Partnership creates a Bogside renaissance

Dame Geraldine Keegan has made her school a model of excellence, as JULIE MIDDLETON reports.

Imagine this, in the early 90s: St Mary's College, a state school in the Bogside district of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. One thousand girls aged 11 to 18, deprived and underachieving in an area where many mothers raise their children solo and where "The Troubles" have seen gun battles rage around the school.

Most students are leaving school early and heading for low-level jobs rather than careers. Their motivation and attendance, and that of their teachers, are nothing to be proud of.

Picture this, today: The Troubles are in a lull, though no one believes this will be long term. Standards at the school are steadily rising, stay-on rates are improving (80 per cent remain after the age of 16), and examination results are right up.

Motivation is markedly improved, and staff satisfaction has reached 84 per cent. St Mary's has earned 20 national and international awards for its attention to quality.

Local businesses "adopt" classrooms, their managers take classes. Hand-in-hand with local industries facing skills shortages, the school has started information technology classes and is about to launch electrical engineering.

The key to this has been the diminutive Dame Geraldine Keegan, who has been the principal of St Mary's for 13 years.

At the invitation of Investors in People NZ she was here last week to tell teachers and principals how links with business can transform the achievement of "customers" - their students. Quality in schools, she says, involves drawing on business models of continuous improvement.

The transformation of St Mary's started in 1992, after Dame Geraldine, then Ms Keegan, returned from a year in industry, fired up by total quality management.

As the school couldn't afford consultants, she roped in the quality manager from local company Desmonds, a Marks & Spencer clothes manufacturer, to do a quality audit of St Mary's.

"Out of shock more than anything else," she recalls, "he agreed."

An audit didn't seem too frightening a proposition: "I thought I was doing a pretty good job, we all think that as managers." Five of Desmonds' top people came in, spending up to two hours with each of the 92 staff, 62 of them teachers.

The results "opened my eyes," made her cry, and nearly led to her resignation. Top of the list of complaints was her leadership style, followed by allegations of favouritism, a fear culture, lack of confidentiality, manipulated agendas and preferential treatment.

Facing up to staff to admit that Desmonds' advice on improvement was sorely needed, starting with the headmistress, was tough; staff held suspicions that the exercise was more style than substance, and they weren't about to change.

Nearly a decade later, much has changed. Rather than working top-down, everyone is involved in the setting and attainment of goals. Everything the school does is continually monitored and evaluated, and everyone is involved in decision-making groups.

For example, groups of staff and students take aspects of school life and brainstorm ideas for improvement. An assessment of St Mary's management team by the student council, for example, found its members appeared invisible to students. Management members took students' recommendations seriously, and now make sure they get out and mingle.

This mixing goes on all over: each term the senior management team is opened to a junior member of staff - perhaps a 22-year-old in her first year of teaching - who takes her turn chairing meetings.

"The key to all of this has been investment into the people we are working with and it's paying off.

"They feel they have a real say, and their efforts are recognised. There's no more powerful a motivating a factor in my school."

But it's the links between the school and business which are delivering the most meaningful futures to students.

Industrialists adopt classrooms, accompany students during the school day, and come in to teach, all at no cost to the school. Students go to local businesses one day a week to do meaningful tasks.

"It's the most natural thing in the world for a member of the business community to be in the school. Business is learning about the world of education."

But education-business partnerships require nurturing. There needs to be a team approach, but with one person appointed to "own" and direct the relationships with business.

It's best that those companies are sited near the school so transport isn't an issue.

"It's also important for business to be involved with schools at an organisational level."

Clear communication channels - phone, fax or e-mail - are a must, as are regular evaluations and monitoring.

Be aware, she says, that partnerships will come and go depending on the needs of students; Desmonds no longer has strong links with the school, but the benefits of that first union are lasting.

Most importantly, says Dame Geraldine, the partnerships have to be genuinely two-way to be sustainable.

"Underlying all this is the concept of partnership and openness.

"We are on a quality journey at St Mary's - but we should never feel we've reached our destination."