Lessons Learned: From Then to Now

A culture of Teamwork
Teamwork is one of the pillars of the QEP. Based on the school's experience, Andrew Aitken and Micheline Gagné believe the conditions for developing this culture of teamwork include:

• A shared, compelling vision that drives all activities in the school. "Focus on where you want to go instead of on the obstacles in your path."
• A focus on school-wide collective goals while allowing for individual flexibility in how objectives are reached.
• A principal who is interested in empowering teachers and willing to reduce and eliminate barriers in the way of change (participate management)
• A majority of teachers who have self-confidence and the desire to experiment with teamwork.
• Time for face-to-face meetings built into the workload and a cycle-based organization so that teams of teachers share responsibility for student learning
• A trusting environment that supports risk-taking.
• Regular evaluation of the school's progress along with good record keeping practices to document it.

Making time
"We have a six year history of creative methods for finding time. I believe it is very important that schools and their school boards establish systematic ways for teachers to have weekly meetings and professional development time built into their work load. If this is not done, I fear most schools will not be able to implement the QEP properly." Andrew Aitken

Complete details of this three year process can be viewed here. (http://www.qesnrecit.qc.ca/reform/schoolorgs/maketime/aitken/contents.htm)

The Small School Model
"We have an advantage being a small school, there's no doubt. I would promote small schools as a model for schools. What a big school has to do is somehow create small schools within the big school [...] I think that it's important for schools to look at structuring the school so that people are face to face, that they are sharing students. There are ways of doing that. You just have to sit down and set it as a goal." Andrew Aitken

Video Clip (The Small School Model)

Maintaining the Capacity for Change
"This is an on-going challenge to maintain and develop. We can never coast. Each year, we must reconfirm our vision and action plans and regularly monitor progress and adjust accordingly. We must also recognise that progress is not always smooth and forward. Schools can have setbacks and 'negative' growth due to many circumstances beyond our control." Andrew Aitken

Community involvement
"Students whose parents are involved in their education and the school are more successful. Therefore, effective home-school partnerships are one key to student success.

Parents are involved in the PPO, as volunteers in the library, outdoor classroom maintenance and development, helping with special events (drama club, field trips, open houses) and attending our student-led portfolio conferences. We haven't had a neighbourhood community in the past. Our goal, having a new territory next year, is to create stronger community involvement. " Andrew Aitken