Shaping School Culture: The Heart of Leadership (Jossey-Bass Education) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

This book was used in a graduate class I was attending while pursuing a Master of School Administration degree. It is very easy to read and is a resource that every school administrator should have. Schools are a community and have a culture all their own. The authors provide a wealth of information that enables one to understand what "school culture" is and how to build a positive school culture. I highly recommend this book to anyone who works in a school or other organization that serves children and adolescents.

In Shaping School Culture: the Heart of Leadership, Terrence Deal and Kent Peterson illustrate that nothing is more important in schools than culture. They believe that school culture is vital to the success of schools. The authors state that "the culture of an enterprise plays the dominant role in exemplary performance" (p. 1). At first, I was skeptical. I did not believe that culture was more important than structure, strategy, goals, or management. I believed that culture was something that played a role in atmosphere and changed from year to year with the staff. I quickly came to realize that culture is the heart of schools and is a stable element.

The reason I was skeptical is because I did not believe that my school had much of a culture. I thought about a few traditions and pondered the high turnover among staff. This book opened my eyes to the fact that our school does have a relatively strong culture and that many of the changes that were made were based on our core norms.

In the first part of the book Deal and Peterson examine the components of school culture including values, beliefs, assumptions, and norms (p. 26).The authors expand upon this and include rituals, ceremonies, stories, architecture, artifacts, and logos in school culture. The authors use examples to distinguishing positive cultures from toxic cultures. This was interesting to me because I could see that the last two principals at our school did a great job of building school culture. They had revised our school motto, mission statement, and value statement. They had established rituals and ceremonies. They had started programs that included year-long rituals and ceremonies. These were all positive steps towards a better school culture. I was also better able to understand the toxic cultures within our school and how these subcultures create negative school environments for the students and the staff.

The second part of the book shows principals how to create a positive culture in their schools. The key components discussed are examining, reflecting, and reflection on events that have shaped culture in their schools. The final and most crucial component for establishing school culture is executing a plan of action. The last few chapters of the book are filled with advice on how to improve school culture such as developing student-centered mission and value statements, building upon established traditions and values, recruit staff that share values, and sustain core norms (p. 116).

The authors forced me to think about the relationships between school rituals, artifacts, ceremonies, symbolism and our school culture. I realized that our school has a great foundation on which to base school culture. I enjoyed this book because it challenged my previously held beliefs about my school. I was also impressed with the author's strategy for changing school culture and the components they outlined for a positive school culture (p. 117).

After reading this book I believe that nothing is more important about a school than its culture.

I found this to be an excellent resource for any educational leader who is looking to create a positive school environment. The authors give many real life examples of leaders who changed the culture of their school and detail how they went about making this change. There are many practical ideas that any leader could begin incorporating right away.

In addition, the book is well written. This is not "heavy" reading, but nonetheless I have found myself returning to it time and time again for ideas and inspiration.

If you are wondering how one person could possibly make a difference in a school, this book will help show you the way.