Assessment 1: Case studyAssessment 1: Leading the development of a ‘learning culture’ amongst staff in schoolWord count: 2500 words (+/-10%) + referencesDescription This assessment requires you...

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Learning culture at Gippsland Grammar School
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Table of Contents
Introduction    3
Assessment and review of learning culture    3
Discovering focus areas    6
Recommendations    9
Conclusion    12
References    13
Introduction
Gippsland Grammar School is a widely considered well-established educational institution, situated in Australia. It is known for its pledge toward holistic student development and academic excellence (Gippsland Grammar, 2024). However, it must be noted that the overall effectiveness of any educational institute is deeply connected to the success of its learning culture, specifically among staff. The present reflection aims to thoroughly examine the learning culture of Gippsland Grammar School, with a particular focus on how professional knowledge, leadership and teacher capacity are promoted in the school. Leveraging Domain 2 of the ACER Professional Learning Community Framework, this reflective analysis will discover the present stage of staff learning by identifying key areas for improvement. Actionable strategies to enhance the overall professional environment will also be given. Driven by practice and theory, this reflection offers valuable insights that could encourage sustainable improvements and long-term growth in Gippsland’s learning culture, ultimately strengthening a more dynamic and robust educational community in Australia.
Assessment and review of learning culture
At Gippsland Grammar, the learning culture revolves around balancing a supportive environment and academic rigour with special attention to both staff and students. The Australian educational institution puts a strong emphasis on reflective practice, collaboration and continuous improvement. These are particularly evident across the ways staff engage and interact in various professional activities. There is no doubt a commitment toward fostering a growth learning culture is present. However, the elements of Domain 2 of the ACER PLCF (Professional Learning Community Framework) vary among different areas. PLCF is a school leadership framework that showcases the quality of learning and teaching across schools. This framework helps educational institutions build a strong professional culture, as defined by the notable Australian Performance and Development Framework (Earp, 2017). The areas are:
Teacher capacity
Gippsland has indeed developed exceptional practices for induction and staff selection, ensuring new staff teachers possess enough capacity to meet the demand of the school’s ethos and study curriculum. The induction program for newcomers is comprehensive as it provides the new members a detailed yet thorough introduction to Gippsland’s policies, culture and expectations (Gippsland Grammar, 2024a). However, the existing professional learning framework needs improvement. The regular professional development programs are felt too basic and generalised. For example, in my initial years of working there, we were provided with pre-recorded learning materials (i.e., Child Safe Human Resource Policy) regarding teaching, screening requirements, confidentiality, communication, curriculum development and relevant educational components (Gippsland Grammar AU, 2020). These were quite invalid respecting the current academic environment of Australia. These general professional sessions often failed to address specific departmental or teachers’ needs. I have also noticed that while the capacity of new teachers is effectively built during their induction and initial training stages, the momentum of learning tends to diminish over time, keeping fewer tailored opportunities and programs for professional growth.
Leadership plan and vision
Leadership at Gippsland Grammar has always bent over excellence in education, powered by a continuous commitment toward development and professional growth. This vision is circulated among the departments through different channels, such as staff meetings, strategic plans and professional training sessions. However, as per my experience, while leaders are best at defining the vision and goals, they lack consistency in aligning those visions with staff learning and overall development. There are several instances where vision seems far more aspirational than the actual actionable plan (Gippsland Grammar, 2024b). This is majorly amplified due to the overlooked gaps between day-by-day practices and stated goals. For example, while leaders emphasise reflective practice and innovation, they provide limited opportunities for staff to participate in sustained and deep professional learning that would honestly support (truly) the pre-determined objectives.
Professional knowledge
Gippsland Grammar offers various opportunities for teachers to participate in professional mentoring, learning and performance management. The school’s commitment to supporting teachers' and staff’s professional development is noticeable in training sessions and regular workshops. However, as mentioned earlier the ultimate outlook of these opportunities is limited to the one-size-fts-all approach. Reflecting on my experiences, the learning sessions in my initial years at Gippsland were on broad topics. They were insufficient to meet our curiosities or specific learning demands (Gippsland Grammar, 2024c). In addition, while mentoring is available, is not widely utilised or structured as it should be. Performance management is in its place but it focuses on compliance more than the actual professional growth of the staff. In brief, it can be said the emphasis on initialised professional development is quite low.
School improvement
Gippsland Grammar maintains high standards in its educational excellence as the school desires to improve the overall school performance. The leadership team daily reviews information related to student outcomes and leverages the same to inform the wide strategies. However, the role of teacher and staff learning to drive these improvements is not fully leveraged or recognised. While the management appreciates that teacher development is mandatory for overall school improvement, they fail to accurately address the connection between school-wide changes and professional learning. In my personal view, Gippsland has ample opportunities to closely align the professional development steps with institutional improvement goals, ensuring teacher and staff learning is contributing toward the predetermined outcomes. More targeted professional sessions addressing specific learning demands and individualistic interests are needed (Simonsen et al., 2017). Moreover, action research teams should involve staff to identify...