Building staff capacity

Michael Fullan (2005) describes capacity building as the development of “collective ability—dispositions, skills, knowledge, motivation and resources—to act together to bring about positive change” (p. 4). Capacity building (e.g., increasing staff rapport and collaborative problem-solving skills) happens when school administrators intentionally create opportunities for teachers to work together.

Staff must agree on which behaviours are inappropriate and how they will respond when those behaviours occur. Having all staff participate in developing the plan increases ownership and support for implementing and maintaining it.

School-based support teams

When a school-wide system has been established, small groups of teachers will benefit from regularly scheduled time to solve issues with individual students and/or deal with classroom management in general. Since teachers will need to feel comfortable talking about the challenges they face, they should have opportunities to build their skills through collaborative problem solving and/or peer coaching.

Administrators should ensure that teachers have opportunities to spend time in each other’s classrooms to observe and team teach, and then reflect and discuss different practices they might use to enhance their planning and instructional practices.

Mentoring and role models

Community partners can also serve as mentors to students, staff and parents. A number of community agencies such as Big Sisters, Big Brothers, screen and match trained volunteers to work with students.

Experienced teachers and administrators are role models for the entire school community. They can have a major impact on respectful relationships and effective school-wide management. Providing mentoring opportunities for beginning teachers as well as teachers who are new to the school helps them to learn about and understand the strategies and tools that other staff members are using. Creating opportunities for the mentor and mentee to visit each other’s classrooms and discuss what they observe fosters the sharing of knowledge and builds capacity.

As well, teachers who have previously taught in other schools can share their successful experiences elsewhere with colleagues.

Onsite community partners

A team approach to providing a school-wide support system for students works best when it is on-site, multidisciplinary and multi-level. Members of an on-site support team could include, but are not limited to:

• public health and psychiatric nurses
• dietitian
• social worker/mental health therapist
• youth worker/family liaison worker
• community police resource officer.

Having a community of caring adults located right in the school on a regularly-scheduled basis (e.g., several hours each week or half-a-day a month) provides rich opportunities for building positive relationships, teaching social skills and problem solving and providing intervention and support on an as-needed basis. With these kinds of supports in place, students have more opportunities to gain the knowledge and skills to choose healthy behaviours, to make better life choices and, ultimately, to respond to life’s changes and challenges with resiliency and emotional maturity.

This collaborative “all for one” approach—in which partners work together to support one school, one classroom and one individual student, will help create a stable, caring environment for learning and teaching.

For more information on the Comprehensive School Approach, visit the Alberta Mental Health Board website at http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/info/csh.aspx.