Schools as Ecosystems: Rethinking Culture Through a Systems Lens

There is a metaphor quietly shaping how we lead schools. Most of the time, we do not even notice it. If we see schools as machines, we try to fix them with tighter policies, sharper monitoring and new initiatives bolted on like replacement parts. When results dip, we assume something is broken. When behaviour slips, we assume something needs tightening. But what if schools are not machines? What if they are ecosystems? That shift in metaphor changes everything.

Culture Is Not a Checklist

When we talk about organisational culture, many of us draw on the work of Edgar Schein. He described culture as existing on three levels: artefacts (what we see), espoused values (what we say we believe) and underlying assumptions (what we unconsciously believe).

This framework is immensely helpful. It reminds us that culture runs deeper than slogans on walls. But it can also become static in our thinking. Culture risks becoming something we “define” rather than something that evolves.

Now bring in systems thinking. Senge described organisations as living systems shaped by feedback loops, mental models and shared vision. Meanwhile, Meadows argued that systems behave according to their structure, not their rhetoric. If you want different outcomes, you change the structure. When we merge culture theory with systems thinking, schools begin to look less like factories and more like forests.

The School as a Living System

In an ecosystem, everything interacts. In a school ecosystem, we have:

Students, teachers, leaders and parents acting as interdependent species. Assessment pressures, inspection frameworks and accountability climates shaping environmental conditions. Time, trust and professional learning acting as nutrients. Fear, performativity and cynicism operating like invasive species. Coaching, mentoring and collaboration functioning as symbiotic relationships.

If you attempt to introduce a coaching culture without adjusting the wider environment, it struggles. Training a cohort of coaches while maintaining high-surveillance accountability systems is like planting tropical species in winter soil. They do not fail because they are weak. They fail because the climate is wrong. This is where an ecosystem lens becomes powerful. It shifts the questions we ask. Instead of asking, “How do we improve teaching quality?” we ask, “What environmental conditions allow excellent teaching to emerge consistently?" Instead of asking, “Why are staff resistant?” we ask, “What survival strategies have staff developed in response to previous climates?” That is a very different conversation.

Underlying Assumptions as the Root System

Schein’s “underlying assumptions” can be imagined as the mycelium network beneath a forest floor. Invisible, but powerful. If the unspoken belief in a school is that mistakes are punished, then innovation will not flourish, no matter how many INSET sessions promote risk-taking. If the quiet narrative is that wellbeing is a distraction from performance, then flourishing initiatives will feel performative. In ecosystems, what happens underground determines what grows above ground. Leaders often focus on visible artefacts: displays, policies, strategic plans. An ecosystem perspective reminds us to examine the soil.

Complexity, Leverage and Culture Change

Schools are complex adaptive systems. Individuals respond to local signals more than policy documents. Small shifts, if made at the right leverage points, can have disproportionate effects. Meadows argued that changing paradigms is the most powerful leverage point in any system. In schools, that might mean shifting from compliance to coaching, from surveillance to psychological safety, from performativity to flourishing.

This is where a coaching approach becomes structurally significant, not just relationally pleasant. Coaching alters feedback loops. It redistributes voice. It reframes mistakes as information rather than indictment. It strengthens root systems instead of painting leaves green.

Assessment as Climate Reading

An ecosystem lens also changes how we see assessment. Mock exams are not verdicts on identity. They are climate readings. They provide information about nutrient gaps, environmental stressors and structural weaknesses. In a flourishing-informed culture, summative assessment becomes diagnostic rather than punitive. It allows celebration where growth is evident and targeted support where soil needs enriching. Students do not become tougher plants, we improve the growing conditions.

Digital Ecosystems and Cultural Drift

The digital dimension adds another layer. AI tools, data platforms and learning systems alter information flow within a school. In systems theory, information flow is a powerful leverage point. If digital systems create transparency, timely feedback and dialogue, they strengthen the ecosystem. If they amplify surveillance and comparison, they introduce anxiety into the climate. Technology is not neutral. It reshapes the ecology of trust.

From Control to Cultivation

The ecosystem metaphor demands humility. Ecosystems cannot be controlled. They can be cultivated. This reframes leadership. The leader is not a mechanic fixing parts. The leader is a climate shaper, a gardener, an architect of conditions. It requires coherence. Every initiative must be examined for ecological impact. Does this enrich the soil or deplete it? Does this increase trust or drain it? Does this align with our underlying paradigm or undermine it? It also requires courage. In ecosystems, decay is not failure. It is renewal. Some practices need composting. Some traditions need pruning. Cultural evolution is not tidy. But stagnation is far more dangerous.

Why This Matters Now

We are leading schools in an era of rapid technological change, rising mental health pressures and increasing complexity. Mechanistic metaphors are starting to look outdated.

If we want sustainable, adaptive, flourishing cultures, we need ecological thinking. We need to examine structures, feedback loops and assumptions. We need to move beyond installing programmes and towards cultivating conditions. Culture is not something we implement. It is something that emerges from the system we design. Forests outlast factories, and perhaps it is time we started leading accordingly.