DIMENSIONS
Driving School Excellence and Growth
Culture & Environment
Every school has its unique Vision and Mission. These statements shine a light on what the school prioritises and on what basis it sets its goals and objectives. They reflect what makes the school unique but also on how it shares similar aspirations to other schools. The Vision and Mission assign relative importance to the many responsibilities the school has, and guide the school leadership and school community in decision making. They should avoid being too vague or generic. Research shows that highly valuing and expertly crafting these statements can play an important role in supporting planning, strategy and the setting of performance and achievement targets.
Frequently, experts speak of the ‘learning environment’ of a school. Intentionally, or unintentionally, the school’s culture significantly impacts the quality of teaching and learning that occurs every day. Vision and Mission statements are an important starting point for cultural settings, but they cannot alone create the school’s culture. Culture is influenced by multiple factors and understanding them, and their interaction, is crucial to making sense of what is driving success in the school, and what is challenging its success. Examples of survey questions include the following:
• Does the school’s culture reflect its priorities and objectives? • How does culture impact the learning environment, and what differentiates between a mediocre and a good school? And a good school and a great school? • How is student behaviour impacting the learning environment? • What are the main barriers to learning? • What is the quality of communication throughout the school and school community?
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School Leadership
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The school leadership often has a profound impact on the quality of teaching and learning in a school. Characteristically, school leaders such as principals and deputy principals influence student learning ‘indirectly’ through leadership of the teaching and other school staff. Commonly, especially in commercial and public sector contexts, leaders (and indeed all staff) have a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). While not being the complete set of attributes measuring leadership performance, they are nonetheless significantly important. The programme’s surveys explore various features of school leadership identifying strengths and achievements, as well as challenges and opportunities for growth. For example:​​
• Is the leadership team achieving what it hopes to achieve? • What is the school leadership team’s management style and how is it regarded by separate groups within the school community? • Are professional learning and development programmes meeting teacher and school leadership needs?
​Curriculum & Pedagogy
At the heart of learning are what is taught and how is it taught and what is learned and how is it learned best. Schools that assign the highest priority to teaching and learning invariably have successful and high achieving students. While wellbeing and emotional security are key to supporting the development of the whole student, academic success receives its best chance from high-quality learning. In contemporary school education it is possible to identify best practice by benchmarking internationally and locally. There are policies and practices that we know do work, and work better than other approaches. IMPACT asks key questions to elicit data and information about the school’s policies and practices. For example:​
• Are teachers confident in their knowledge of how students learn and how to put this knowledge into practice in the classroom? • Do teachers feel confident when using the relevant curriculum scope and sequence? • How do teachers apply evidence-based teaching and learning practices in classrooms? • Are students being engaged by meaningful contexts, appropriate pedagogical practices and high-quality learning resources? • What is the process for managing Professional Teacher Standards? • Do assessment practices meet school, teacher, student, and parent needs? • Are students achieving the expected educational standards and learning outcomes? • What is the approach to teaching and achieving high levels of student creativity and preparedness for 21st Century work and life? • How is technology being used in the classroom - especially Artificial Intelligence (AI)? • Are students with special educational needs being successfully accommodated? • How are mobile phones and other devices being used and managed?
Staff & Student Well-being
The surveys will examine the extent to which well-being is or is not a priority in the school, and what implications follow from this. Well-being will be considered especially as it relates to the school’s learning environment and individual student performance. Feelings of security and safety at school for both students and teachers is of paramount importance. Students who feel unsafe will not learn effectively and teachers who feel unsafe cannot teach effectively. Survey respondents will answer direct questions that ask them to rate how safe and secure they feel at school. The survey items will also explore the issue of bullying, which relates directly to feelings of safety and security (as well as feeling included). Questions will also probe the extent and impact of bullying at the school. For example:
• Does the school community have a shared understanding of well-being? • Do students, teachers and school leaders feel safe and secure at school? • What are the main well-being preoccupations and concerns for school leaders and teachers? • How widespread and effective is peer support among staff?