Collaborative School Cultures Research Articles

The Principal's Strategy in Implementing the Value of Religious Moderation in the Pancasila Student Profile Strengthening Project

The issue of intolerance and radicalism among students must be taken seriously by school principals, who play a crucial role in managing the learning process, including in the P5 program. This research analyses the principal’s strategy in implementing the value of religious moderation in P5 and its implications for student character and school culture. This study is a qualitative research project using a case study method. Data collection methods included interviews, observations, and documentation, and the data were analyzed through reduction, presentation, and conclusion. Data verification was achieved through triangulation of sources and methods. The research results show that the principal's strategy for implementing the value of religious moderation in P5 involves three main approaches: process, program, and culture strategies. The process strategy includes planning, implementation, evaluation, and follow-up. The program strategy encompasses structuring P5 activities based on teamwork and partnerships with external parties. Meanwhile, the cultural strategy utilizes habituation activities to support the values and meaning of moderation within P5. The strategy implemented has had implications for student character, fostering awareness, tolerance, care, love for the country, and teamwork. Additionally, they have promoted a disciplined and collaborative school culture.

Mediation of digital literacy in investigating the effect of school culture on teacher performance: Implication for educational policy

The digital era has transformed education, making digital literacy essential for teachers to integrate technology and enhance student outcomes effectively. This study aims to examine how school culture influences teachers’ performance through their digital literacy, focusing on junior high school teachers in Malang City, East Java, Indonesia. Employing a quantitative approach, data were collected from 214 teachers out of a 457 population using questionnaires. The analysis was conducted through AMOS for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), SPSS for descriptive statistics, and PLS-SEM for hypothesis testing. The findings reveal that school culture significantly affects teachers’ digital literacy (Ho1) and teacher performance (Ho2) with supportive and innovative environments, while rigid cultures limit creativity. Furthermore, digital literacy was found to enhance teachers’ performance (Ho3) and mediate the impact of school culture on teachers’ performance (Ho4), enhancing teachers’ effectiveness in planning, implementing, and evaluating instruction. This study highlights the critical role of school culture in shaping digital literacy and offers new insights for improving teacher practices in diverse educational settings. Moreover, the role of education policies in fostering a collaborative school culture that enhances teachers’ digital literacy and performance, leading to improved educational outcomes, plays a crucial implication.

The Role of Participatory Management in Improving Teacher Performance and Student Achievement

This study explores the role of participatory management in fostering collaborative school cultures and its impact on improving teacher performance and student achievement. Collaborative school cultures, characterized by shared decision-making and collective responsibility, are essential for creating environments conducive to professional growth and enhanced learning outcomes. Participatory management, which emphasizes the involvement of teachers and staff in decision-making processes, is a key mechanism for cultivating such cultures. This research examines how participatory management practices influence teacher motivation, job satisfaction, and professional development, ultimately contributing to improved performance in the classroom. Furthermore, it investigates the connection between collaborative cultures and student achievement, exploring how teacher collaboration, professional learning communities, and joint problem-solving enhance instructional quality and student outcomes. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected through surveys, interviews, and classroom observations in a sample of schools implementing participatory management strategies. The findings reveal that schools with strong collaborative cultures experience higher levels of teacher engagement, professional commitment, and instructional innovation, which positively impact student academic performance. This study underscores the importance of participatory management as a strategic approach to building collaborative school cultures that support both teacher and student success. The implications of these findings suggest that educational leaders should prioritize inclusive decision-making practices and foster environments where teachers can collaborate, share expertise, and work towards common educational goals. The study concludes with recommendations for policymakers and school administrators to adopt participatory management frameworks as a means to improve overall school performance and create sustainable, high-achieving learning communities.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SKILLS OF SCHOOL HEADS: BASIS FOR EMPLOYEE WELFARE PROGRAM IN THE SCHOOL CONTEXT

This study aimed to determine the level of the human resource management skills of the school heads, which would serve as the basis for designing an employee welfare program in the school context. The study employed a non-experimental descriptive survey research design to investigate the research problem. The respondents in this study were 145 teachers from the elementary schools in Santa Cruz South District. The findings of this research were beneficial to both teaching and non-teaching personnel, increasing awareness of the organization's initiatives regarding the employee welfare program that would be implemented in schools to address both personal and organizational needs. It was recommended that the Department of Education (DepEd) strengthen the implementation of the Employee Welfare Program in every school to ensure that the personal and professional needs of both teaching and non-teaching staff were met. This proactive approach not only enhanced the overall well-being of employees but also contributed to a more positive and collaborative school culture. In conclusion, the study underscored the importance of targeted employee welfare programs and provided a solid foundation for future initiatives aimed at improving human resource management in schools. KEYWORDS: Human Resource Management Skills in School Heads, non-experimental descriptive survey research design

Analysis of the principal's position in the implementation of quality management in education

The role of transformational principal leadership in developing educational quality principals can motivate teachers, students, and other stakeholders to work together to achieve quality improvement if they are able to articulate a strong vision, foster innovation in learning, and create an inclusive and collaborative school culture. This study aims to analyze the principal's leadership role in developing strategies and policies that support improving education quality, identify the barriers and challenges principals face in implementing programs to improve education quality, and examine the influence of principal leadership on teachers' participation and their involvement in efforts to improve education quality. A qualitative case study approach was used in this research. Interviews, observations, and analysis of related documents were used to collect data. The findings showed that principal leadership plays a very important role in developing strategies and policies that support educational quality improvement. Principals need to have a strong commitment and be able to formulate appropriate strategies to improve the quality of education in the school. In addition, principals are also faced with several barriers and challenges in the implementation of quality improvement programs, such as limited resources, resistance to change by some teachers, and lack of time. Principals need to manage resources effectively, establish effective communication with staff, and manage administrative tasks efficiently. The results also showed that principal leadership is associated with improved instruction.

Fostering Collaborative School Improvement in Estonian Schools

This study aimed to identify the factors that foster a collaborative culture in the school improvement process. Estonian schools are characterized by a high degree of autonomy in developing the school curriculum and choosing the appropriate methods for its implementation. As a result, some schools are more successful, while others face difficulties in improving their pedagogical processes. Six Estonian schools with lower performance indicators participated in the School Improvement Program in 2021–2022. In each school, leaders and teachers formed a team together with two mentors. Supported by university experts, the school teams began working on a topic they chose to improve their students’ learning while simultaneously increasing the school’s leadership capacity by strengthening a collaborative school culture. The results of this qualitative research demonstrate that the arrangement of teamwork and the creation of shared values and goals constitute the key factors in creating a collaborative culture. Collaborative culture can be fostered by composing a stable team, developing routines for collaboration, ensuring open communication among all parties, focusing consistently on the goal, and building trust among participants. The obstacles are resistance to change, an unstable team, no routines for collaboration, a lack of communication, and no commitment to the goal. External support is important for both successful school teams and those facing challenges in the improvement process.

Comparative Analysis of Principal’s Managerial Practices for Teacher’s Retention in Public and Private Secondary Schools in Anambra State, Nigeria

The seeming teacher turnover in secondary schools in Nigeria necessitated this study on managerial practices of principals for teachers’ retention in public and private secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. Two research questions guided the study, while two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study comprised 650 principals in the 256 public and 394 private secondary schools in Anambra State. There was no sampling as the entire population was used for the study. A researcher’s developed questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts who are lecturers, two in Educational Measurement and Evaluation, Department of Educational Foundations and the other in Educational Management and Planning, Department of Educational Management and Policy all in the Faculty of Education Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State Nigeria. The Cronbach’s alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency of the items which yielded an overall reliability coefficient of 0.75. The researcher with the help of ten research assistants distributed and successfully collected 490 copies of the questionnaire administered. The research questions were answered using the arithmetic mean while the hypotheses were tested using t-test. It was found among others that principals in public and private secondary schools in Anambra state to a high extent apply managerial practices of collaborative school culture for teachers’ retention. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that principals of public and private secondary schools should provide an avenue for team teaching, peer coaching and formation of study group among teachers towards enhancing teachers’ retention.

Impact of reciprocal peer observation on teacher collaboration perceptions

AbstractThis study aims to assess the effectiveness of reciprocal peer observation (RPO) as a form of professional collaboration among teachers in enhancing their perceptions of teacher collaboration within a school setting. The Teacher Collaboration Perceptions Questionnaire (TCPQ) was specifically designed and validated for this purpose, using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The study employed a longitudinal observational design, with 400 teachers in a pre/post‐test study. The impact of RPO was examined on three dimensions related to professional collaboration: collaborative school culture, collective agency and teachers' attitudes towards collaboration. The results revealed that participants' perceptions of collaboration improved significantly after the implementation of RPO. The study confirms the utility of RPO as a professional collaborative practice that can foster changes in teachers' perceptions of the collaborative school culture, teachers' sense of collective agency and teachers' preference for collaboration over individual work. The study concludes with a discussion of its educational implications.

Enhancing Teacher Leadership in Malaysian Secondary Schools: Do Collaborative School Culture and Principal Support Matter?

Despite the impact of school culture on teacher leadership was well-theorised in literature, the extent to which the principal support strengthening the relationship between school culture on teacher leadership remains unknown. This study aims to examine the influence of collaborative school culture on teacher leadership with the four dimensions of principal support (professional support, emotional support, instrumental support and assessment support) as moderators. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. Three hundreds and sixty teachers were the samples from 45 secondary schools in the states of Kedah, Perlis and Penang. Meanwhile, 18 secondary teachers participated in the semi-structured interviews. The quantitative findings revealed a significant influence of collaborative school culture on teacher leadership. The relationship between collaborative school culture and teacher leadership was stronger when the principal’s instrumental support was higher compared to its counterpart. However, there was no moderating effect of professional support, emotional support, and assessment support on the relationship between collaborative school culture and teacher leadership. The qualitative findings informed the impact of collaborative school culture on teacher leadership could be enhanced with support from the local social community, effective communication between leaders and teachers, and teacher engagement in academic and non-academic activities. Implications of the study and future studies are presented.

Influence Of Principals’ Leadership Practices on Collaborative School Culture in Public Secondary Schools in Tiaty East and Tiaty West Sub-Counties, Kenya.

An ideal collaborative school culture in the two sub-counties should entail teacher’s collaboration, teacher’s involvements in decision-making practices, effective open communication and high teacher motivation. The current situation in Tiaty East and Tiaty West sub counties is that the area is plagued by poverty and frequent banditry, this has made the school environment in the areas to be hostile and the safety of both the learner and the teacher is not assured. A hostile school culture of collaboration can cause the problem of poor performance to persist since there are no harmonious relations among teachers, and teachers work in isolation. As a result, the principals’ task is to create an enabling school climate towards the creation of a collaborative culture of the school. The purpose of this study was to find out influence of school principals’ leadership practices on collaborative school culture in public secondary schools in Tiaty East and Tiaty west sub-counties. The objectives of this study were : to determine influence of principals’ mentorship practices on collaborative school culture and to establish how principals’ communication practices influence collaborative school culture. The research approach was the qualitative research and a cross-cultural study design with two cases and multiple units of analysis within each case. This study was grounded on the perspective that valuable insights about the issue of principal leadership practices and collaborative school culture can be obtained from a target population of 77 comprising of principals (1), teachers (156), support staff (276) and student leaders (328). A sample of 161 respondents; 1 principals, 31 teachers, 56 support staff and 64 student leaders was selected using purposeful sampling. The main instrument for primary data collection was use of interview schedules for principals, teachers and support staff and focus group discussion guides for student leaders. Data analysis was done using Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDA); ATLAS. Ti 9. The study found that the principals invited mentors for staff development to improve collaboration, ultimately positively impacting on student outcomes to promote a collaborative secondary school culture. Moreover, on principals communication practices, school meetings and social media especially Whatsapp groups are used to engage the school community in communication.The study concluded that principal's mentorship practices, and principal's communication practices are integral and symbiotic in creating a positive and collaborative school culture. On building positive collaborativecultures, the study is beneficial to future researchers in the field as they can expound more on other principals’ leadership practices and it will also contribute to existing research data. The study recommended that principals should involve teachers and other stakeholders in mentorship process in the schools. Key words: Collaboration, decision-making, motivation, mentorship, communication.

The Importance of Educational Institutions for the Employees’Professional Development

The continuous professional training of didactic personnel at the level of the pre-university education system is coordinated at the level of the Ministry of Education, in accordance with national strategies and policies. This includes professional development and career development according to art. 242, para. (1) the National Education Law no. 1/1011, with subsequent amendments and additions. Continuous training is both a RIGHT and an OBLIGATION, according to the legislation in force (https://www.edu.ro/formare-continua). Involving the school in providing professional development opportunities for teachers helps them develop their skills, improve their teaching practices and feel supported in their professional development. A collaborative school culture, based on mutual support, between teachers and between teachers and the school principal positively influences the teachers’ motivation, teaching quality and job satisfaction (Eurydice, 2015). The present paper presents the results of a quantitative study (a sociological survey based on a questionnaire), with the aim of identifying the perception of didactic personnel regarding the contribution of the educational institution to their career development. It starts from the following premise: the more the educational institution gets involved in the professional training activities of its didactic personnel, the more teachers will be motivated for career development.

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF COLLABORATIVE CULTURE AS A MODEL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR IN GREEK PRIMARY SCHOOLS

The investigation of the collaborative culture in Greek primary schools with an emphasis put on Small rural and Urban all-day primary schools was the basis for conducting the study. The main purpose of the study is to highlight the ways in which teachers in everyday school practice act and shape school collaborative culture, so that if a redefinition of their role is required, feedback to focus their interest on the effectiveness of their schools of responsibility. The scope of the survey was the total number of teachers (N=782) in randomly selected primary schools in the country. The research tool used was the School Culture Survey - Teacher Form (S.C.S.-T.F.) questionnaire which evaluates and records the teachers' views on the six dimensions (collaborative leadership, teacher collaboration, professional development, unity of purpose, collegial support and learning partnership) that shape the model of collaborative school culture. The findings demonstrate that teachers adopt the model of collaborative culture to a relatively satisfactory degree, applying several forms of collaborative behavior, as illustrated by the descriptive analysis. The analysis of One-way variance (ANOVA), between the factors of the collaborative school culture in relation to the variable “Position in the school unit” revealed the existence of a significant difference for the “collaborative leadership”, “professional development”, “unity of purpose”, “collegial support” and “learning partnership” factors, while, there was no significant differentiation for the “teacher collaboration” factor. In addition, the analysis of ANOVA between collaborative school culture in relation to the variable "geographical location of the school unit” revealed the existence of a significant difference only for the “collaborative leadership”, “teacher collaboration” and “collegial support” factors. Via Independent Samples T-test, the comparative study of relationships between the factors of the collaborative culture in the two types of schools revealed the existence of a significant differentiation for “collaborative leadership” and “collegial support”, while no significant difference was observed for the other factors of collaborative school culture. Of course, the observed forms of collaboration do not support the existence of a genuine collaborative culture, however, they lay the foundations for the development of more meaningful partnerships.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0005/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

학생 선택형 교육과정의 운영 성과 및 영향 요인에 대한 연구

The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of the student-selective curriculum and the influencing factors through a case study of an autonomous private high school that operates the curriculum, which is the basic principle of the high school credit system. To this end, this study interviewed school members and analyzed it using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach. The results of the study are as follows. The school offered various subjects for students to choose autonomously depending on their career paths and aptitudes, which improved their self-direction, learning motivation, and suitability for major resulting in excellent university admissions. The factors to make the achievements are a wide range of subject choices, a diploma system to inform course completion conditions, and the curriculum center to develop and operate the curriculum. In addition, school management based on a clear educational philosophy, collaborative school culture with the support of school corporation, and the college admission system consistent with the school curriculum contributed to the performance.

An Analysis of the Development of Middle Leaders in Chinese Secondary Schools: The Role of the Principal

Numerous studies conducted on educational leadership have generally emphasized the role of principal, whereas, research on middle leadership remains limited [1]. The purpose of this paper is to explore and investigate the development of middle leadership and seeks to fill in the gap by providing the analysis from a Chinese context. The author found that middle leaders are positioning at a challenging role, in which they are required to take charge of responsibilities of both a leader and a teacher, and in the meantime, they also need to negotiate between the senior leader, the colleagues. and subordinates. Furthermore, personal factors such as self-awareness and resilience are discovered to be pivotal for middle-leadership development. Apart from that, the principal plays a critical role in establishing collaborative school culture that facilitates the development of middle leaders based on the influences from the school’s history, culture, and policies.

Trust and Go: Enhancing Collaborative School Cultures Through Improv

Contemporary educational leaders are tasked with supporting their teams, with limited time and resources, to unite and thrive through political, social, economic, and environmental instability. Educational scholars and leaders agree upon the need to foster collaboration within school communities; the practices for achieving this outcome are not always clear. The primary research question of my integrative literature review is: How can improvisational theory support educational leaders to enhance collaboration within school cultures? Secondary questions include: What are the guiding principles of improvisation? What does the research reveal about leading collaboration within schools? What practices surface because of this research? I conducted an integrative literature review and used thematic analysis within a constructivist approach to examine whether the principles of improvisation can offer leaders insight into practices for establishing and sustaining collaborative school cultures. Improvisational theatre offers leaders a lens to examine the work of developing and sustaining collaborative cultures. After an extensive review of two bodies of literature, I identified four themes common to improvisation and leading collaborative school cultures: Connect, Define the Rules, Share the Lead, and Play the Game. Nested within each of these themes, I uncovered eight practices school-based leaders can apply to enhance their school’s collaborative cultures: Use Time and Space Creatively; Create Opportunities for Meaningful Dialogue; Co-create Norms; Articulate Vision, Values, and Goals; Integrate Evidence-Informed Pedagogical Practices; Provide Shared Leadership; Amplify Strengths; and Fail Forward. The model that emerged from this research will prove useful to school-based administrators and other leaders looking to empower their teams to solve problems and innovate in community.

Impact of School Culture on School Effectiveness in Government Schools in Maldives

School culture is considered to be a system of meanings that influence every aspect of the school including school effectiveness. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of school culture on school effectiveness in government schools in Maldives. A quantitative approach using a survey design was adopted for the study. In order to achieve the research objective, a sample of 359 teachers was selected from government schools in the capital city, Malé through stratified random sampling. In the study, data were collected with scales related to two different variables, school culture and school effectiveness. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data using SPSS-25 and AMOS-25. The study revealed that the level of school culture and school effectiveness were high in Maldivian schools. According to the results, school culture had a significant influence on school effectiveness. The findings suggest that a positive and collaborative school culture enhances school effectiveness. In addition, it reflects the importance of creating a positive and collaborative school culture that empowers all school members to work towards common goals, which improves the effectiveness of the school. The findings confirm the current proposition that a positive school culture is instrumental in achieving school effectiveness, adding clarity to the understanding of school culture as a critical component of an effective school

Exploring leadership influence within data-informed decision-making practices in Australian independent schools

There is increasingly strong pressure on schools to use data within their decision-making processes; the pressure comes not just from high-stakes testing but also from the subsequent comparative analysis conducted in the international, national, state, and local jurisdictions that represent the educational systems responsible for ensuring that students continue to receive quality education (Harris & Jones, 2017). There is paucity in empirical research within Australia on the practice of data use within schools; research is lacking on data interactions among school leaders in their workplace settings (Coburn & Turner, 2012). This study contributes toward this identified gap in Australian research literature on the practice of data-informed decision making (DIDM) in schools. Using a case-study approach at two K-12 independent schools in Victoria, Australia, the study sought to understand the "how" and "why" of DIDM systems that are currently in use within Australian independent schools in order to better understand what data-informed school improvement processes are being used in practice in this sector of Australian schooling. Based on the findings, we offer recommendations for developing improved system capabilities that make schools data literate and numerate and identify the important transformational role that senior and middle-level school leaders play in building up data-informed collaborative school cultures within their schools.

MENTAL RESILIENCE IN EDUCATION: THE CASE OF GREEK HIGH SCHOOLS TEACHERS

The term “mental resilience” defines the ability of the individual to overcome any adversity and to continue to develop. It is part of the set of personality traits, as well as genetic traits with which a person is either born or acquired in infancy and/or childhood. Teachers play an important role in promoting students' mental health in creating a suitable and supportive environment for them, since with their support students can acquire skills that will enhance their self-image and self-confidence, thus helping them in their evolution and progress. This paper aims to investigate the mental resilience of high school teachers and how it correlates with gender, age, and years of service. The survey involved 29 teachers (18 men (62.1%) and 11 women (37.9%)) who served in high schools in the prefecture of Attica in Greece. The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) was used to measure mental resilience. This questionnaire consists of 25 self-rated items with a 5-point scale from 0 (‘not true at all’) to 4 (‘true nearly all the time’) which correspond to five factors. The analysis of the results showed that the participants had high resilience, gender is correlated with “trust in one’s instincts” factor positively and statistically significant, years of service correlated with “control” factor positively and statistically significant, and with “personal tolerance” factor negatively and statistically significant. Age was found to be positive and statistically significantly correlated with the “control” factor. In conclusion, in the era of continuous development and change, mental resilience is important for the field of education as teachers play an important role in the lives of children facing difficulties while contributing to the promotion of collaborative school culture.

A study of Finnish and Estonian principals’ perceptions of strategies that foster teacher involvement in school development

ABSTRACT Our study focused on the leadership strategies of Estonian and Finnish principals aimed at encouraging teachers to participate in school development. We also looked at context-bound factors that form the framework within which principals discuss their work regarding (1) creating a shared vision, (2) implementing shared leadership practices, (3) fostering a collaborative school culture, and (4) supporting teachers’ development and recognizing teachers’ work. We interviewed five principals from each country and used directed content analysis to examine the data. According to the findings, most of the principals had experienced challenges when involving teachers in school development. This seems to be connected to the high levels of professional autonomy prevalent in both countries that is built on a long tradition of understanding autonomy as an individual property of a teacher rather than seeing it in relation to the autonomy provided to an organization. Regarding the aims set for education, Finnish principals emphasized the implementation of the national curriculum and local coherence, whereas principals in Estonia were keener to respond to the expectations set for schools to stand out based on their educational innovations, and this implies a higher level of competitiveness among the schools in Estonia.

Creating and Developing a Collaborative and Learning-Centred School Culture: Views of Estonian School Leaders

The present study aims to analyse how school leaders perceive their activities in creating and developing a collaborative school culture that promotes the school learning process. The data were collected in semi-structured interviews with nine school leaders and analysed using thematic content analysis. The results revealed that only three of the school leaders focused on the shared values and shared leadership necessary for creating a systematic and analytic approach to organisational and teacher development. The school leaders understood the importance of leading the development of the learning process, but this did not take place as expected in practice. Organisational and teacher development seemed to be unsystematic or not based on the continuous monitoring of processes. The findings of our study indicate that development programmes for school leaders should concentrate more on shaping the views, knowledge and skills needed to develop a collaborative and learning-centred school culture.