Theory and Application: Climate

Hannah Julia Paredes Kilnoski

Research Base:

Alemán de la Garza, L., & Gómez Zermeño, M. G. (2021). Mexican Schools: A Study of the Influence of School Leadership and School Climate on Academic Performance. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Educational Studies, 16(2), 91–106. https://doi-org.leo.lib.unomaha.edu/10.18848/2327-011X/CGP/v16i02/91-106

Green, R. L. (2017). Practicing the art of leadership: A problem-based approach to implementing the professional standards for educational leaders. Pearson.

Swart, C., Pottas, L., & Maree, D. (2022). A Conceptual Framework to Support School Leadership in Creating a Positive Climate in South African Schools. Review of International Geographical Education Online, 12(1), 110–127. https://doi-org.leo.lib.unomaha.edu/10.48047/rigeo.12.1.11

Theory and Research:

R.L. Green’s book, ‘Practicing the art of leadership: A problem-based approach to implementing the professional standards for educational leaders’ gives great examples for what school climate in action can look like. A lot of the time, I feel that climate is described as an ephemeral feeling about the school but it’s hard to recreate or provide specific examples of what all climate entails. The book describes that it’s the interactions in and out of the school that help to form the feeling of climate (Green, 2017). Of course, the physical environment is also an important factor to consider in the larger picture of climate in schools.

In Alemán de la Garza and Gómez Zermeño’s article, the importance of the physical environment is not surrounding the light, airy, Montessori-esque style that many articles about physical environment focus on, rather, it talks about how the environment must be created to feel a specific way. In this case, looking at classrooms in Mexico, the physical environment had to look and feel safe for the students, and be set up in a way that broke the norms for traditional Mexican classrooms. This shift included setting up the classroom for free movement and collaboration between students with the idea that the students could actively participate in the school teaching and curriculum in a new and innovative way (Alemán de la garza et.al, 2021). This classroom furniture shift, shifted the students’ classroom climate and education.

Finally, the school climate can only go so far when being led by individuals working in the school context. To have a truly cohesive and strong sense of school climate, you need dedicated leadership that is committed to improving and growing a positive school climate within the school and throughout the community. In a framework model anad article, researchers from South Africa discussed ways in which the leader can push for continuous improvement of the school climate and how the climate change would also positively affect student performance and support a paradigmatic shift in the larger education system (Swart et. al., 2022).

Application and Reflection:

School Climate is something that really confused me for a long time. Because it’s a feeling, I didn’t understand how a whole community could all have a feeling about something but my mom explained it to me as a collective collage of ideas from the individuals that make up the school’s community that form this overarching feeling. Kind of like a rainbow. There are individual tiny droplet of water who are the individuals and the light source would be the school. Each droplet reflects a different color on a spectrum and those attitudes are based off the interactions that have occurred and the infinite situations, set ups and connections that make up the school climate. Thinking on my own experience, I know that I value having students and parents feel welcome in the schools I am a part of. As a department head and a bilingual translator, I acted as a first face to talk to in the mornings when I stood outside rain or shine to greet and welcome students at the door and having dozens of conversations with parents and family members but I also was the person to see them off at dismissal and remark on the cool art project or progress in their reading that I had observed that day. This interaction was a direct role I had in creating the climate according to Green’s rundown definition.

The second two articles brought me to a point of reflection and rumination. I haven’t directly applied their research in my own practice but I was intrigued by the larger implications these articles had and the association with leadership. Both these articles are looking at troubled and broken educational systems. Both focus heavily on the importance school leadership has in creating the school’s climate and both talk about the climate shift’s effects on student performance. Looking at the Mexican context, I love that in the years since the global pandemic so much research is being done in Mexico on issues of climate. For a long time during the pandemic there was no school in many parts of Mexico and I think this gave researchers and educators a unique opportunity to start fresh. Looking at my brother’s educational conditions, his classroom is very traditionally mexican. The teacher lectures and the kids learn. This article pushes out that idea though and encourages student collaboration and movement throughout the classroom as a way of creating new and innovative teaching methodologies. The climate changes here on multiple levels, the individual students, the classrooms, the school and community perceptions of the school. In the South African context, some of the same underlying challenges apply but this article conducted and synthesized both qualitative and quantitative studies to show that with leadership support, the effects of a climate shift can ripple throughout the community and vastly change student academic outcomes for the better. As an emerging leader, reading about inspiring case studies such as this one encourages me to ask a couple questions like, what am I doing to further my school climate? How can our climate have an effect on the individuals in our school, their families and their communities? What kinds of outcomes do I want to see in my organization and larger community as a result of our climate changes? All of these questions and more I think can be really honed into using the framework described in the article, so I think I will keep this one in my toolkit to share with others too.