Team Building

The team building process began in 1996 as a result of a shared concern that teacher isolation and lack of communication was undermining the school's ability to adapt and evolve. Therefore from 1996 to 1999, the school's action plan centered on building a capacity for team work. A consultant was hired. Ann Kilcher, (Network for School Improvement) helped staff identify clear goals. These led them to learn and practice effective teamwork, shared decision making, improved communication and relationships which over time changed the school culture.

Consensual decision making does not happen overnight. As an example, one of the first problems tackled was the development of a home reading policy (http://www.cqsb.qc.ca/sfs/reading.htm). It took 17 hours of discussion to reach a consensus that first time. But more was achieved during those meetings than the design of a policy that is still in use 5 years later. The staff learned:

• to set and respect behavior rules for efficient meetings;
• a variety of techniques for arriving at decisions;
• to prioritize;
• to build trust, to feel secure and take more risks.

The original group of Ste-Foy teachers made the conscious decision that teaming was an important part of the culture of change required to implement the reform. They all acknowledge that working in teams isn't easy, but they can see the benefits for the students, for themselves and for the school. For these reasons, and because of the road travelled, they continue to invest time and energy in teaming.

Today, effective decisions are made quickly by teachers who consider the needs of the school as well as their personal and classroom needs. Only through regular face to face contacts can teachers develop such experience in working as a team while they address concrete issues or problems requiring a consensus.

Coming into a school culture
Teachers in Ste-Foy have an understanding of the reform which was developed gradually over time and their culture of teaming was the result of a conscious collective process since 1996. New teachers are affected by this culture and are quickly integrated in a supportive team

"If we think of all the new teachers we have aboard this year, I think they learned a lot just from working with people who have much more experience than they do. They are just coming out of university, and it's their first year teaching and they are in a very strong team approach." Micheline Gagné

But the team culture is not as monolithic as it may appear at first glance. One cycle may function as a closely knit group in which members communicate regularly, having evolved ways of formalising sharing and working together on many levels. Another cycle might meet around more specific issues while leaving a lot of room for individual choices.

So the experience of new teachers coming into the school might be very different depending on the team they will be working with.

To help ease the integration, the school plans to create a teacher mentoring program for new teachers.