Teachers’ perceived opportunity to contribute to school culture transformation

Abstract

Teachers’ active role in school development has been recognized as important in school culture transformation. Leadership practices, such as distributed leadership and organizational support, aim to engage teachers and foster their participation and contribution opportunities. However, studies have shown that teachers’ earlier experiences and beliefs shape their participation activities. To facilitate school culture transformation and the development of pedagogical practices, it is important to understand how teachers position themselves as school developers. This interview study aims to explore what kinds of views teachers express regarding school development work and teacher collaboration, along with how these views influence their perceived opportunity to contribute to school culture transformation. Altogether, 35 teachers from three schools in Helsinki, Finland, were interviewed. The analysis revealed five teacher profiles and, thus, five different ways of approaching school culture transformation: (1) Visioner, (2) Responsibility Bearer, (3) Participating Observer, (4) Traditionalist, and (5) Stressed Withdrawer. Teachers’ orientation to school development work and received organizational support influenced teachers’ perceived contribution opportunities. Furthermore, the identified profiles experienced the needed organizational support for school development work differently; for some, it was mainly common time for collaboration, while for others, it meant reorganized structures. The results indicate that diverse support is needed to engage the whole teacher community in school culture transformation and that school leaders need to pay attention to how the distributed leadership model benefits all teachers, not just the visionary ones.