Almost invariably, all private English Medium schools are synonymous with academic excellence. Take for example, Maruapula School. I have known and heard about the school since childhood as a top brand, rendering effective teaching and learning service.
To date, after so many years of existence and illustrious service, it has managed to keep its character and flair. Entrenched and being the big brand it is, the school has obviously passed into many hands but at no stage in its life of existence, has it allowed a change of guard to dilute its reputation?
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about public schools. Unlike their counterparts in the private sphere, known for consistency in performance and character, public schools offering basic education have proven to be wanting in terms of consistency. They have a long history of inconsistency. They have a notorious distinction of blowing hot and cold. A school should never have a seasonal character. A school that oscillates between two contrasting worlds does not do its reputation or the students it was meant to serve any justice.
In the USA, there can only be one Harvard or Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). These are institutions of international repute, always linked to excellence. That is the character of the institutions and it knows no change. In our jurisdiction, how many versions of Moeng or Moeding College do we know of? Some generations many years ago accorded the colleges the highest esteem because of their then widely acclaimed culture of high academic achievement. Today’s generation is experiencing totally different versions. It is important to preach and practice consistency in schools. Once a culture of excellent teaching and learning has been accomplished, every effort should be made to cling to it.
It takes perseverance, enormous resources and energy to build a strong and robust teaching culture and no school should easily recoil and get into a retrogressive step. There could be several factors explaining why a school would experience a back and forth movement. One of the factors has to do with anchoring the fortunes of a school on one single phenomenon such as the brilliance of its leadership at a particular point in time. Local history is littered with examples of schools that instantly became success stories owing to the influence of certain charismatic leaders. Such schools were to quickly fade into oblivion once those leaders departed the scene. The lesson learnt here is that it is extremely risky for a school to rely on one single factor. A culture of success should emanate from a collective and shared vision of success of a people working together in an institution.
Continuity is possible where people have collaborated in the shaping of a school culture. It should be borne in mind that there is nothing wrong in one individual applying his genius to drive a process of change. But for purposes of future sustainability, good leaders should learn to replicate themselves so that those who remain can perpetuate an effective teaching and learning culture.
Public schools could also be struggling to maintain their character of good performance due to a challenge of high attrition. There are a lot of movements from one point to the other, which impact negatively on matters of school governance and pedagogy.
It is not uncommon in public schools to have a department staffed by completely new faces. Such departments are deprived of institutional memory leading to derailment from tried and tested practices, which worked and adoption of new, untested ways, which may not necessary produce desired results. Where a culture of achievement has been established, efforts should be made to avoid a wholesale movement of staff known to be the anchors of a culture of top-notch teaching and learning service. People who are very critical in the very survival of a school should be given incentives to stay a little longer for purposes of safeguarding and preservation of the reputation of a school.
Once there are early signs or full evidence that a good school could be drifting into the abyss, quick remedial actions should be embarked upon to restore a working and effective culture. When a school that used to work well for students is completely broken, resuscitating it can be a harrowing and daunting experience. Some schools have been trying, without success, for the last 10 years to regain their lost past glory.
Picking up a school from a culture of underachievement should not take more than three years. Any school turnaround efforts may not yield any dividends when designed to tinker at the edges rather than uprooting the source of underperformance. This can only mean some school turnaround attempts should be viewed with suspicion if not centred around raising student learning outcomes.
