APC.2 Cluster Culture

APC School Culture 

I work across many schools as an RTLB and will focus this reflection on my cluster. Te Ha o Te Manawa has more than 30 RTLB across a wide geographic area from Turangi to Rotorua and includes Taupo, Murupara, Repora, Whakamaru and Atiamuri. We are the heart of the North Island and include the iwi of Te Arawa, Tainui, Tuhoe and Tuwharetoai. Our cluster logo shows 4 corners, 4 eyes of the peoples who make up our place. The blues and greens represent the lakes and the green lands that nurture us. 

Te Hā o Te Manawa Logo 

In the last 5 years since the RTLB service was transformed from many small clusters of 3-6 RTLB to our current figuration with a leadership of Cluster Manager and two Practice Leaders there have been many changes. As an organisation we have needed to maintain our service to schools while grappling with developing a new, shared organisational culture. During 2014 and 2015 the cluster has spent considerable time developing our cluster values.  Namely:

“Aroha underpins the following values:

• Pono: Integrity/Honesty/Trust

Rationale: Honest, professional relationships and practice are integral to attaining excellence.

• Tika : Respect

Rationale: We aspire to excellence by respecting and valuing the culture, environment and people with whom we interact.

• Aroha: Empathy

Rationale: We see the need for inclusion, diversity and understanding by viewing the world through the eyes of others. “

There has been full agreement on the articulated values. The representation of these is still being developed and the above example is in draft format.

It is the process by which they were developed that demonstrates best the aspirational culture of our cluster. Stoll and Fink (1996) identified 10 norms that were evident in effective schools (cited in Stoll, 1998) and several of these norms were present in our collaborative values process. We worked in small groups and discussed what was most important to us as individuals as RTLB. [We were working on this together].Each group then shared their thoughts and contributions. [There’s always someone there to help].We all looked for commonalities and shared understanding. [Everyone has something to offer].A small group of RTLB were delegated to work on further on the values of consensus.

One area of consensus was our desire for a bi-cultural expression of our values and members of the delegation group were tasked with engaging with the kaumatua of our area to ensure iwi voice was included in our cluster values. In hindsight, I believe that this consensus marked the growing of our cluster as whakawhanaungatanga, a metaphorical whanau (Bishop, Collaborative Research Stories : Whakawhanaungatanga, 1996).

What are the issues, challenges and changes facing our cluster? Change overload is a very real issue in the cluster.  Office changes, change of online referral and case management systems, changes in staffing, leadership and ongoing development of overarching systems that belong to Te Ha o Te Manawa are among our challenges. One such example is in the collaboratively developed appraisal system that has a working team of which I am a member. We have worked from a whole cluster small group process with some agreed elements and the establishment of a delegated group are now building that into an annual framework. Looking back it appears that this is a way of working in our cluster that is forming a pattern. This framework will meet our clusters need for legal requirements with appraisal and attestation while providing an authentic and robust system that supports diversity and professional growth within our cluster to better serve our schools. As within any organisation we work to constantly improve how we work.   Research confirms that school cultures “…shape and re-shape what people do, think, and feel. “ (Hongboontri & Natheeporn, 2014). This is what any culture does, It is the primary function of a family to transmit culture and I wonder if, in our transient, fast moving world where families are separated for work and economic reasons and living in different cities, different countries - if the people we share our daily lives with become more ‘family’ than our biological family.  I feel somewhat perturbed to think that the people I work with could be ‘more family’ than my own family. Certainly on a week to week basis, I spend more time in community with my work colleagues than I do with my own siblings. This begs the question if I am more ‘shaped ‘ by my work culture than I am by my family in what I do, think and feel and if there is a time when resistance to that shaping is a healthy step to take?

Bishop, R. (1996). Collaborative Research Stories : Whakawhanaungatanga. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press Ltd.

Bishop, R., & Glynn, T. (1999). Culture Counts : Change Power Relations in Education. Palmeston North, NZ: Dunmore Press Ltd.

Hongboontri, C., & Natheeporn, K. (2014, May). School Culture: Teacher's Beliefs, Behaviours and Instructional Practices. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(5), 66-88. Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2332&context=ajte

Stoll, L. (1998, May 18). School Culture. Retrieved from Ministry of Education : Educational Leaders: http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture