School Culture (Part 3: Stories)

The first two parts of this series describe how school cultures are constantly shifting and ultimately emerge from the day-to-day interactions of community members. Understanding the values that drive these interactions may help us shape the cultural shift. It took me about 1250 words to say that, so if you missed the first two parts, you may want to check out the extra 1210 words. Otherwise, carry on!

I joined an international school in Japan in 2016 as head of school, and as with any new post, the first challenge I faced was to try and understand the school culture. That is, being able to answer that all-important question, ‘Who are we?’ Within the broader context, the school had been experiencing rising attrition rates, partly due to rising competition in the local area. In this case, some new IB programmes had emerged in the city, with more on the horizon, so there was an urgency for the school to answer an additional question: ‘What do we offer beyond IB?’?

We all knew that the school was special, but we had difficulty articulating the story. In those early days, when I asked students, teachers, parents, or board members what they felt was special about the school, invariably they would describe the school as a friendly, family-oriented community where teachers were caring and knew the students very well. Comments often related to the diversity of the school community, and parents and students described themselves as feeling accepted with an accompanying sense of belonging. In this sense, the conversations were nearly all focused on the diversity and inclusivity of the community.?

As we tend to talk about what we feel is important, this was an indication that diversity and inclusion were core values of the community and therefore central to the school’s story. The problem we faced, however, was that we were not very good at explaining the role these key concepts played in our story. If we were to communicate what our school offered beyond IB, we needed to be able to articulate this clearly.?

All groups need a story that explains their identity. Schools are no different. We just need to know ourselves well enough to do it. Diversity and inclusivity came up constantly in day-to-day interactions, as they were important values held by the school community. They were the foundation of the school’s culture and central to its shared values, so as a school leader, they would become the building blocks when constructing the story. Yet, a story is more than two words, so where do we go next?

• diversity? ?

• inclusion ?

School culture can be shifted by shaping the school’s story. The term story, in this context means simply how a school community sees itself. We can think of it as who we tell ourselves we are and why we are here. The school community is the audience, so we are our own audience. This is particularly important, as just because a group of people value a concept and talk about it a lot, it does not mean that it is well understood.

The initial purpose of clarifying a school’s story by building on the foundation of those important concepts emerging from day-to-day interactions is to deepen understanding of those things we value. If the ultimate goal is to shift school culture, it may be more accurate to describe the process as enriching school culture rather than shifting it.?Getting to know ourselves and what we value better!

Now that we have two initial building blocks of this school’s story, we can move on to the next phase of clarifying meaning. What do we mean when we talk about diversity and inclusion? How do we go about clarifying meaning with so many different perspectives within the school community? Going back to one of the original questions, what do we offer beyond IB if all IB schools value diversity and inclusion? What makes us special?

To help us answer these questions, one more important concept emerged from day-to-day interactions as a deeply held school value, and it provided some useful insights into possible strategies to address these questions. This is where we will pick up in Part 4: Contexts.