Why has our school strategic plan become a ‘folder filler’?

A principal has a choice at the start of every year.

Do they continue to drive and school forward, asking the ‘hard questions’ and setting even higher standard of students, staff and parents or do they settle for the statue que and deliver the same old each year. When a strategic plan become a ‘folder filler the principal has decided that it’s a status que year. Everything has been ticked off and everything will tick over however it is a year that won’t necessarily push the boundaries and ask any more of its stakeholders.

I had found myself falling into the safe yet predictable zone of the ‘same old’. St Dominic’s was a school that was performing and was getting great student achievement results. 

Our ERO report was great and stated that as a school

Learning is at the heart of the school. The last three years have been used to focus on building an inclusive learning community. The 2011 ERO report noted the school’s sound governance, management and teaching practices. These aspects continue to be evident. School leaders and teachers used the areas identified for review and development in the 2011 ERO report to guide their school improvement initiatives.

The school’s strategic plan had become something that I did and I shared with the BOT when I needed to. It was full of very jargon type language that allowed only a few people to fully understand what it meant for the children. Traditionally the staff at the school had nothing to do with the schools strategic planning so the way I was using it had little impact on the staff.

Strategic planning was something that I did and the staff were happy with this. I shared the annual goals that related to them at the start of each year and actually gave them a copy of the strategic plan however never really unpacked it with them and never ever asked for input. In my mind I had a clear direction the school needed to goa and I was going to make the calls on how to get there.

Because of this approach the strategic plan never ever got unpacked and pulled apart. It filled folders and increased our coloured photocopy costs. I had never been questioned on how I used it and the BOT never asked the right questions in order for it to become a document that drove the school.