The Healthy School Community
The aim of this study is to assess the intrinsic health of the community of Beauchamp college. Using a definition of school community as that which is made up of the persons attending a school, and hence united in the common goal of education, and the sense of community that exists between them, a...
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| Format: | Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2013
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27005/ |
| Summary: | The aim of this study is to assess the intrinsic health of the community of Beauchamp college.
Using a definition of school community as that which is made up of the persons attending a school, and hence united in the common goal of education, and the sense of community that exists between them, a case is made that some school communities could be considered more ‘healthy’ than others.
A framework is assembled through which community health can be judged based around a model of community types drawn from Fielding’s (2007) four-fold typology. This in turn draws upon the necessity of striking the right balance between the personal and functional interactions of community members and the relative importance placed upon these.
The assessment is made by conducting semi-structured interviews of teaching staff and students; and their responses to questions are compared and contrasted. This enables the placing of Beauchamp within the assembled framework and the school is found to be possessed of a healthy community with inherent high engagement and a strong sense of belonging. High pressures of performativity from external agencies are found to be counter to this but balanced by strong relationships within the school community.
Wide ranging implications of the model could be to enable schools to judge and work to improve their community health. An expansion of the study, to consider the impact of social and economic factors in surrounding areas on the health of school community, may also be of value. |
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