Organizational Learning Capacity, Evaluative Inquiry and Readiness for Change in Schools: Views and Perceptions of Educators

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In recent review of the literature on integrating evaluative inquiry into organizational culture, Cousins, Goh, Clark and Lee [Cousins, J.B., Goh, S., Clark, S. & Lee, L. (2004). Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation19(2), 99–144] suggest that there is a link between evaluative inquiry and organizational learning in schools. However, there have been no published studies examining the views, perceptions and importance teachers and administrators attach to these practices and activities in their schools. This article reports results from a survey of 970 educators about their views on both of these topics – organizational learning and evaluation. Teachers and school administrators in 41 middle and secondary schools in Manitoba, Canada, responded to questions about current evaluation practices, attitudes towards evaluation and experience with systematic inquiry, as well as organizational learning capacity, school support structures and their readiness for evaluation and change. The survey results suggest that educators perceive their schools to have a moderate capacity for organizational learning. Similarly, respondents indicated that a moderate to low level of evaluation activity is currently taking place in their schools. Some implications for change in building a learning capacity and an evaluative inquiry culture in schools and suggestions for further research are discussed.