Although principals are enormously influential, they alone cannot shape the culture of a school, Peterson said. Culture is the accumulation of many individuals' values and norms. It is a consensus about what's important. It's the group's expectations, not just an individual's expectations. Teachers are especially important in influencing the direction of a school's culture.
Teachers connect with other teachers, with their students, and with the parents of their students.
When teachers are sending a shared cultural message, that message reverberates throughout the entire school community. As a veteran principal, Vydra believes no school can improve unless it has a culture that supports improvement and collaboration and a shared vision for what it wants to achieve. She also believes fervently that a school will improve only if it has a culture of caring. If teachers don't feel cared about, they can't perform at optimum levels. When she arrived at Briar Glen five years ago, there was some tension in the school.