COURSE LEARNING PACKETS TEMPLATE Document Code FM-STL-013

Saint Louis University Revision No. 01

School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 1 of 4

The Role of School Culture in Learning

School climate and school culture as two terms are frequently used
interchangeably but school climate is more illustrated by the attitudes and behaviors of
the school staff and is focused on the style of the school’s organizational system. School
climate refers to the school's effects on students, including teaching practices, diversity,
and the relationships among administrators, teachers, parents, and students. School
climate is driven by and reflected in daily interactions of staff, administration, faculty,
students support stall, and the outside community.

School culture is a deeper level of reflection of shared values, beliefs, and traditions
between staff members. School culture refers the way teachers and other staff members
work together and the set of beliefs, values, and assumptions they share. (www.ased.org/
research School culture is a broader term and so is inclusive of school climate

School culture matters. Research confirms the central role of culture in school
success School culture can be positive or negative. A positive school culture fosters
improvement, collaborative decision-making, professional development, and staff and
student learning. A negative culture fosters the opposite.

Elements of a Positive Culture

A positive school climate is characterized by the following:

1. Collegiality
2. Experimentation -The atmosphere encourages experimentation and so will
welcome mistakes as part of the learning process. No student, no teacher gets
punished for a mistake. Mistakes are not intended. They give a lot of lesson. Referring
to his 10,000 failed attempts then he was experimenting in the light bulb, Edison said
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
3. High expectations - It has been said one's level of achievement is always lower than
one's level that aspiration. So set high expectations for high achievement. Two
problems arise here. Robert J. Marzano warns us:

First, expectations are subtle and difficult to change. Teachers may be

unaware that they have low expectations for some students; even when they
become aware, they may have difficulty changing their expectations because
their beliefs and biases have developed over the years,
Second, what actually communicates expectations to students is teacher
behavior. If teachers consciously work to change their biases but don't change their
behavior toward those students from whom they have tended to expect less, their
change of attitude will have little effect on student achievement.

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 COURSE LEARNING PACKETS TEMPLATE Document Code FM-STL-013
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 2 of 4

4. Trust and confidence - Students, teachers, school heads and parents relate well and
work well when relationships are solidly built on trust and confidence. In fact, honest
and open communication is possible only when there is trust and confidence in
each other in the school community.
5. Tangible support - Everyone in the school community gets concrete support for the
good that they do. Support comes in not just in words but in action. School head
sees to it that LCDs in the classrooms are functioning.
6. Reaching out to the knowledge base
7. Appreciation and recognition - Certainly words of appreciation and recognition
make classroom climate highly favorable. A reminder to teachers: "You are not
made less when you praise others. Instead, you become magnanimous. So don't
be stingy with your sincere praise. The problem sometimes is our eyes are so quick
to see the negative and so we despise them immediately but our eyes are blinded
to the good and so we overlook them and fail to appreciate.

8. Caring, Celebration, Humor - Kids don't care what you know until they know that
you care. They don't listen to teacher when teacher doesn't care. It may be good
to remind teachers that many of students, especially those who struggle, don't
receive nearly enough positive feedback in the classroom or in their personal lives.

9. Involvement in decision making Involving others who are concerned with decisions
to be made enhances sense of ownership. They also feel important.

10. Protection of what is important -What schools consider important must form part of
their tradition and so must be protected by all means. In the Activity above, mention
was made on School Canteen Policies that include "no soft drinks, no chocolate
etc." and CLAYGO because the school considers nutrition and health and
cleanliness as important.

11. Traditions - A school must have an intentional culture-based program on shared

values, beliefs, and behaviors. This strengthens sense of community. A truly positive
school culture is not characterized simply by the absence of gangs, violence or
discipline problems but also by the presence of a set of norms and values that focus
school community's attention on what is most important and motivate them to work
hard toward a common purpose.

12. Honest and open communication No one gets ostracized for speaking up his mind.
The atmosphere is such that everyone is encouraged to speak his mind without fear
of being ostracized. The agreement at every discussion is "agree to disagree."

Shared Norms: Teacher and Student Norms

Shared norms for both teachers and students contribute to aositive school culture.
Boss and Larmer (2018) share teacher norms and student norms to contribute to a fair and
engaging learning environment, a characteristic of positive school culture. They check on
the following norms each week.

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 COURSE LEARNING PACKETS TEMPLATE Document Code FM-STL-013
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
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Boss, S. & Larmer, J., (2018) Project Based teaching: how to create a rigorous and engaging
learning experiences

School Policies and their Functions

Importance of Policies

Schools in partnership with their community have their own picture of what they
want to be (vision statement) and so must offer services and must do what they are
supposed to do (mission statement) in order to realize what they envisioned themselves to

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 COURSE LEARNING PACKETS TEMPLATE Document Code FM-STL-013
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
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be. For these to happen, policies must be in place. Observance of these policies ensures
everyone in the school community to tow the line. If conditions are ideal like when all
members of the school community are perfect-school heads, teachers, students, parents,
non-teaching personnel and other members of the outside community- there may be no
need for a policy. The truth is conditions in the school community and in this world are far
from ideal and persons that make the school community are far from perfect and so the
need for policies.

One may wonder as to why the Department of Education has issued very stringent
policies and guidelines for PTAs in matters of collecting contributions. Even engaging in any
partisan political activity within school premises is written as one prohibited activity. There
must a history to that. Perhaps malversation of funds and other forms of abuse happened
in the past.

Schools' policy on the grading system is important for everyone concerned to know
how grades are computed. Both students and parents know how grades are derived
objectively. Percentage weights for each component are clear. Teachers are guided in
their assessment practices. The grading policy ensures objective assessment practice.
Without the grading policy, grading may become highly subjective.

Similarly, if there are no policies on students' tardiness and absenteeism, students

may just come in late or absent. The policies on students' tardiness and absenteeism
certainly will curb tardiness and absenteeism to ensure learning.

Effective Policy Formulation and Implementation in a School Community Partnership

The policies on grading, student tardiness and absenteeism came from above,
DepEd Central office. At times there is a need for policies from above. But policies do not
need to come from above all the time.

There are times when a school formulates a policy to address a local problem. In
fact, this is how it should be in a school-community partnership. Ideally, a policy must not
be formulated by the school head by himself/herself. The school head must lead in the
policy formulation process. The word "lead" implies that an effective policy formulation
process must be participatory. This means that it is best that the rest of the school and
community be involved. Two good heads are better than one. Besides participation of
school and community develops a sense of ownership of such formulated policy which
ensures more effective implementation. This is school empowerment in action. Aside from
involving the school and community in policy formulation, a school head must ensure wide
dissemination and correct and clear understanding of the policy.

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