Shaping School Culture: Pitfalls, Paradoxes, & Promises

Citation

Dodge, H. (2010), "Shaping School Culture: Pitfalls, Paradoxes, & Promises", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 48 No. 2, pp. 278-280. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578231011027941

Culture is as ubiquitous in the function of education as it is in business, the family, and society itself. Yet in an era of standards‐based reforms schools have drifted from their cultural roots. School leaders have the vital task of keeping the balance between managing mandated reforms and preserving the craft knowledge that ultimately molds school culture. In Shaping School Culture: Pitfalls, Paradoxes & Promises, Terrence Deal and Kent Peterson argue that (Deal and Peterson, 2009, p. ix) “successful school cultures have leaders who can cope with the paradoxes of their work and take advantage of the opportunities of the future”. They argue that an underlying affect of recent reforms in American education, such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, has caused some schools to neglect their unwritten rules, norms, traditions, and expectations.

In Shaping School Culture: Pitfalls, Paradoxes and Promises, Deal and Peterson rethink the importance of school culture in today's educational environment. Deal's diverse career experience as a police officer, teacher, principal, district office administrator, and professor provide a breadth of experience. A scholar of educational research, Peterson is currently professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin‐Madison. He was the first director of the Vanderbilt Principal's Institute and is former head of the National Center for Effective Schools Research and Development. The authors' combined expertise in business, corporate culture, and educational leadership and policy analysis lends itself to a thorough examination of how teachers and administrators can lead the way to successful schools by reconnecting with the cultural roots.

Shaping School Culture: Pitfalls, Paradoxes, & Promises is the second major reworking of an idea originally presented by Deal and Peterson in The Principal's Role in Shaping School Culture (1990) and then revised in Shaping School Culture: The Heart of Leadership (1999). Building upon their ideas of school culture in this second edition the authors add concepts of paradoxes and “toxic” cultures. Their original discussion on school culture is enriched by an expanded research base that demonstrates how culture influences the way a school functions. Elevating the discussion are examples of rituals and school traditions with regard to the importance of mission and purpose, case examples of the power of stories and history, and symbols in architecture.

The authors offer sage advice to school leaders: to embrace the paradoxical nature of their work. Deal and Peterson aim to guide school leaders to renovate and reinvigorate schools. With this in mind, the book is organized into 15 chapters. The first eight chapters discuss the elements of culture while the last seven chapters examine the symbolic role of school leaders. The authors define culture as (p. 6) “the school's unwritten rules and traditions, norms, and expectation”. Culture is described as what is valued and important in schools; the powerful, pervasive, and elusive force that drives decisions.

The first section of the book, “Elements of culture”, focuses on the building blocks of a meaningful workplace. The case examples, stories, and quotes from teachers and administrators liven the discussion and put a name and face to the elusive concept of school culture. One case example mentioned throughout the book is that of the successful school culture at Ganado Primary School. Discussion on mission and rituals, lore, networks, and creating a culture of learning gives concrete evidence of how school culture benefits schools and ultimately students learning. Deal and Peterson so vividly set the scene and context for the school that even the reader feels included in the thriving community of learners. The discussion is continued in the next two chapters on the power of symbols, tradition, and history.

Deal and Peterson suggest that (p. 33) “symbols represent intangible cultural values and beliefs”. As the outward manifestation of what schools stand for, symbols are powerful in creating cultural cohesion and pride. Artifacts in schools that represent cultural values might include mission statements, displays of student work, banners, and mascots. The sentiments that educators, students, and community connect to these symbols link them to the underlying purpose of the school. School administrators have an important role in safeguarding the symbols, artifacts, and logos that represent a schools' culture.

Deal and Peterson argue that to prevent the ethos of a school from becoming splintered and vulnerable to educational fads, school leaders must examine the leadership, conflicts, relationships, modifications, and reforms of a schools' history. They argue that (p. 47) “Before tinkering with a culture leaders need to initiate, one way or another, an in‐depth and comprehensive history of their school”. Furthermore, they assert that (p. 57) “reconnecting with historical roots is a fundamental step in shaping school culture”. Historical roots can most often be found in the core stories and myths that are passed on from one class to the next. Examples of stories about the mission, purpose, and meaning in chapter four set the tone for solving the current problems with school culture.

The authors contend that the questions that must be answered in order nurture school culture include (p. 69): “How do we recapture the magic and myth of education? How do we restore a core story that enables teachers to believe in their importance and convinces the public that schools are worthy of their confidence and support?”. While Deal and Peterson recognize that achievement data is not the only proof needed to restore the faith in schools, their solution that cultural vitality lies in the myths, missions, purposes, values, beliefs, assumptions, and norms may be too visionary for struggling and new schools.

Deal and Peterson suggest that it is the responsibility of school leaders to keep the stories of a school positive and long‐lasting. They suggest that (p. 75) “stories reinforce a unique identity among mangers and employees of ‘who we are and want we stand for’”. While Deal and Peterson insist that stories help to get people listening, more discussion on whether the transmission of such stories through rituals, ceremonies, and tradition is sufficient. In chapter eight, “Conveyors of Culture”, the positive and negative transmitters of culture are outlined like the cast of characters from a novel. The informal helpers, who create the network of unofficially sanctioned players, are charged with keeping the culture of a school (p. 117) “humming and heading in the right direction”. The cast includes (p. 121) “priests and priestesses” as the guardians of cultural values and beliefs, “storytellers” as the powerful and indispensable members of the cultural network, “gossips” as the real‐time information scuttlebutts, “spies” as the covert observers, and “heroes and heroines” as the emblems of core values. The comical but all too common archetypal roles succinctly describe the hidden players in schools.

In the second section of the book, “The symbolic role of school leaders”, Deal and Peterson describe three case examples of thriving school cultures. By giving examples of successful schools, the authors provide practical pathways to school leaders. By emphasizing that each school will find its own path if school leadership can help people discover the right direction” the authors avoid the one‐size‐fits‐all pitfall that is often the fate of many reform efforts.

By expanding their discussion on school culture to include “toxic cultures”, Deal and Peterson offer a more balanced and thorough examination of school culture. Characteristics of toxic cultures are described as (p. 169) “focused on negative values or parochial self‐interests, fragmented, hostile, students viewed as superfluous, spiritually fractured, and where stories highlight incompetence”. The common pathways to cultural decline include dropping cultural customs, closing out opportunities to build trusting relationships, terminating valued rituals and ceremonies, ignoring or changing core symbols, and neglecting core stories. In chapters ten and eleven, Deal and Peterson offer many tangible suggestions for transforming toxic school cultures.

In the last two chapters of the book, “Living with paradox” and “Achieving balance”, Deal and Peterson discuss the dualistic role that principals have in keeping safeguarding both meaning and order within a school. Core dilemmas are examined in a realistic manner. Finally, Terrence and Deal argue that (p. 247) “effective schools are those that balance structure and culture in a dynamic tension that keeps the fulcrum point on the center”.

This is a book that any school leader would benefit from reading. However, it is best suited for those who aim to renovate and reinvigorate school culture. Shaping School Culture: Pitfalls, Paradoxes, & Promises is both helpful to new administrators looking to build trust among teachers and administrators, researchers who are examining the intricacies of school culture, and professional developers who aim to restore confidence in teachers. Shaping School Culture: Pitfalls, Paradoxes, & Promises is a practical resource, offering advice and insight on how to cultivate successful school cultures. While many reform efforts attempt to address schools from the outside, this book describes how school leaders can affect change from within. The authors conclude by asserting that (p. 248) “As we traverse the new millennium, school leaders will grapple with both paradox and opportunity. How well they balance opposing forces and find promising pathways will have a tremendous impact on America's future”.