NPQH Cycle Two Event
Leading Culture and Ethos
Session one
Welcome, process, programme review and preview
45 minutes
Vision is not a vague notion made up of fuzzy inspirational feelings … It is a profound understanding of the desired state. It is the standard of measurement against which all actions are judged and adjusted. It creates continuity within drastically changing circumstances. (Fritz, 1996)
Event aims and outcomes
▪ To review prior learning from the ethical principles and leadership behaviour cycle and articulate shift in learning and development
▪ To apply understanding and research evidence to design a group collective vision for the culture of a school
▪ To identify and articulate how change and alignment will be brought about to achieve the vison for culture identified by the group
▪ To confirm the influence professional development and behaviour play in changing culture and perception of what happens in an organisation
Event process
Presentation and feedback
How has the vision for school culture been achieved?
Development pathway review/preview
School Culture Behaviour Professional Development
School culture and ethos in focus
How?
Bringing the vision for culture alive
Why?
Vision for the culture in a school we want to lead
Event programme
Session Timings Activity Registration and refreshments
Session one 45 minutes Welcome, programme process, review and preview
Session two 75 minutes School Culture and Ethos
15 minutes Break
Session three 70 minutes Our vision for the culture of the school we want to lead
60 minutes Lunch
Session four (part one) 65 minutes Bringing the vision for culture alive in the school we want to lead
15 minutes Break
Session four (Part two) 55 minutes Presentation, how we achieved our vision for culture in our school
Session five 30 minutes Review online content outlines, including practice activities and formative assessment task. Refine LDR cycle two.
Session six 20 minutes Next steps
Close
Event content area statement lens
NPQH Framework content areas ‘Learn that’ statement reference ‘Learn how to’ statement reference
School Culture 1.1; 1.2; 1.3; 1.4; 1.5; 1.7; 1.8 1f, 1g, 1h
Behaviour
4.1; 4.14; 4.15; 4.19 4a, 4b
Professional Development 6.2; 6.5; 6.7 6a, 6j, 6k, 6l
Implementation 8.12
Leadership learning and practice
Use your leadership development record review, reflective task and formative assessment task feedback as a prompt to focus individual feedback:
▪ In which areas and for which statements has your understanding developed the most?
▪ How have you applied your understanding and what impact has it had on:
a) your leadership?
b) school practice?
▪ What behaviours have you demonstrated?
▪ What areas do you need to continue to work on and develop? How will you address these?
Use Resource 3 to make notes against these headings.
Session Two
School culture and ethos lens
75 minutes
Session statements include:
1.3. Setting clear expectations can help communicate shared values that improve classroom and school culture.
1.8. Building alignment of staff around the intended school culture can create coherence in a school and give direction and purpose to the staff’s work teaching pupils.
4.1. While classroom-level strategies have a big impact on pupil behaviour, consistency and coherence at a whole school level are paramount.
6.7. Teachers are more likely to improve if they feel that they are working within a supportive professional environment, where both trust and high professional standards are maintained.
8.12. Implementation processes are influenced by, but also influence, school climate and culture. Implementation is easier when staff feel trusted to try new things and make mistakes, safe in the knowledge that they will be supported with resources, training, and encouragement to keep improving.
‟School culture can be defined as the guiding beliefs and values evident in the way a school operates. It can be seen to encompass all the attitudes, expected behaviours and values that impact how the school operates.”
(Fullan, 2007)
In relation to school culture, the Headteachers’ Standards (DfE, 2020) highlight that headteachers:
▪ establish and sustain the school’s ethos and strategic direction in partnership with those responsible for governance and through consultation with the school community
▪ create a culture where pupils experience a positive and enriching school life
▪ uphold ambitious educational standards which prepare pupils from all backgrounds for their next phase of education and life
▪ promote positive and respectful relationships across the school community and a safe, orderly and inclusive environment
▪ ensure a culture of high staff professionalism
Culture and ethos literature
▪ Drucker: strategy is important, but culture has a significant impact on the enactment and results of the strategy.
▪ Ostroff et al. (2013): climate can be seen as the lens through which the deep layers of culture can be understood.
▪ Day et al. (2020): culture exists at many levels (wider society and within the organisation) and whilst wider social culture is difficult to change, leaders can work to change organisation culture.
▪ ‘Ethos’ a Greek word meaning character, used to describe the guiding belief or ideals characterising a community.
Culture and ethos literature
Robinson et al. (2009): leaders help create an educationally powerful connection between individuals, organisations and cultures that have an explicit focus on student learning. Features include:
▪ establishing clear goals and communicating purpose
▪ gaining agreement that goals are realistic
▪ winning collective commitment to achieving them
Robinson (2018): changed classroom practices will need to be underpinned by changes in deeper understanding, belief and values.
Coe et al. (2014): part of creating an effective climate involves attributing student success to effort rather than ability, and valuing resilience.
Culture and ethos literature
Bennett (2017), considering behaviour, emphasised the importance of shared understanding of culture and vision. The range of features shared by successful schools include:
▪ committed, highly visible school leaders, with ambitious goals, supported by a strong leadership team
▪ a clear understanding of what the school culture is – ‘this is how we do things around here, and these are the values we hold’
▪ effectively communicated, realistic, detailed expectations understood clearly by all members of the school
▪ highly consistent working practices throughout the school
▪ high levels of staff and parental commitment to the school vision and strategies
▪ high levels of support between leadership and staff, for example, staff training
▪ attention to detail and thoroughness in the execution of school policies and strategies
▪ high expectations of all students and staff, and a belief that all students matter equally
Culture and ethos literature
Darling and Hammond et al. (2017): High-quality professional development creates space for teachers to share ideas and collaborate in their learning, often in job-embedded contexts. By working collaboratively, teachers can create communities that positively change the culture and institution.
Bennett (2017): Design the school culture you want to see. Cultures require deliberate creation. A key role of leadership is to design a detailed vision of what the culture should look like for that school, focussing on social and academic conduct. Expectations must be as high as possible, for all.
Leadership practitioner lens Understanding culture and ethos –the why? and how?
Content area of the NPQH Framework ‘Learn that’ statements
1.7; 1.8
Kylie Spark, School Leader Practice Lens
Use pre-event reading, session focus headlines and school leader recording to identify the key features and research that will act as the foundation for your group to create your vision for the culture of a school you want to lead.
Gallery the key features and research agreed by the group and the rationale for selection.
GROUP ACTIVITY
35 minutes
Session Three
Why?
The way we do things around here
Our vision for the culture of the school we want to lead
70 minutes
Darling-Hammond et al. (2017)
High-quality professional development creates space for teachers to share ideas and collaborate in their learning, often in job-embedded contexts. By working collaboratively, teachers can create communities that positively change the culture and institution.
Why? The way we do things around here. “Cultures require deliberate creation. A key role of leadership is to design a detailed vision of what the culture should look like for that school, focussing on social and academic conduct. Expectations must be as high as possible, for all.”
(Bennett, 2017)
Use the gallery outcomes from the last session to guide the creation of your vision for the culture of a school you want to lead.
The following statements can help scaffold your final agreed vision: 1.3; 1.7; 1.8; 4.1; 4b; 6.7
(See Resource 7)
GROUP ACTIVITY
40 minutes
Refining the vision – questions
▪ How and where do the features and research connect with the group’s vision for school culture?
▪ What will the vision contribute to a culture of mutual trust and support of a learning environment? What will need to be achieved through the vision to create this environment?
▪ How has the group’s vision for culture specifically considered the needs of pupils experiencing disadvantage?
▪ Does everyone in the group agree with the detailed vision produced? If not, how can any differences be addressed?
▪ Where do the scaffold statements contribute to the vision formation?
Session Four
How?
The way we do things around here
Bringing the vision for culture alive in the school we want to lead
What we do
Golden circle – Sinek (2011)
How we do what we do. The way we do things to achieve our why, that sets us apart from others.
Why we do what we do. The very reason our organisation exists.
WHAT HOW WHY
“When a vision is truly shared, we participate in it because we care about it, and we will support it through our participation.” (Fritz, 1996)
Group-led task timing
Bringing the vision for culture alive in the school we want to lead
Group task outcome
Prepare a 10-minute presentation to another group of participants who will act as governors
Task
Identify ‘how’ change and alignment of staff around the intended school culture will be brought about to achieve your vision for culture in the case study school.
Presentation
Keep this simple. No more than three power point slides or three flip chart sheets. All group members to be involved.
Bringing the vision for culture alive in the school we want to lead
Points to note
▪ How will you achieve shared participation and support, bringing the vision to a stronger reality?
▪ The focus for this task is how consistency of vision implementation will be achieved over the next two years.
▪ The activity is not to identify what you did, but rather how you intend to do it. Focus on the strategies you will adopt.
▪ Complete a SWOT analysis of the case study school to identify strengths and barriers to overcome.
▪ Be prepared to answer questions after the presentation.
▪ Whole-group plenary
Presentations
10 minutes to present 5 minutes for questions
Question examples
Culture
▪ How have you achieved collective agreement and alignment to the intended vision? (1.8)
▪ What would staff be saying about your strategy for trusting them? How will you monitor this longer term?(1.7)
▪ How have you supported teachers to reflect on their expectations and influence on pupil outcomes?(1.2)
Behaviour
▪ In what ways will leaders sustain a positive and predictable environment for pupils? Provide examples.
▪ How will you build effective relationships with parents to improve pupil behaviour, motivation and success? (4.15)
Professional development
▪ As leaders, how will you best model openness to learning and development and help teachers to understand what effective PD looks like?(6.7)
▪ How will you achieve a supportive professional environment and ensure time for collaboration? (6j)
Implementation
▪ How will you develop a culture where staff are able to try new things and make mistakes? (8.12)
Group task plenary
1. What has been the impact of the task undertaken today?
2. Where can you use this impact in your own school context?
3. How can this contribute to your decision making about study areas, practice activities and formative assessment tasks?
Session Five
Review of learning, pathway for online study, practice activities and formative assessment tasks
Review and preview 10 minutes
Individually read through your LDR cycle two part one. Does your initial analysis still sit comfortably with you or will it need to be refined?
▪ What course modules and target statement areas for learning will you choose for the ‘Leading Culture and Ethos’ online course?
▪ Which practice activities and formative assessment task will contribute to your learning and further development?
▪ Resource 10 – online course summary ▪ Practice activity options pack
Formative assessment task options pack
Peer conversation 10 minutes
Share the outcomes of your individual reflection with a partner.
Discuss your proposed pathway.
Outline your rationale for choosing the module units to be studied, practice activity and formative assessment task choices.
Partner to challenge rationale, seek clarification and support confirmation and/or realignment of study and practice pathway targets.
Session Six
Next steps
Gradebook check
Canvas \ log in \ Grades \ Assignment Group
1. Log in to Canvas
2. Go to ‘Grades’ and select ‘Assignment Group’
3. Check that you have completed the tasks at the top of the gradebook (tick or 1 in score column)
4. Scroll down until you reach today’s date and check that all tasks to that point have a tick or 1 next to them
5. If there are any incomplete/missing, make a note of them and prioritise for completion after the event
Evaluation
NPQH: Next steps
▪ Refine your pathway cycle choices (content for online course, practice activities and formative assessment task) with your in-school sponsor.
▪ Complete and submit the online course ‘Leading Culture and Ethos’, three practice activities and one learning reflective task.
▪ Confirm performance coaching appointments.
▪ Identify and complete your formative assessment task.
▪ Prepare for the one-to-one end of cycle appointment with your coach.
▪ Upload the formative assessment task submission and your review of the LDR to your performance coach by the date specified on the Canvas syllabus page.
▪ Check all elements of the qualification to date have been completed. For any issues arising, speak with your leadership performance coach.
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