School Values
I've been working in a large, mixed secondary school for about a year now, having been head hunted from another school in the same trust.
I am finding that my teaching philosophy is increasingly out of step with my colleagues. I am quite old school and old fashioned, and I use direct instruction and a warm strict approach. I get good results, my lessons are calm and purposeful and I have good relationships with kids.
However I've always put a strong emphasis on encouraging them to be organised, responsible and self reliant. I insist all students take their exercise books home, as they're their books, not mine, and they should learn to look after them and be equipped. I am in a very small minority of teachers who do this. One of our school values is apparently "resilience", yet colleagues have told me they let their students keep their books in school because "they'd only forget them otherwise". (For the record, very few of my students forget their books).
Today I've had a disagreement with a member of SLT because a Year 10 student was refusing to come to the lesson because he wanted to sit at the back, and I wouldn't allow it. He is a PP, FSM student and his last mock grade was a 1, which is significantly below his peers (he refuses to try). The member of SLT told me that it would "cause too much conflict" if I tried to insist on him sitting at the front and that I should "check his pupil passport" (which just says he should be sat away from distractions). I spoke to the head and she backed me up, but I'm still appalled at his take on the situation.
The question I'm asking really is - does it matter that I don't feel the school lives up to its values? Does it matter that I feel I don't align with the ethos? Am I being dramatic, or should I raise it? The head is usually keen to listen, but she is obviously busy and Ofsted is imminent. The other school within the trust where I worked was the polar opposite, and I feel as if I'm getting into conflict with my colleagues needlessly.