interactions among all members of the organization”. The session broke culture into five key elements:

1.  Fundamental beliefs and assumptions – these are the things that people consider to be true. For example: “Ability is not fixed, and it can improve with hard work” or “Student agency will create independent and mature learners”
   
   
2. Shared values – this is the perception that people have about the beliefs and assumptions — whether they agree or disagree, if they are good or bad, fair or unfair. For example: “The right thing is for our teachers to be developing areas that are specific to them every step of the way” or “It’s unfair that some of our students do not have XXXX”
   
   
3. Norms -  this is how people believe they should conduct themselves, or what they think is expected of them. For example: “We should talk often and early to parents about how to secure a child’s success” or “We all should participate and engage to go above and beyond”
   
   
4. Patterns and behaviours – this is the way that people actually act and behave. For example: there is structure communication which promotes transparency and reflection, there are regularly scheduled events to incorporate and utilise parent partnership; there is active participation.
   
   
5. Tangible evidence – these are sensory signs that are an outcome of the behaviours of people. For example: A full car park before the whole school briefing begins on a Monday or the buzz you hear in a classroom.

So, what can we learn from this? I do not believe that there is anything ground breaking or new here. No innovation or cutting-edge school of thought. However, what might be innovative is how we look at things. We often focus on the grades, the progress, the coverage on the scheme of work or the people who pull the strings from above and use this to influence decisions, interventions and plans. Whilst all of these things are important to me and I cannot imagine not considering them I wonder how things might be different if we started by considering our culture, values and belief first.

If we all put culture as the first step, it might help to align everyone’s beliefs and shared values. Where they do not align, it opens constructive discussions. These can in turn embed an approach that is unified, supportive and the effects of this will be visible.

 

I am proud to be part of the DBSJP community where the culture drives decisions and plans. My opinion and the opinions of teachers, students, parents and other stakeholders are brought together. This often makes work feel less like work and more like play. Perhaps play is not the right word, but it does involve situations that are unique, entertaining, fulfilling, sometimes controversial and always character building.

 

If starting with the culture at work, changes how we feel about it, perhaps this is true for other aspects of life. If the culture spreads beyond school to the community, we create much more than fantastic grades. We create an environment that values learning for a higher purpose and interactions that hold deeper meaning. We create and work with people who have good instinct, intuition, curiosity, empathy and creativity and they in turn inspire others.

 

To close, Robert Redford said “The measure of our success will be the condition on which we leave the world for the next generation” and I can only wonder how the culture we mould today will shape the Sundance Kids of the future.