CAPÍTULO 5: RESULTADOS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN
2. Recomendaciones
schools with a Christian ethos
In my research at Bishop Pritchard School, there was a feeling from pupils, parents and staff that their (religious) school was markedly different in terms of diligence from the other (non- religious) schools in the town. The following comments are typical:
SG: “Are the exam results in this school good?”
L2M7: “I think it’s because like we concentrate a lot on our subjects and we’ve got like
not strict teachers but they are not always like really friendly so they would like, if you started talking then they would say, ‘Get on with your work’ and then they
would like either separate you from the person you were talking to or like they’d
give you like a warning, so like if you did it one more time then you would be separated from them. And I think that like helps you concentrate more.” L3F8: “It’s just that most people in this school want to achieve, have good results,
good jobs.” (Group interview transcript, Ks3 pupils, 27/03/12)
With the exception of one, the pupils were only able to draw on their experience of their previous primary schools before transferring to secondary school. However, comments from a member of the support staff, who was also a parent, lent weight to this perception that the work ethic was fundamentally different at the Bishop Pritchard School compared with the non-Church schools in the town.
“….. it is a very strict school but again I don’t know how the other schools work in comparison but all I can say is that when we have children come into this school that have come from other schools, you know, they see it as a prison camp almost because they’re not used to the strictness that we have here compared to the other schools, you know with uniform with everything really, behaviour, it is strict compared to other schools and the children are made to
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work hard with plenty of homework.” (Interview transcript, Parent/Support staff
member SS, 15/05/12)
These sentiments were supported by many of the staff, for example the head of year 7:
“It’s a whole mind set. I also think that the parents make their children work harder and there is a kind of ‘rub-off’. There is a good work ethic in this school.
The children seem to do as they are told and get on with hard work.” (Interview
transcript, Head of Year 7 CP, 07/03/12).
Based on the data that I obtained from Bishop Pritchard School, I suggest that there may be something deeper to be found in the influence of the headteacher in creating the culture that was necessary to turn the school around. I suggest that the soul of the man can be found in the soul of the school. I maintain that there is some evidence of an ingrained culture amongst the longer serving members of staff concerning what was done to transform the school from potential closure to outstanding success. This story will have been passed on by the older members of staff and assimilated by successive generations of new staff and informs, in part, the current thinking and practice at the school. This story is, in significant part, the story of the energy, drive, hard work and diligence of the, now executive, headteacher, Trevor Brown and his leadership team (chapter 3 section II; chapter 8 section I part b).
The following comments from the head of geography and long serving member of staff are typical:
“Trevor and I both came to the school after the Acting Head had said that we have only 67 first choices for admission into year 7 and unless we turn the ship around we could well close. Given this background, we raised our game and since then have avoided resting on our laurels. Now we always look for further improvement. We’ve raised our game in terms of, you know, our expectations
of students. And I think that you can see from the students’ performances that
they have followed that lead; the lead of the headteacher and the staff.” (Interview transcript, Long serving member of staff JC, 07/03/12)
It is also significant that there was a perception that this new work ethic ‘rubbed off’ on the pupils. This change of ethos inspired by the newly appointed headteacher all those years ago was not only felt by the teaching staff but by the support staff as well:
“1996 was when Mr Brown came and it’s him who’s turned the school around….. He’s worked incredibly hard. He knows how to get the best out of his staff. They all work incredibly hard and he just won’t accept anything but the very best from people. So I think that just had the knock-on effect.” (Interview transcript, Support Staff GM, 08/05/12)
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Diligence implies more than just working hard. It implies a desire to follow things up and see them through to completion. Again there was plenty of evidence to support this:
TB: “….so we developed those policies, we got the kids on board, lots of
assemblies with the kids, lots of time for talking to the children about you know just where the school could be and the thing that I did all the time was communication, communication, communication. We started a weekly newsletter that went home to parents and I still am manic about making sure ... in every school I’ve had there’s a weekly newsletter INTOUCH (a pseudonym) that goes home to parents and it’s a manic PR tool really. It’s always saying we’ve got this letter in from someone who saw our children in the street and said how wonderful they were. The children started to believe in themselves.
Does that make sense?”
SG: “Definitely.”
TB: “One of the things I’ve learnt is I always know the message I’m giving and everything fits that message. So nothing went in the paper without the message. Right? I was in the paper every week for months and months, well not almost every week, but at least once a month and anything to do with Bishop Pritchard always had my picture there, whether it was the knitting or whatever you know, I had to be in it. No picture went in without me because at that time there had to be a personal investment in this Harvey Jones figure, even though staff knew and I knew it wasn’t the case there had to be that association, ‘Oh yeh, that’s the guy who’s turning round that school’. You know
what I mean?”
SG: “Yes.”
TB: “I know it sounds ... and it’s God that’s turned it around and everything and so
we had this manic control that this had to be the way it developed. I know that you want to know what made the difference and for me it was simply hard work. I worked hard and the staff modelled that and the pupils then modelled that. I genuinely feel that the success of the school is down to creating this work ethic and following everything through diligently.” (Interview transcript, Executive Headteacher TB, 21/02/12)
Significantly, the feeling that God was behind it is mentioned and points once again to Trevor Brown’s sense of calling (see chapter 4 section III part d). I further maintain that my ability to empathise with this story stems from my own similar story at Canon Hall, from a school on the point of closure to one of the most improved schools in England. Again, at the heart of this transformation is the hard work and diligence of the headteacher, who also felt called by God, rubbing off on the staff and pupils (see chapter 3 section II).
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I recall a comment from the head of year 11 at Canon Hall, someone who had been at the school for 25 years, about seeing things through. She said that she was discussing the recent ferry disaster off the Italian coast where the captain had left his vessel prematurely. It was the view of both her and her year group that this was poor behaviour and would never happen at Canon Hall as the Principal was always the last to leave the building almost every night of the year! Whether this diligence is mirrored in other Church schools amongst other headteachers and their staff and pupils is another question. In the light of my own experience, the results of the internet survey below and the outcomes of the group discussion with Church school headteachers, I would suggest that diligence may be a habit within the ethos of all successful Church schools.
In the internet survey to all Church of England headteachers in the sample, 36% felt that
children from Church schools were more diligent and 23% disagreed with this and 32% weren’t
sure. When considering children from Church families as opposed to Church schools, the gap was wider. 45% felt that children from Church families were more diligent than children from
non-Church families. 32% disagreed with this statement and 23% said that they weren’t sure.
The findings of this online survey would suggest that the perception of Church of England secondary school headteachers is that diligence was a factor within both Church families and Church schools. Although, it is acknowledged that the survey was only sent to 100 schools and
there was only a 22% response rate. (Survey of headteachers’ views, chapter 8 section III part
a).
In the group interview with six serving headteachers of Church of England secondary schools, the term diligence did not feature prominently in the discussion; one notable exception was the following comment:
“I think they (the pupils) can see through a member of staff who’s not putting the work in or showing the level of commitment that they expect from a Church
school.” (Group interview of headteachers, MR, 19/9/2013).
Although academic diligence may not have featured prominently, analysis of the transcript revealed a firm commitment to caring and to showing love towards the children and staff at the school. This may be termed as a diligent approach to caring. In this regard, the following comment captured the spirit of much that was said on pastoral care:
“We regard every pupil as unique and of infinite worth. We therefore keep going with them to turn them around when perhaps other schools would give up. In fact, we also do this with the staff.” (Group interview of headteachers, SG, 19/9/2013).
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“XX is a Church school because it goes the extra mile in terms of providing opportunities for repentance and then forgiveness as a way of avoiding punishment.” (Survey of headteachers’ views, IAB, May 2013).
III. Resilience
a) Related words found in the data
A sense of hope, a purpose to life, a reason to keep going and the ability to cope with the ‘ups
and downs’ of life, ability to keep going and cope with the ‘knocks’.
Can these words under the broad umbrella of resilience be said to be distinctively Christian and capable of emanating from the Christian ethos of a Church school? Again, in this thesis, I have argued that they can. For the Christian and the Church following mainstream Christian doctrine, the ultimate hope for humanity, and the whole of creation, is the return of Jesus Christ to restore what was lost at the time of the fall (Luke 19:10; Wright, 2007). This future hope has inspired
millions of Christians since the birth of Christianity and continues to do so today.32
Quintessentially, whatever present set-back or hardship is endured, the belief in a better future without crying or pain (Revelation 21:4) can instil in an individual a greater ability to cope, and bounce back. In essence, a self-professed Christian with this hope can demonstrate greater resilience. In this study, this was the view expressed by both the school Chaplain and the deputy headteacher at the Bishop Pritchard school with reference to the data about the school. It was also the view expressed by the Church school headteachers in the group interview. Finally, it was the view articulated and modelled by the headteacher, Trevor Brown, in facing the innumerable challenges and set-backs that he faced on joining the school (see chapter 4 section III part d). All of this is covered in more detail in section c below.