Building a culture of collective responsibility

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday August 8, 2022 06:00

Instead of investing deeply on instructional core, the tendency is to tinker at the surface.

A lot of energy is wasted on the blame game, where there is a toxic culture of trading accusations and counter accusations rather than cultivating a positive climate encouraging exchange of rigorous pedagogic (instruction) and governance practices.

The blame game is a clear manifestation of the inability to pull together and maintain an atmosphere of collective responsibility, cooperation and mutual respect. In this kind of environment accountability is low as nobody takes responsibility for challenges plaguing their schools.

The buck is conveniently passed to the next level.

It is worth sharing the various manifestations of the blame game in our schools. In one of the schools I have been assigned to during by teaching days, when briefing a visiting Minister on the underachievement of his school, the Principal expressed no confidence in the top management claiming that his (HODs) did not have sufficient experience to guide their charges well.

This vote of no confidence did not sit well with not only with the top management but also with the entire staff. Rightly so, they felt the principal was trying to save and advance his career by keeping his colleagues down. A deep sense of insecurity and vulnerability developed following the principal’s unguarded and unflattering remarks about colleagues.

Everyone felt unsafe, unvalued and uncared for. It is the responsibility of school leaders to build and maintain a culture of collective ownership of problems and to make everyone feel valued and trusted. Self-preservation at the expense of the collective does not work.

In the face of the challenge of under achievement the principal as the chief instructional leader should own the problem rather than shift the buck. In his inspiring book, Leaders Eat last, Simon Sinek says that leaders should create a circle of safety which creates a sense of belonging for everyone in the organisation.

Leaders should create an atmosphere of mutual trust where everyone has insurance against internal threats. It is clear that pointing fingers is not the solution, pulling together and doing something about performance gaps is. Simon Sinek contends that ‘’without the protection of our leaders, everyone outside the inner circle is forced to work out alone or in small tribes to protect and advance their own interests.

And in so doing silos form, politics, entrench, mistakes are covered up instead of exposed, the spread of information slows and unease soon replaces any sense of cooperation and security.’’

Some schools expend energies on factors beyond their control. For instance worrying about the policy environment (external factor) than the practice environment (local factor) is unhelpful. For instance everyone school is aware of the challenges posed by the long, irrelevant and overcrowded school curriculum.

The curriculum question is a policy matter beyond the control of any school. If anything it is the one common denominator across the board. There is a feeling in some junior and senior secondary school quarters that the primary school curriculum is not sufficiently preparing students for their next levels of study. Subjected to the same curriculum challenges some schools continue to excel and support their students well. While some schools have developed strategies to navigate the difficult curriculum terrain others are preoccupied with lamenting.

This is not helping the cause of achieving improved learning outcomes.

Another scenario showing an exercise in futility is where schools blame their competitors for their downfall or underachievement. Some schools especially in the rural areas accuse town schools of ‘poaching’ their most able students.

There is no denying the fact that upon completion of primary school certificate course parents make efforts to channel their children to junior and senior secondary schools, which, in their judgment, would serve their children well.

This is where schools, which do not have a record of performance lose students, they would have otherwise gained from their catchment area to other schools beyond. There is nothing anybody can do about this challenge.

Parents have every right to send their children to schools that guarantee success. Instead of worrying about the top cream they should have received but lost, the Principal should raise the instructional bar to motivate and challenge the students they have to unleash their potential. Instead of crying over spilt milk (loss of ‘A’ grade students to competitors) schools know that in the final analysis quality instruction changes the game.

Cleary playing the ‘politics’ is entirely unhelpful. There is need to create a circle of safety where people will share notes, intelligence and collectively own and solve problems. When employees feel valued they always look forward to the next day at work.