Schools as Organizations: Some Illustrated Strategies for Educational Research and Practice

Abstract

Concern with the relationship between theory and practice in educational administration seems especially compatible with certain research strategics. Data were gathered i n a field study to focus attention on some of the main features of the school as a social organization and to facilitate hypothesis development. The hypothesis formulated had at least some empirical base, as well as a logical one. This eases the transition from theory and research to practice. The organizational world of the practitioner itself becomes an object of inquiry. Theory imposes its special kind of order on the practitioner's world; but, at the same time, data from that world create pressures for relevant conceptual analyses. The field study suggested the general importance of pupil control in public schools and the hypotheses formulated and tested dealt with the pupil control ideology of teachers. In addition, speculations on adaptivc structures in public school organizations were offered and some limitations of the work were noted.