The school that I work in draws from a low socioeconomic community. The school is placed as Decile 2 on the MInistry of Education website. The community we draw from are a mixture of European Pakeha, Maori, Pasifika, Filipino and other ethnicities. The percentage breakdown is as follows:
School roll
|
703
| |
Gender composition
|
Boys 391; Girls 312
| |
Ethnic composition
|
NZ European/Pākehā
Māori
Asian
Pacific
Other ethnicities
|
47%
27%
13%
9%
4%
|
The above data is from the ERO report from August 2015 and some of the figures above have changed. Our ELL Department has assessed our students and 13% either spend some time in the department or an ELL teacher works alongside students in the classroom.
The above data suggests that our school draws from a diverse community. The characteristics of the community are that it is inner city, a lot of rental properties, a large number of people transitioning, most parents in factory and service industries which means minimum income for many and a number of parents under employed. Many of the Pasifika and Filipino parents have minimal English and rely on their children to assist with communication in English.
The American Association of Psychology (2016)’s Education and Socioeconomic Status indicates that children from this kind of community will have challenges at school.
“Research indicates that children from low-SES households and communities develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from higher SES groups (Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, & Maczuga, 2009)”.
I could not help but be struck by the findings about SES households in a number of studies but especially in the one above which suggests the following about the school community I teach in-:
- Children’s reading and writing are compromised because of lack of books in the homes
- Children are not read to as much as in more affluent homes
- Children often lack the requisite equipment such as laptops, calculators etc
- There is a real digital divide in the community - most Pasifika homes do not have access to internet and/or digital devices
- There are many challenging behaviours which are evident in classroom and playground environments
The school has been through challenging times - we have had three principals in as many years. There has been a drop in roll and a subsequent capna of staff. Since 2011 there has been an 85% staff turnover.
On the face of it, this would appear to be a grim environment to work in. However, with a new principal and the following vision:
We are fully committed to developing a Curriculum that has students at the heart of it (Student-Centred) and is authentic, stepped and pathwayed- and the delivery of which is fundamentally underpinned by culturally responsive and relational pedagogy.
We have also adopted the phrase “agentic learners” to describe the kind of student-learner we wish to foster at the school.
The school culture, even though, there have been leadership changes and high staff turnover with a corresponding drop in role, has always maintained an ethos that we are educating to break the poverty and deprivation cycle. We reason that if we can get students to at least Year 12 their future looks more secure than if they had dropped out of school before the age of 16.
As has already been mentioned the issues arising from the socio-economic status of the school are clearly outlined above. In this respect our school is no different than many other schools of a similar nature. However, there is always a willingness on behalf of staff not to give up on our students. With our new principal this has led to some real soul searching within the staff as to how we can overcome the results of economic deprivation which is the lot of many in our community. The school has been listed for a rebuild and this has given staff and management the opportunity to look at ways in which we can attract students who bypass our gate to go to other schools. We realise that a lot of this is perception so as part of the rebuild there are groups from the school going out into the community to appraise them of the new plans.
Stoll (1998) refers to schools on a continuum of sinking through to moving. Not so long ago we were at the sinking end of the continuum but it is heartening to realise that we are now moving. The staff are now “working together to respond to changing context”. (Stoll, 1998).
Gargiulo (2014) outlines the following strategies his school introduced to assist with improving student engagement:
- Providing lunches and breakfasts.
- Student Achievement Conferences
- Positive Behaviour For Learning
- Trades Academies
- Focus literacy programsmes
- Foundation for youth development mentoring programs
For a number of years even before the roll drop and subsequent downward school progresson we had introduced at one time or another all of the above. If I was to critique these initiatives I would critique them in terms of how they were introduced. Some of the programmes were introduced with little or no buy in from the staff. For example, Student Achievement Conferences. We can all agree I am sure that empowering students to take an active part in parent-staff conferences is a sound educational move but if it is done too quickly and without proper preparation parents and students will deem them pointless. We have had to go back to square one with a number of these programmes because although we are convinced about the worth of them we realise groundwork is essential.
References
APA. (2016). Education and Socioeconomic Status. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education.aspx
Gargiulo, S. (2014). Principal sabbatical report. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leadership-development/Professional-information/Principals-sabbatical-reports/Report-archives-for-2007-2014/Secondary-award-recipients-2014/Gargiulo-Salvatore
Stoll. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture
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