Creating and sustaining a new school- the challenges and the issu

University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016 University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2008 Creating and sustaining a new school: the challenges and the issues Zeffie Nicholas University of Wollongong Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement A court may impose penalties and award damages in relation to offences and infringements relating to copyright material Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Nicholas, Zeffie, Creating and sustaining a new school: the challenges and issues, EdD thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, 2008 http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/140 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong For further information contact the UOW Library: research-pubs@uow.edu.au CREATING AND SUSTAINING A NEW SCHOOL: THE CHALLENGES AND ISSUES A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Education In the Faculty of Education in the University of Wollongong Zeffie Nicholas Dip Teach, B Ed., M Ed July 2008 i ii ABSTRACT New schools open in Australia on a relatively frequent basis However, there is little literature to inform the establishment phase of a new school The literature that does exist suggests that new schools begin in a frenetic way There is much excitement about possibilities and such schools appear to be places where all dreams are possible Yet the literature has documented that they revert to the norm This thesis presents a case study of a secondary school during the first two years of its establishment Specifically it focuses on the challenges and issues that foundation and second year staff faced when establishing a new school During the first two years of the school’s establishment I was the foundation curriculum coordinator, hence my role is that of participant observer The purpose of the study was to document the establishment phase of a new school from the perspective of an ‘insider’ and hence relate the issues and challenges that face staff during this critical period It was hoped that the results might contribute to the literature in the area The second was to establish what structures are vital when establishing a new school that would result in sustainable practice This study employed a method of case study design, and data collection included interviews with all foundation and second year staff, and analyses of observation journal and school archival documentation Data analysis occurred in three distinct stages and was informed by Carney’s Analytical Ladder of Abstraction (1990) Stage involved sourcing appropriate research on which initial themes could be identified This search resulted in only a few documented case studies on new schools and several anecdotal descriptions Stage also involved an analysis of the observation journal to identify issues and themes at the case study school This resulted in what is termed within this study as internal and external level forces that were in existence in the new school setting As research in the area of new schools was modest, Stage of the process involved sourcing appropriate literature on which to further the study The assumption was made early that a new school would be designed based on an effective school Hence, literature iii in the areas of school effectiveness, school improvement, school reform and sustainability were used These areas of educational research promised knowledge about not only what constitutes an effective school, but also how a school can become and be sustained as an effective school A synthesis of this literature resulted in a set of new school design characteristics This literature also indicated that major educational change and reform innovations are conducted without a theory base of a process Stage involved an analysis of participant interviews and school documentation, and a comparison of these findings against the internal and external level forces and the new school design characteristics During the time that the school has been in existence there has been only one Principal The school’s original vision embraced principles of a middle school philosophy The initial structures in terms of pastoral care and curriculum were to be based on these philosophies After ten years some practices were sustained at the school Primarily these structures were to with pastoral care The curriculum structures have not been sustained but during a recent follow-up interview with the Principal there was an indication that the initial philosophies were being revisited and attempts made to adopt appropriate middle school practices again The findings of this study revealed challenges and issues in regards to eight critical structures, they were: vision and philosophy; effective decision-making and communication; basic managerial functioning; the wider community; appropriate professional development; clear role definitions; support of staff; and appropriate future planning Also, the comparison of these eight structures against the internal and external level forces and the new school design characteristics resulted in an integrated set of new school design characteristics By utilising the most recent literature in the area of comprehensive school reform, principles of design were also developed The principles provide a framework by which the design principles would be enacted The design principles refer to: the school as a human system, the clear articulation and acceptance of a vision; a design for the school; rules that govern practice that are specific, comprehensive, coherent and consistent; practices that are implicit and embedded; appropriate, consistent and emergent feedback; support of staff; and structures that disperse control and authority iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing the acknowledgments for this thesis means that I have finished and represents the end of a long journey Many people have travelled this journey with me These people have provided an enormous amount of support, guidance and unwavering belief that I would finish I have named these people ‘the strong women and the gentle men’ I would like to acknowledge these people here To the Principal of the school who allowed me to share and live my dreams To my supervisors, Wilma Vialle and Alan Bain, I would like to acknowledge the inordinate amount of time you have both spent with me I would also like to acknowledge your expertise not only as supervisors but also in your fields You have both taught me a great deal about the academic world, thank you To my Bathurst family, you welcomed me, accepted me and have made me feel safe To Sonia and David, thank you for dreaming with me To my professional mentors and supervisors, Bob Dengate, Noel Thomas, Stephen Kemmis, Ros Brennan-Kemmis, Joanne Reid and Wendy Hastings, your support over the past six years is unsurpassed To all my professional colleagues who believed in me Finally, to my partner of eleven years, thank you You were the one that started this journey with me, you believed in me and you encouraged me v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certification ii Abstract iii Acknowledgments iv Table of contents v List of figures ix List of tables x List of appendices xii Chapter - Introduction Background and context of the study New Schools Origins of the study Characteristics framework Purpose of the study Research statement and questions Research statement Research questions Significance of the study Structure of the thesis Chapter - Contextual Statement 11 My role vi A new school: initial events and processes 13 A new school: the site 14 A new school: the staff 16 Initial themes 17 Chapter Three - Review of Literature: New Schools 20 New Schools: cases Case One: Eastabrook and Fullan (1977) and Bayridge 20 Case Two: Fink (2000) and Lord Byron 27 Case Three: Margolis (2005) 35 Lessons learned from the profession 37 Chapter summary and conclusion 41 Chapter - Review of Literature: School Effectiveness and School Improvement School effectiveness and school improvement: an introduction 45 School Effectiveness 46 School Improvement 58 Chapter synthesis and the further development of the characteristics framework 65 Chapter - Review of Literature: School Reform School Reform 72 Focused reform effort 75 Reform from an educational change perspective 79 Holistic reform 82 Desimone (2002): reform implementation and the theory of policy attributes vii 84 Bain (2007): nine next-generation reform targets and the self-organizing 91 school Chapter synthesis thus far and future direction 96 Sustainability 99 Chapter summary and synthesis 104 Chapter - Method Introduction 109 Purpose of the study 109 Research Design 109 The site 112 Participants 113 Data Collection 113 Field notes: journal 115 Archival records: school documentation 115 Interviews: school teaching staff 116 Procedure 118 Data analysis 118 Validity and generalisability 128 Limitations and Ethical Considerations 129 Chapter Seven - Findings What structures, procedures and resources are vital in establishing a new school 131 resulting in sustainable practices? Vision and Philosophy 136 Decision-making and communication 151 viii Basic managerial functioning 162 The wider community 164 Definition of roles 169 Appropriate Professional Development 170 Support 175 Future Planning 176 What evidence existed of a theory of process for starting Companion High 177 School? Chapter synthesis and summary 179 Comparison of findings 179 Chapter Eight - Discussion, Implications and Recommendations Discussion 192 Implications and recommendations 198 Recommendations 200 Concluding remarks 203 References 204 Appendices 224 ix LIST OF FIGURES Number Page Figure 1.1 Stages of the study Figure 2.1 Focus questions and themes 19 Figure 4.1 A heuristic model of school and teacher effectiveness 56 Figure 5.1 A representation of the interrelatedness of the suprasystem, 100 the system (the school) and the subsystem Figure 6.1 Carney’s Ladder of Analytical Abstraction (1990) 112 Figure 6.2 Stages of data analysis 127 x LIST OF TABLES Number Page Table: 3.1 A Paradigm for the Analysis of Change 21 Table 3.2 Categories emerging from the New Schools Literature 43 Table 4.1 Categories resulting from the school effectiveness and 70 school improvement literature Table 5.1 Desimone (2002) 87 Table 5.2 Issues, factors and conditions emerging from the school 98 reform literature Table 5.3 Convergence of previous categories into final focus categories 105 Table 5.4 Characteristics that should be evident in a new school 107 Table 6.1 Participant information and identification number 113 principles that should underpin the establishment of a new school Table 6.2 Initial issues identified as focus areas 119 Table 6.3 Key-words and phrases and codes 121 Table 6.4 Codes and definition 121 Table 6.5 Final coding categories for curriculum construction 122 Table 6.6 Design characteristics by which a new school should be established 124 Table 6.7 Teacher response to Have the learning outcomes of 125 students been enhanced by adopting specific practices? Table 7.1 Identified themes extrapolated from researcher’s observations and 132 xi journal entries Table 7.2 New school design characteristics 134 Table 7.3 Initial structures identified by foundation and second year staff 136 Table 7.4 Vision and philosophy 184 Table 7.5 Effective decision-making and communication 185 Table 7.6 Basic managerial functioning 186 Table 7.7 Appropriate professional development 187 Table 7.8 The wider community 188 Table 7.9 Clear role definitions 189 Table 7.10 Support 190 Table 7.11 Future planning 191 Table 8.1 Recommended new school design characteristics 200 xii LIST OF APPENDICES Number Page Interview questions 224 An example of a journal entry 225 An example of a complete transcript 226 Consent form 235 Principal’s information sheet 236 Principal’s consent form 237 Information sheet 238 The school’s vision statement 240 Initial curriculum documentation 241 10 Staff Handbook 281 xiii ... with all foundation and second year staff, and analyses of observation journal and school archival documentation Data analysis occurred in three distinct stages and was informed by Carney’s Analytical... without a theory base of a process Stage involved an analysis of participant interviews and school documentation, and a comparison of these findings against the internal and external level forces and. .. CREATING AND SUSTAINING A NEW SCHOOL: THE CHALLENGES AND ISSUES A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Education In the Faculty of Education