Educational Bureaucracy, Teacher Orientation and Selected Criterion Variables

Abstract

This theoretical study examines teacher satisfaction, effectiveness, and conformity; it relates these variables to teachers' perceptions of the degree of bureaucratization within secondary schools and teachers' local or cosmopoli tan orientation. Seven hypotheses were formulated, and the data were interpreted on the basis of symmetric correlation, analy sis of variance, and t-tests (one-tailed, .01 level). The results indicated: cosmopolitans scored higher on satisfaction, effectiveness, and conformity variables than locals; locals who perceived low bureaucratization scored lowest on the three variables; the criterion variables were evaluated similarly by subjects within each subgroup; cosmopolitans who perceived high bureaucratization re ceived highest scores; the degree to which bureaucratic elements were perceived varied greatly within each school; teachers tend to be more cosmopolitan than local. ONE IMPORTANT form of educational behav ioral research relies upon theoretical formula tions, and this is particularly evident in the in creasingly sophisticated approaches to the study of educational administration. Theoretical re search promotes greater control over extraneous variables, maximizes experimental variance, and leads to logically generalized solutions for specific educational problems. Administrative theory is characterized by an emphasis upon administrative behavior, the study of organizational consequences, and the develop ment of conceptual frameworks. Since theory deals with the consequences of action, one major criterion of its value is the extent to which it may be successfully applied by classroom teachers and practicing administrators. Theory serves to unify existing knowledge and to provide a foundation for the development of testable hypotheses. With logical coalescence as the educational theorist's goal, he may justify the adoption of concepts and models from other disciplines as an important source of administrative theory. This approach was used in order to examine certain factors in volving secondary teachers in the study which is described below (3). Two major concepts were applied to an educational setting and were exam ined with three selected criterion variables: teacher satisfaction, effectiveness, and conform