The Importance of School Culture
Why is school culture important?
Simply put, school culture affects teachers, staff, students, parents, and the community.
The Importance of School Culture on Teachers
People want to be part of something special and have a community around them. This could not be more true of educators, especially teachers. Research proves time and time again that teachers have the greatest effect on student achievement, and school culture greatly affects teachers’:
well-being
teacher retention rates (According to research by Brandman University, 90% of teachers hired each year are replacing colleagues who left voluntarily)
classroom management
morale
sense of fulfillment
willingness to attend and participate in professional development
sense of being supported
The Importance of School Culture on Students
While school culture greatly affects teachers, its also affects students. In fact, a positive school culture can improve students’ ability to learn by creating a positive environment that builds relationships among students and teachers. In schools that have a strong culture, teachers are motivated and engaged when working with students. There is an overall ownership of student success, and teachers and other staff members take responsibility of student learning. This type of a school culture impacts students’ :
sense of belonging
well-being
level of being recognized for their efforts
level of encouragement
There are two types of school culture: Toxic and Positive
Based on the Education World article Is Your School’s Culture Toxic or Positive?, schools with a negative, or toxic, culture:
lack a clear sense of purpose
have norms that reinforce inertia
blame students for lack of progress
discourage collaboration
often have actively hostile relations among staff.
Inversely, schools with a positive school culture exhibit:
trust - Schools that have a strong culture have an abundance of trust. Teachers trust their principal to include them in high-level and important decisions, and principals trust their teachers and allow for autonomy within their classrooms.
shared values, beliefs, norms, behaviors - In our recent article What is School Culture? values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors in connection with school culture are outlined and explained.
social, emotional, and physical safety.
collaboration and problem solving.
sustained efforts on improvement.
increased motivation of staff and students.
With this understanding of the importance of school culture, let’s look at who has the biggest influence on school culture.
The importance of principals on school culture
The school principal has the single biggest effect on school culture and ultimately sets the tone of the school culture in a variety of ways:
Verbally through words. The words a principal or other school leader uses greatly impacts the culture of the school. By reinforcing and repeating expected behaviors, values, and beliefs, the school principal is able to focus on building the aspirational school culture.
Nonverbally through actions, stance, and facial expressions (up to 93% of communication is nonverbal, so pay special attention to your body language and facial expressions!)
Models behaviors, positive or otherwise. Actions speak louder than words. The principal’s actions must match the verbal and nonverbal communication expressed when building a strong culture. Without synergy among the three, the principal will lose one of the key ingredients in building a strong culture: trust.
As Peter Drucker, well-known management consultant and author, famously quoted:
Culture eats strategy for breakfast
One could easily insert a parenthetical (school) culture eats strategy for breakfast, and it is the principal who sets the tone and tenor of the school’s culture.
How to start focusing on your school culture
To shift from toxic culture to positive, or to improve the culture already at their school, leaders must first get a baseline or better understanding of their current school culture. In other words, they must determine where their school stands in the continuum of toxic to positive school culture.
There are a few simple steps principals can take to better understand their school’s culture:
A formal school culture survey and/or needs assessment. This will provide your stakeholders’ sentiments on school culture through a series of questions designed to help the school leader(s) better understand their school culture.
Completing classroom observations and walkthroughs with a school culture checklist. While surveys are valuable to better understand sentiment, observations and walkthroughs provide behavioral data. When conducting these culture observations, pay special attention to:
teacher happiness - How do they treat each other? How do they treat students?
student happiness - are they engaged? How do they treat each other?
Have conversations with your team and pay attention to what is being said (and not said) and how it’s being said.
Do you sense negativity and conflict, even if the words seem positive?
Do your team members seem reluctant to speak openly and honestly?
If you are a school leader, you have a special responsibility of ensuring a school culture that is positive and helpful to your staff and students. The importance of school culture cannot be overstated as it has a tremendous affect on all stakeholders throughout the school. In fact, school culture can be one of your best teacher retention strategies!
Is school culture a challenge for you? Schedule a 30 minute conversation to see if iAspire might be able to help!