Pushing Christmas euphoria to the background

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday January 15, 2024 06:00

Presumably, everyone should be returning to work equipped with a razor sharp mind, having had sufficient respite to replenish energy supplies.

Typical of a new year, the mood is extremely high and reassuring. Almost everyone is prepared to let bygones be bygones and begin a new year on a clean slate. Nothing rivals a new year in terms of presenting opportunities for resetting the agenda and reordering priorities of a school. It cannot be business as usual.

While the psychological boost a school has at the beginning of business in a new season may be subtle and not clearly visible, there are always clear and undisguised reassuring elements placing a school on a positive pedestal. Appearance is everything and can set the right tone for a school while creating an everlasting impression in the minds of everyone, especially new entrants. Some lucky and resourced schools would be buoyed and lifted spiritually by a face-lifting programme that would have been undertaken during vacation. In my view, it is a great thing for schools, even in the midst of resource constraints, to make an attempt to embark on some face-lifting activities, no matter how small. A freshly painted school and well-maintained lawn in front of the administration block can be quite refreshing and reassuring.

The new year is always accompanied by encouraging and promising developments, however, cosmetic they may be. The arrival of new and ‘untainted’ arrivals can set the right tone for schools. It is not uncommon for a school to get new faces deployed at the beginning of the year. Staffing rearrangements can give hope for injection of novel and diverse ideas and fresh vitality. Some schools would be experiencing a change of guard offering an opportunity for a sense of renewal and a break with old ineffective and divisive practices, which did not serve the organisation well while others, would be enjoying continuity.

A change of guard can be a good omen for a school that was otherwise struggling. High achieving schools would always take comfort and solace in continuity and it is safer for that responsibility for deployment of staff to avoid at all costs disrupting the existing pattern and culture of high performance.

This is to say moving out people from one school to another should be well calculated to avoid facing the unintended consequences of destroying an effective school culture. For instance, plucking out of a school a high achieving school principal while not giving much thought to the calibre and suitability of his /her replacement could cut short a culture that sufficiently supported and inspired students and staff. Yes, it is important for school principals to exploit the good will and spirit of positivity reigning supreme at the start of a New Year to create durable and ever lasting impressions. If I were to digress a bit, I still have vivid memories about my arriving at Moeng College some four decades ago. First impressions matter and projecting a positive school climate is everything. My former school succeeded where others failed by ticking the right boxes at every opportunity and corner. Everything good about a school should be orchestrated from the office of the school principal. On arriving, students must never have reason to doubt the quality of a school and its commitment to teaching and learning. The school’s take off must be flawless and seamless. Boarding an aeroplane for the first time can be unsettling and nerve wrecking. But it takes the unbroken voice of the captain to ease worries. “In charge of the flight 101 is captain Smollet, welcome on board and the weather will be...” This positive note makes the first time anxious flyers feel at home. This is the kind of assurance and confidence that school principals must demonstrate at the start of the term and sustain through the years.

The professional demeanour of staff, the discipline among students, the high standard of cleanliness and a visible and unpretentious sense of urgency should give all and sundry reason to believe in the school’s uncompromising commitment to matters of instruction as well as its holistic approach to the development of tye children. Parents should not on day one struggle to believe that their children are at the right school, with the right teachers and the right principal.

This is the climate every school must create one day. Creating an impression of a good school should not be a once off thing; not merely done as a short-term campaign strategy to lure students and attract patrons but it should be followed by action in the classroom.

Classroom instruction sets apart one school from another and distinguishes one principal from the rest. Some schools are capable of making empty promises, which are not backed by delivery in the classroom. No school should take its feet off the pedal especially where matters of classroom instruction are concerned. The question is how soon after opening should a school begin its teaching.

Most schools look for every excuse in the book to delay teaching by a couple of days. This is a very bad culture which should be avoided at all costs. No school should allow precious school instruction time to go to waste. It is crucially important to give a complete and unrelenting focus on classroom instruction beginning with the first day of the term.

Teaching and learning should be treated as an urgent business, which cannot wait. In order to start on a high note on the first day of school business, there is an urgent need to mobilise the troops and get them classroom ready a couple of days before opening. This is a profession that calls for selfless service and I have no doubt in my mind that if well led and sufficiently encouraged, teachers would always offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to promote and sustain a high performing culture.

To achieve this end, a lot of time and energy should be devoted to preparatory work. Academic departmental meetings should be arranged a day or two prior to opening to make teachers combat ready. Students easily catch the ‘fever’ when on arrival they are able to know that their school means business and that matters of instruction assume precedence over other considerations.

Who should lead the troops in this battle for improved learning outcomes? It should be none other than the school principal. Office work is important but secondary. Those in the office should not shy away from conducting instructional rounds or classroom observations on the first day of the term. Electing to observe lessons after a school has settled for a week can send a wrong signal to the troops on the ground and help to build a culture of complacency in the early stages of the term. All in all, success in a school is founded on a spirit of positivity and it is best to exploit the euphoria associated with a new year to reset a school on the road to high performance.