Creating and sustaining a new school- the challenges and the issu_2

University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2008 Creating and sustaining a new school: the challenges and the issues Zeffie Nicholas Universi

University of Wollongong

Research Online

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection

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

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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

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

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 1 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 1 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 2 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

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 3 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 do 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

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

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Chapter 2 - Contextual Statement

A new school: initial events and processes 13

Chapter Three - Review of Literature: New Schools

Case One: Eastabrook and Fullan (1977) and Bayridge 20 Case Two: Fink (2000) and Lord Byron 27

Chapter 4 - Review of Literature: School Effectiveness and School

Improvement

School effectiveness and school improvement: an introduction 45

Chapter synthesis and the further development of the characteristics framework 65

Chapter 5 - Review of Literature: School Reform

Reform from an educational change perspective 79

Desimone (2002): reform implementation and the theory of policy

attributes

84

Bain (2007): nine next-generation reform targets and the self-organizing school

91

Chapter synthesis thus far and future direction 96

Chapter 6 - Method

Archival records: school documentation 115

Limitations and Ethical Considerations 129

Chapter Seven - Findings

What structures, procedures and resources are vital in establishing a new school resulting in sustainable practices?

131

Basic managerial functioning 162

What evidence existed of a theory of process for starting Companion High School?

177

Chapter Eight - Discussion, Implications and Recommendations

LIST OF FIGURES

Number Page

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,

the system (the school) and the subsystem

100

Figure 6.1 Carney’s Ladder of Analytical Abstraction (1990) 112

Figure 6.2 Stages of data analysis 127

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

school improvement literature

70

Table 5.2 Issues, factors and conditions emerging from the school

reform literature

98

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

principles that should underpin the establishment of a new school

113

Table 6.2 Initial issues identified as focus areas 119

Table 6.3 Key-words and phrases and codes 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 8 response to Have the learning outcomes of

students been enhanced by adopting specific practices?

125

Table 7.1 Identified themes extrapolated from researcher’s observations and 132

journal entries

Table 7.2 New school design characteristics 134 Table 7.3 Initial structures identified by foundation and second year staff 136

Table 7.5 Effective decision-making and communication 185 Table 7.6 Basic managerial functioning 186 Table 7.7 Appropriate professional development 187

Table 8.1 Recommended new school design characteristics 200

LIST OF APPENDICES

Number Page

2 An example of a journal entry 225

3 An example of a complete transcript 226

5 Principal’s information sheet 236

8 The school’s vision statement 240

9 Initial curriculum documentation 241