The Mobilization Stage

A school in the mobilization stage has a good understanding of its needs, has created a list of issues that require attention, and is in the position to use the data to create a clear plan of action. The school principal provides leadership as they work together with staff and key stakeholders to collaboratively review data and information in order to gain insight into issues that require an educative, preventative and restorative focus. The principal and other staff leaders meet with each stakeholder group to discuss the issues

that are priorities for them. The use of a gap analysis questionnaire would invite key stakeholders to consider the data presented in relation to their own beliefs and context while asking questions such as Where are we currently? and Where would we like to be? thereby providing space to reflect on the results and implications of the gap analysis for input into the code of conduct implementation and practice (Stoll & Temperley, 2010). The gap analysis process would be the commencement of the mobilization stage. There may be staff and other stakeholders who would want to get started immediately to address the problems indicated through the data analysis who would also be interested in taking on leadership roles to make the change initiative successful. Staff who resist would need some extra support, coaching and/or mentoring. The school principal would need to recognize and reinforce staff and stakeholders’ efforts as they begin to articulate and embrace the change plan while also honouring and promoting their leadership within the school.

As identified in chapters one and two, an important gap that must be addressed is the discrepancy between what school staff interpret as safe and what the student voice is revealing. DGPS District survey data indicates that as many as 30% of students report not feeling safe at school. Several student issues will become glaringly apparent as outlined in the Awakening Stage. Principals must work closely with their staff as they may discover that their existing school code of conduct is not a living document; that it is not educative, preventative or restorative, and/or that it is not specific or detailed enough to address the actual issues that students are experiencing at school. It may be that formal school-wide systems instilling the school’s code of conduct may be faulty or they simply may not exist. Principals would need to work with key stakeholders to create initiatives that address these issues and explicitly teach the desired behavioural expectations. The ultimate goal is that the school collaboratively develops their code of conduct which is educative and preventative in practice and provides a restorative response (Cawsey et al., 2016).

The Change PLC would also need to address the consequences for unacceptable behaviour and outline them in their school code of conduct. M276/07 states that the code must take into account students’ age, maturity, and special needs. M276/07 and District policy sets the expectation that responses to unacceptable conduct should be pre-planned,

consistent, and fair; disciplinary action should be educative, preventative and restorative, rather than punitive; and as often as possible, students should be encouraged to

participate in the development of meaningful consequences for violations of the school’s code of conduct (BCEd., 2008b, p. 8).

It is known that within any student population there are students with varying levels of intellectual ability, students who have various special needs, and students falling within a range of different developmental stages (BCEd., 2008b). It would be a necessary activity during this mobilization stage to address such differences in student levels of understanding to ensure that they are reflected in both expectations and consequences for conduct. Staff and stakeholders must be made aware that M276/07 mandates that codes of conduct are to include statements that make it clear that their application will not discriminate against a student who cannot meet a behavioural expectation because of a disability.

Preventing inequity due to race, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, religion, culture and socio-economic status is about educating students to develop the attitudes, skills and approaches necessary for enabling all members of the school community to recognize and value diversity (Safe@School, 2013). Prevention begins with actively and respectfully identifying difference by providing for many possibilities in all change planning, interactions and communications.

A school in the mobilization stage actively works through their Change PLC to establish goals to assist in the overall plan for making the school environment safe for all students. This Change PLC would need to meet on a regular basis with all teacher leaders present, or if it is a small school, all staff could be present. At this time, decisions would be made that reinforce or change current school processes and procedures, and in-service would be organized to support the plan and get stakeholders ready for specific initiatives (Jaffe et al., 2009). Consensus would need to be reached among stakeholders with respect to the vision for the desired state which would provide a great deal of hope and energy as they envision the implementation of a sustainable plan.