Teacher Emphases on General Educational Goals: An approach to teacher socialisation in Norwegian schools?

Abstract

We have earlier reported overall teacher emphases on six general educational goals. In the present study we present school level analyses of the same goal variables. The new focus of the present study was on possible school differences in teacher goal emphases. It is assumed that school differences may indicate a process of teacher socialisation in schools, particularly if these characteristics are relatively stable over time. About 40 schools were analysed at two points in time and they were represented by two different samples of teachers (144 and 157 teachers). We analysed both individual goal variables and goal profiles defined by how the teachers ranked the six goals. Only the 'profile approach' indicated school-specific goal priorities. The results also showed that the degree of goal consensus in schools should not be regarded as an aspect of the school climate. In addition, the measure of school goal consensus was weakly related to other examined aspects of the school climate.