Collaboration Between Regional Learning Institutions

If you’ve had any of your kids at any point in time go through the formal schooling system then at the most foundational phase you might have had many questions form in your mind when reading the newsletter which is periodically sent out. A few of these questions may perhaps have formed around what appear to be famous terms used within most learning institutions, such as a constant reference to so-called “sister schools”.

I’ll get into exactly what something like a sister school actually is in practice, but what I’m getting at with the main theme of this post is a discussion about an underlying collaboration between these so-called sister schools.

What are sister-schools and what is their role?

Although our specific learning institution is one which looks to facilitate a more progressive method of instruction and discovery, falling directly in line with the changed economic landscape, I must commend the organisational methodology used to ensure the smooth running of mainstream learning institutions as they’ve existed for the past century. Yes, the schooling system by its very design seems to still make for a feeder of the Industrial Revolution, but that just attests to how well the infrastructure was planned. The fact that this needs to change is a discussion for another day and another post.

So in its pro-Industrial Revolution design, the schooling system was and perhaps still is represented by early childhood development centres, primary or elementary schools, high schools and colleges or universities. In the typical small town there’ll be just one or two of each, which inevitably creates a relationship between the various learning institutions, regardless of the fact that they service different levels of learning.

So that’s where the term sister school comes into play – it’s a school or institution of learning which is in close proximity to another one, making the collaborations inevitable as a result of this proximity to only make sense. So it’s like how the neighbourhood high school will almost certainly accept learners who graduated from the regional elementary school.

Typical collaborations

Continuity is often the ultimate aim of collaborations between regional learning institutions, but on more of a practical level these collaborations take the form of anything from making use of each others’ facilities, whether sporting or academic, going into joint ventures to make things more affordable and more practical for the parents of the learners who pay so much money to get their kids educated, and even something like facilitating mentorship programmes between learners.

There are many other collaborations at play between so-called sister schools for example, such as how during the school holidays and before all the operational and maintenance staff go on their holidays, pest control Spokane WA experts have their hands full making sure the premises are pest free and that they remain pest free for the commencement of proceedings when schools open again. During the delivery of this pest control service, sometimes any residual mainstream work which needs to be completed has the institutions hosting each other and sharing office space without charging for the “service”.