Together Everyone Achieves More
Schools, for many reasons, have been put in the position of being in competition with each other. Whilst technology has had an amazing impact on our society and has provided the opportunity for more transparency it has often been used to increase the competitiveness between schools. Data is now published to the whole community and this is often used to set up what is essentially “leader” boards, as the local context is not really included. It is not used to open up conversations and/or to improve the system. Instead schools that are seen as “under” performing because their data doesn’t have them sitting at the top of the data table have to compete to improve and maintain the student numbers in their school, they have to work towards employing or keeping “quality” teachers and they have to compete for funding and grants.
I believe, like others, that your success at school should not be based on your postcode or the school you choose. Sharratt and Fullan in their book “Putting Faces on the Data”, advise that within a school we need to ensure everyone knows they are responsible or “own” all students in the school. This means that all teachers within the school need to contribute to the learning of “all” students in the school, not just the ones that they have in a classroom. Whilst teachers are limited in their realm of influence outside of their own school setting I think it is our responsibility to work towards improving the whole system. Sharing our learning and resources is one way of doing this. If we all work together there is a better chance of achieving better outcomes for everyone. This is why I have always made time for providing professional learning for other teachers and education staff, be they in my school or in another one. I have contributed to networks and worked with others sharing learning and resources.
The slogun for team, “Together, Everyone, Achieves, More” is a reminder of how working together we can achieve more. I have used these posters in the past and would like to share them with the readers of my blog. I hope they are helpful.