Faculty Survey Looks Towards Academy Future

In conjunction with the Academy’s multi-year strategic planning talks about the future of Exeter, the faculty took part in an online survey over the summer to share their own outlook on the overall direction of the school. The poll, which featured 25 ranking questions, each followed by a text box for elaboration, focused on three key aspects of Exeter life: academics, community and outreach.The faculty will convene October 10 and 29 to discuss the development of PEA’s strategic plan. Classes will not be held that day, although music lessons will.The questionnaire served as an initial step to organize opinions from a wide range of faculty, especially those who might not be inclined to express their opinions during faculty meetings.“The faculty survey was a step in articulating questions for the faculty to consider this year in discussions about our pedagogy both in and out of the classroom,” religion instructor Kathleen Brownback, one of the co-author s of the questionnaire, along with history instructor Giorgio Secondi and English instructor Christina Breen, said.Faculty noted that the survey was also partially grounded in the recent increase in competition among boarding schools.“We need to look at what do we need to do better and differently to determine how we may best serve our students and attract the kind of students that will thrive here,” English instructor Johnny Griffith said.Of the roughly 150 faculty at the Academy, 116 wrote substantial and thoughtful replies.“Professional survey consultants tell us this was a phenomenal response,” Brownback said.Griffith agreed. “The survey was extensive and thorough, and elicited a tremendous response in terms of the number of responses and the quality of responses from the faculty,” Griffith said. “It prompted responses you would hope it would create: thought-provoking and really creative.”Even though the survey has seemed to be a major success, it still had its drawbacks.“SurveyMonkey was a little bit difficult for the survey usage, because we wished people would be able to stop and come back to it later,” Breen said.“That was a logistical issue, but besides that, we felt everyone had the option to say as much or as little as they wanted.”In addition, the timing of the questionnaire was not ideal. “It was slightly problematic because the survey was conducted over the summer, so some faculty were traveling and did not have Internet,” Secondi said. “But by and large, we had a lot of thoughtful responses, which we were happy about.”With the logistical complications, the survey still succeeded in accomplishing one of its original objectives.“The reason we wanted to do this survey is because in faculty meetings we often hear the same opinions from the same people, so this was a way to make sure that people who do not normally talk during faculty meetings had a chance to say something,” Secondi said. “There was enormous diversity in the range of answers.”Although the faculty trio is still considering all of the responses in order to form a concise report of the findings from the survey, they have already begun noticing varying opinions on substantial but complex issues.“Some interesting differences emerged about questions like how we communicate and the importance of goodness, the need for more time for considered reflection, whether we do enough to encourage creative thinking in all disciplines, balancing of technology and the face-to-face, and how much we should allow and encourage specialization vs. holding firm on the importance of the daily presence at the Harkness table as one of Exeter’s most unique features,” Brownback said.Surprising for some, one area of interest that most faculty agreed upon was the value of studying Harkness itself. “We have hundreds of people who come to study the school every year and although many alums and current students say Harkness was life-changing, we have not done an actual study to define what it is, both as an art and as a semi-predictable method, and how it affects later experience,” Brownback said.Brownback continued, noting the manner in which Harkness is growing as a way to express the value of a group and individual. “We are leaders in the field, so it might make sense for us to pursue this.”The outcomes from the poll have already been utilized in the faculty week discussions earlier this fall, when faculty members met in groups of twelve, accompanied by a notetaker, to deliberate the survey topics.“We used the survey as the basis for our conversations in small groups during faculty week. Survey responses formed the basis of those conversations, which led to terrific conversations,” Griffith said.The notes from this session have been added to the existing information from the survey, and all of the responses are accessible to faculty.“We are trying to do the leg work in simplifying the results, but we want the faculty to still know that they can see everything,” Breen said.“Transparency has been a huge part of our goal, so every faculty member can log on and see every response to any question without the teachers’ names,” she added.Additionally, the responses will be referenced in the coming months as strategic plannings talks expand to include other areas of the Exeter community.“We will use the survey data as a guide in setting up further faculty discussions and outside speakers this year,” Brownback said. “The larger committee will also soon be talking about ways to survey students, parents and the rest of the staff. The faculty survey was just a first step, though a very important one.”Students should not expect drastic changes to occur soon; however, faculty, like Griffith, acknowledged the purposeful actions of the Academy to improve upon its history.“Change takes time, especially in a place that’s so steeped in tradition. But I do think that it’s important for us to have conversations around us being an even better institution, an even better Exeter, and not just rest on the rich tradition that we have,” he said.