The Influence of Schools’ Organizational Environment on Teacher Collaborative Learning: A Survey of Shanghai Teachers

Abstract

Teacher collaborative learning is currently a trending topic within the international fields of school education reform and teachers’ professional development. Schools in China have a long history of teacher collaboration, but have also faced problems such as formalism in their activities, excessive administrative overtones, and so on. Drawing on a questionnaire survey of 972 teachers at 31 schools in Shanghai, this study found that the teachers generally exhibited relatively high levels of collaborative learning, with a certain degree of difference between teachers by gender, subject, and educational attainment, as well as between schools based on their level, geographical location, size, and history. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationship between the environmental factors of school organizations and teacher collaborative learning, finding that supportive leadership, collaborative atmosphere, and organizational structure had a significant positive influence on teachers’ daily inquiry and collaboration, while cultural barriers had a significant negative influence on teachers’ daily inquiry and collaboration; supportive leadership and organizational structure had a significant positive influence on student learning-oriented collaboration, while collaborative atmosphere and cultural barriers did not have a significant influence on student learning-oriented collaboration. This paper further engages in the discussion of the situated nature of teacher collaborative learning, as well as how schools promote teacher collaboration.