Hospitals, prisons and banks are easily recognised and separated by their differing institutional cultures. Likewise schools are easily identified (it is almost impossible to walk past a school and not know that it is a school). This ’generic culture’ of schools is reflected in their similarities in terms of norms, rituals and traditions, and actions, and it is this shared vision that underpins culture. There are subtle variations in generic culture that reflect whether a school is junior, secondary, private or state. Government education policy is often aimed at changing schools’ generic culture.
醫院、監獄和銀行都很容易去辨認與分類它們的特有的機構文化。同樣地學校也很容易去識別它們的文化(幾乎不可能經過學校建築而不知道這是一所學校)。學校的共通文化反映在他們的某些規範、禮儀、傳統及行動，而正是這種共同的願景來支持其文化。在各種類的學校中都會出現一種普遍的文化，而政府的教育政策往往改變了學校共通的文化。
Because teachers and pupils possess a degree of freedom of choice and the capacity to interpret and reinterpret the ‘generic culture’ of schools, they create their own ‘unique culture’. Predominant values in a school provide insiders with distinctive inhouse rules for ‘getting on and getting by’, which are the basis of a school’s ‘unique culture’. The difference between ‘generic’ and ‘unique’ culture is recognised and reflected in teacher folklore — ‘all schools are the same but different’.
因為老師和學生有一定程度的選擇自由及能力來解釋及重新塑造學校的共通文化，所以他們能創造自己獨特的文化。學校中的主觀價值觀提供給校內人士一種「應許並通行」的鮮明內規，這是一所學校“獨特文化”的基礎。很容易去分辦“共通”與“獨特”文化的不同，這也反映在教師習俗中，那即是“所有的學校都是一樣的，但是也是不一樣的。”
Four idealised schools
四種理想的學校
Ours is a really friendly school and we believe in people getting on, whether it’s staff with staff, teachers with students or the kids among themselves. Nobody gives of their best unless they feel valued and wanted — so that’s where our educational philosophy begins. Social development is as important as academic development and what doesn’t get noticed in exams we hope gets reflected in our personal, social and health education (PSHE) work and in students’ records of achievement. Of course, some students have lots of problems at home and although we obviously can’t solve all of those, we can’t just ignore them either. It’s a caring school and the staff are cared about as well as the students. (on yellow card)
(在黃色的卡片上寫著)我們是一個非常友善的學校，而且我們相信人們都沉醉其中，無論是工作人員、教師與孩子們都會互相幫助。除非他們感到受重視，要不然他們不會付出最好的一面，所以這就是我們教育理念的開始。學術發展對社會發展也是同樣重要，我們所希望的不是希望只有關注在考試的成績上，而是在個人、社會及健康教育及學生的成就發展都要關注。當然有些學生在家庭裡有很多的問題，而且雖然我們能很明顯地發現很難去解決它們，我們不能去忽略他們，充滿愛心的學校會關心學校成員及學生。
It’s no soft option being a teacher here. It’s OK if you’re a strong sort of person with lots of self-confidence. If you’re not, well it can be hard controlling the students and getting any work out of some classes. I can’t say I’m really happy about the direction the school’s taking and morale in the staffroom isn’t what it might be. I get by, and generally keep myself to myself. After all, teaching’s just a job and you have to have your own private life as well. I don’t think the place gets the best out of me, and to be honest if the school were inspected tomorrow and they saw us as we really are, we’d get a bad report. The trouble is I don’t really think there’s much chance of any major improvement for teachers or students without a very radical shake-up. (on blue card)
(在藍色的卡片上寫著)在這裡想要當一位老師並不是軟弱的決定。如果你是一個堅強且有高度自信的人是ok的。如果你沒有這種特質，那麼就很可能很難去掌控學生，以及處理課堂上的所有事務。我不能說我很滿意我在學校發展的方向及工作成員氛圍能符合我的期待。但我有所獲得，並且能忠於自我。畢竟，教學不僅僅是一份工作，你也必須要有自己的私人生活。我不認為我從這個地方得到最好的，說實在話，如果學校在明天對我們進行視察，而他們看到真實一面後，我們會有一個不好的評價，而麻煩的是，我不覺得這會對教師和學生有任何重大改善的機會。
Our philosophy is to educate the whole person, not just the bits that fit schools. Of course, we accept that exams matter and there’s quite a bit of pressure on students to give of their best. But we also believe that the social and emotional side of young people needs to be developed too, and every teacher is involved in pastoral care as well as the academic side of teaching. You could describe relationships as close — we’re quite a close staff and that spills over to the students too. Team spirit is part of the ethos and there’s not much room for loners. You have to give one hundred per cent here: teaching is emotionally as well as intellectually draining, so we all need the holidays to recharge ourselves for the next term. (on green card)
(在綠色的卡片上寫著)我們的理念是培養全面發展的人，而不是只有一所合適的學校。當然我們接受考試，而且學校給予最好的一切，有著相當多的壓力。但我們也認為，年輕人在社會和情感方面也需要發展，每個教師參與心靈及學術方面的教學。你能描述出人際關係是親密的—我們的工作成員及所有其他的學生都是十分的親密。團隊精神是民族精神的一部分，而且對於孤立的人不會有立足之地。你必須要給予一個完全的位置：教學是情緖與知能的灌溉，所以我們都需要假日來為我們的下一個階段充電。
We regard ourselves as a well-disciplined sort of school, one that sets store on traditional values. The head runs the place as something of a ‘tight ship’ with high expectations of us teachers. There’s a strong emphasis on student learning and everybody’s very proud when we do. We also like to do well in games and athletics, which is another important aspect of achievement. We expect students to be fairly independent and not to be mollycoddled. We’re clear what the school stands for and what we’re about, so we are naturally rather suspicious of trendy ideas, and put more trust in what’s been shown to work best through past experience. (on pink card)
(在粉紅色卡片上寫著)我們將自己視為一所紀律嚴明的學校，首先傳統的價值觀深植在校中。領導者對於每一件事都是嚴加管理，對於教師也有很高的期待，也非常重視學生的學習表現，每個人都我們所做的非常自豪。我們也同樣想要將遊戲與競技作好，這些是學生成就的另一個重要面向。我們期望學生能相對獨立，同時也不溺愛他們。我們很清楚學校代表的是什麼，而我們的角色是什麼，所以我們自然而不用質疑這種趨勢的理念，並透過過去的經驗，信任我們所認為的最好的工作。
Misconceptions to avoid
避免迷思概念
Do not assume that culture can be manipulated like other matters under your control
Do not assume that there is a ‘correct’ or ‘better’ school culture
Do not assume that ‘strong’ cultures are better than ‘weak’ cultures
Do not assume that focusing on how people relate to each other in the school you can label that aspect ‘the culture’ — this can be a dangerous trap because it draws attention away from shared basic assumptions about the aim of education, which is to teach pupils
Do not assume that culture can be manipulated like other matters under the control of managers
Culture controls the manager more than the manager controls culture, through the habitual filters that prejudice major perceptions
不要認為文化可以像其他你所能控制的事物般去操縱
不要假定有一個“正確”或“較佳”的學校文化
不要認為“強勢文化”贏過“弱勢文化”
不要認為去聚焦人們如何在學校與他人接觸，你就能貼上文化的標籤，這可能是一個危險的陷阱，因為你所注意的東西可能已經從學校教育目標的基本假定中抽離
不要認為文化能夠像其他管理者所控制的事物一樣能被操縱
透過對偏見主要知覺的一種習慣性過濾，文化去控制管理者比管理者去控制文化來得多
Teaching cultures
教學中的文化
Individualism — these are schools that are bounded in metaphors of classrooms as egg-crates or castles, where autonomy, isolation and insulation prevail, and blame and support are avoided.
個人主義—把教室隱喻為雞蛋箱或城堡的學校是有疆界的，教室有自主性、隔離、絕緣，而責備和支持是被避免的
Collaboration — teachers choose, spontaneously and voluntarily, to work together, without an external control agenda. Forms vary from ‘comfortable’ activities, such as sharing ideas and materials, to more rigorous forms, including mutual observation and focused reflective enquiry.
協作—教師選擇、自發自願，共同工作，也沒有外部的控制議程。舒適活動的形式不一，如交流想法和材料，一直到嚴格的形式，包含相互觀察和聚焦在反思的探究
Contrived collegiality — where teachers’ collaborative working relationships are compulsorily imposed, with fixed times and places set for collaboration, for example planning meetings during their preparation time.
人為的合議—這種讓教師的協同工作關係是強制推行的，有固定的時間和地點進行合作，例如從他們的準備時間就計畫會議
Balkanisation — where teachers are neither isolated nor work as a whole school. Smaller collaborative groups form, for example within secondary school departments, between infant and junior teachers, and class teachers and resource support teachers.
分散的情況—在那裡的教師既不是孤立的，也不是為整個學校工作。是較小的協作團體形式，例如各國中學校之間，初任教師與資深老師，以及導師和資源支持教師
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