School Cultural Analysis
A school’s culture can be referred to as the philosophies, customs, and communal behavior of the school community, including students and the general personnel. A school is a community defined by standard operational norms and activities to propel a common goal, achieving academic excellence and produce resourceful graduates to serve in the entire community of citizens. Parents’ involvement in their students’ achievements is essential because it improves their general behavior and attitudes towards education and the school. Students are motivated in class, and self-esteem improved. Parents can be involved through attending school meetings or events/activities and their voluntary efforts to support learning. The availability of norms in school, their clarity, how they are articulated, and how the school stakeholders are involved in affecting them defines the school strengths and weaknesses in achieving academic excellence.
School’s Strengths
In our school, parents have open communication with administrators and teachers through social media groups such as telegrams, WhatsApp, and Facebook. There are groups formed for all parents and teachers and others for each school education level with their respective class teachers. Parents get involved by sharing communications on their engagements and participation, school achievements, and activities. At least once in an academic term, parents are often in the school ground to award academic performers, attend general school meetings, or witness final sports competition(s).
Our school has often been celebrating achievements that range from academic to co-curricular activities. The school students participate in various co-curricular activities such as drama festivals, sports (swimming, athletics, and game balls), and science projects presented in the school, regional and national. At the end of the activities’ celebrations are held, and achievers are recognized for their impressive resilience, outstanding, enduring, and deliberate diligent efforts that reflect the individual and communal spirit of sacrifice for the successes.
Across the entire student body, there are norms that an individual must adhere to or be expelled out of the school system. Such standards include; prohibition from drug and substance abuse, fighting, vulgar language, dressing shaggy, love affairs, disrespect to school personnel, and entry to the opposite gender section. Students’ leaders, internal security men, and designated staff are assigned responsibilities to report those who violate the norms and present in the disciplinary committee for action. Warnings are given once depending on the matter’s seriousness, and the second is suspension or expulsion. The norms have been and still are consistently shared without favor.
On a termly basis, students are given opportunities to participate in sports activities, academic competitions, educational trips, walking tours to near cities and towns, making local dishes and presenting to others, and attending speaking classes where speaking and listening skills are practiced.
In terms of infrastructures, the school has modern buildings with well-maintained and equipped restrooms. An employed cleaning team of staff often cleans the toilets. The classrooms are well-conditioned, the sitting arrangement is organized, and the desks appealable in creating a good teaching and learning environment. Alternatives to traditional classroom learning are provided by setting natural shades with seats, laboratories, nature conservancy, and school farms. The school cafeteria is well maintained and equipped with modern cooking equipment and qualified chefs and employed to work.
School’s Weaknesses
Though the school has standard norms, a guide to disciplinary is provided, and corrective action is awarded to those who violate. In the classrooms, teachers; punitive measures vary from one class to another depending on the offender, and the teacher disciplining them. Some teachers have a fair hearing and reasonable punishment, while others are unfair in their actions to the extend of demoralizing students. At the administrative level, disciplinary action is legally done because it involves a disciplinary committee that considers the case at hand and how the previous issue of the same nature was handled to avoid disparities.
The degree of professional disposition among school personnel is average though they are expected to be high. How they relate to each other is non-cohesive and incoherent; more often than not, teachers engage in arguments with each other, ruffle students, and casual dressing. A lesser percentage of the school personnel find to guide students on the best ways to live presently and future, listen to challenges student(s) is passing through, and will help without necessarily communicating to parents, but in the end, students overcome.
Often, teachers are encouraged to be innovative in class in their presenting content and the content itself. They are motivated to be creative and innovative in coming up with new ideas that students can be involved in to gain practical skills and knowledge. The school administration caters for all expenses for the teacher(s)’ participation in presenting and participating in training to equip them with new skills. Also, the cost of setting up the original idea is taken care of by the school. Generally, the school is mindful of innovation and creativity to improve learning and stimulate critical thinking among students. The determinant of the teacher(s)’ participation in innovative activities is the direct application of the new idea or training skills in the school learning process and the general benefit to the school and not for personal gratification.
Though the school offers brain recess locations such as music rooms and open shades, they are not enough for the student population and not diversified to meet all students’ needs and preferred choices of recess locality. Technology is available in the school but limited to administration. Such technological facilities such as projectors and portable computers are majorly shared in classes, reducing the teaching and learning tempo. Additionally, teachers experience shortages of copying and printing supplies such as printers and ink.
Teachers’ Comments
- The administration needs to arrange for forums on a term basis where teachers can share their experiences to articulate their grievances to allow smooth operations.
- Because of students’ rapidly growing population, there is a need to increase the facilities, like toilets and extra rooms where students can sit in and rest mend.
- Internet services should be extended to classrooms to allow teachers to access online information like simulator videos to enhance learning.
Parents’ Comments
- The school administration should structure stringent measures against teachers who act and behavior unprofessionally so that students have good role models depicted by the teachers.
- The teachers need to be motivated by awarding them for their subject(s) performance when awarding performing students. By so doing, teachers will increase morale in their teaching creativity and innovativeness that ultimately benefits students.