Organizational Learning In Schools Research Articles

From climate to community: a new approach to conceptualizing the relational element of organizational learning

PurposeExisting conceptualizations of organizational learning focus on processes and structures while also acknowledging a social element, usually framed as bringing people together through formal structures. While much scholarship notes that school culture mediates organizational learning, culture is often relegated to the realm of context. Affective and relational components of organizational learning remain undertheorized. The authors argue that attending more closely to the relational component of organizational learning will offer new insights into the enactment of organizational learning in schools.Design/methodology/approachThe study briefly discusses schools of thought regarding organizational learning. It also summarizes extant conceptualizations of school climate and culture, laying these alongside the sense of community (SOC) framework (McMillan and Chavis, 1986). Utilizing prior research, it illustrates the value of bringing this framework into conversation with theories of organizational learning in schools to enrich understandings of the conditions under which organizational learning occurs.FindingsThe authors suggest a conceptualization of relationality in organizational learning rooted in SOC, a conceptualization that is both broader than merely transactional interactions and more precise than that offered by extant notions of school culture and climate.Originality/valueThe relational perspective captured by SOC offers researchers new avenues to more fulsomely explore the ways that trust, belonging, caring and shared values facilitate organizational learning. A more thorough understanding of the role of relationality in organizational learning may provide answers to salient questions, including why some teachers go above and beyond to seek out opportunities and why some changes stay bounded within departments and substructures.

The Effects of School Organizational Learning on Secondary School Teachers’ Affective Commitment to Change in Oromia Region, EthiopiaThe main purpose of this study was to examine the current status and effects of school organizational learning (SOL) dimen

The main purpose of this study was to examine the current status and effects of school organizational learning (SOL) dimensions on teachers’ affective commitment to change (ACC), in the context of standards-based school reform implementation gaps in government secondary schools of Oromia Regional State in Ethiopian. The study involved 368 teachers selected using stratified proportional random sampling from 23 government secondary schools in two selected zones in Oromia region. The data were collected using School Organizational Learning Questionnaire (SOLQ) and Commitment to Change Scale (CCS) for ACC. Data analyses were conducted using descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) for the hypothesized research model. Results of the study revealed that SOL practices and ACC were perceived as moderate level in surveyed secondary schools. Again, the correlation between SOL factors and ACC were found positive and moderately strong except for TCC (trusting and collaborative climate) – which was weakly correlated with ACC. Among the four dimensions of SOL, TIR (taking initiatives and risks) had stronger positive effect on ACC followed by PD (professional development) and SMM (shared and monitored mission). On the other hand, TCC was not found statistically significant factor in contributing to teachers’ ACC. Therefore, it is recommended that school leaders and educational policy makers need to focus on TIR, PD, and SMM aspects of SOL for building teachers’ ACC so as to facilitate the success of educational change in the context of secondary schools in the study area. Keywords: Affective Commitment to Change, School Organizational Learning, Teachers’ Commitment, Secondary Schools in Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/JESD/13-17-04 Publication date: September 30 th 2022

Organizational learning in consciousness-based education schools: a multiple-case study

PurposeAn innovative technology called consciousness-based education (CBE) is being introduced in schools worldwide. The approach includes both an experiential and an intellectual component. However, research studies exploring learning in CBE are rare. The purpose of the paper is to explore how organizational learning takes place in schools, which adopt CBE in addition to their ordinary curriculum. Moreover, the ambition of the approach regarding quality is examined.Methodology/approachA multiple-case study has been carried out. Four schools using CBE have been studied: a private school in Fairfield, Iowa, USA; a governmentally funded free school in Skelmersdale, United Kingdom; an independent school in Melbourne, Australia, and a primary school in Lelystad, the Netherlands. In total, 26 in-depth interviews have been performed, mainly with teachers and students but also with principals and experts in the CBE pedagogy. In addition, three focus-group interviews with primary school pupils were conducted and observation during classes was included. The data were analyzed by the constant comparative technique from the grounded theory approach.FindingsCategories characterizing organizational learning in the CBE schools have been identified. These findings are related to theories of the learning organization, resulting in a framework depicting different components of learning.Research limitation/implicationThe study provides a framework illustrating organizational learning in schools that utilize CBE which affords an overview of the technology and can serve as a vantage point for further research. Since this is a qualitative case study, the effectiveness of the CBE approach and its impact on learning outcomes were not assessed, and the possibilities to generalize the findings are limited.Originality/valueCBE has not previously been studied from an organizational learning perspective.

A Dramatic Confrontation of Frames: Arts-Integration Teacher Development, Organizational Learning, and School Change

ABSTRACT This study explores the intersection of arts-integration teacher development and organizational learning in schools. Four frames rooted in organizational learning theory—structural, political, symbolic, and human resource—consider the roles of organizational culture, leadership, and structure in school change efforts. Analyses explored variation across teachers (N = 21) at five U.S. middle schools. Results evaluated (a) perceptions of the arts-integration reform, (b) the role of frames in generative organizational learning, (c) comparison of salience and emphasis of frames across cases, and (d) confrontation of frames to enhance organizational learning or detract from the uptake and sustainability of change efforts.

Organizational learning and extra effort: The mediating effect of job satisfaction

The present study focuses on the relationship between school organizational learning (SOL), teacher job satisfaction (TJS), and teacher extra effort (TEE). Data were collected from 1474 teachers in 104 elementary schools in Israel, and aggregated at the school level. Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated that TJS is a significant predictor of TEE and functions as a mediator between SOL and TEE. These findings provide a deeper understanding of how SOL can serve as a significant link between TJS and TEE, which may ultimately enhance teaching and learning effectiveness and emphasize the need to assimilate OL processes into schools.

The Meaning and Measure of Organizational Learning Mechanisms in Secondary Schools

Purpose: Organizational learning has been conceptualized as a critical component for school effectiveness. This study explored organizational learning in schools through the conceptual framework of “organizational learning mechanisms” (OLMs) and developed a measure of OLMs at the secondary school level. Research Design: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of items were conducted to examine factorial validity. To test the criterion-related validity, the OLM questionnaire was correlated to other constructs—teachers’ sense of collective efficacy and teachers’ organizational commitment, both of which have been used as independent variables to predict school productivity. Findings: A four-factor model of OLMs in secondary schools was the best fit between the empirical results and the conceptual formulation. The four-factor model included the following factors: disseminating, storing, and retrieving information; distributing information among students and parents; analyzing and interpreting information; and usage of online information. Implications: The present study encourages researchers to explore whether OLMs can serve as a mediating variable between the system level and the classroom level. Using this questionnaire, secondary schools can assess their own learning cycle, analyzing their practices of information processing.

Internal setting and organisational learning in schools

This article is one of the outcomes of a research project in which we focused on the recognition of the processes of organisational learning in Czech basic schools (6-15). In this article, we deal with the dimension of the systematic way of organisational learning. In agreement with many other authors we consider the systematic way of organisational learning in schools an important condition for the depth and, therefore, efficiency of organisational learning. We look for an answer to the question of how much influence is exerted by factors in the internal school setting on the systematic way of organisational learning. For this analysis, we use data of a representative survey conducted in two Regions of the Czech Republic.

As escolas portuguesas são organizações aprendentes? Um estudo empírico

The paradigm of learning organizations has been the subject of growing attention, but few studies investigate its practical application to the processes and structures of schools. Thus, instruments are needed that can measure the levels of organizational learning in schools, enabling the planning of interventions for improvement. This article examines in an exploratory way the reliability and validity of the Portuguese version of an instrument to assess schools as learning organizations. It also describes the results of its application to teachers and senior staff (n=1266) of public schools in Viseu county. The analyses indicate that the psychometric properties of the adapted instrument are identical to the original instrument, which is promising. Although the type of sample used prevents the generalization of results, this work is one of the first applications of an instrument for measuring the level of organizational learning of primary and secondary Portuguese schools. Principals and teachers of these schools can use the results to create a school climate more conducive to improving their teaching and learning processes.

Organizational Learning in Schools under Sanction

The focus on “school turnaround” has become central to policy and practice in the United States as a result of school accountability, yet little remains known about school improvement under sanction. This study uses theories of organizational learning to understand the processes through which educators search for and adopt reform strategies, as well as the extent to which these schools’ organizational culture and climate are conducive to this type of learning. Our mixed methods study involves document analysis, intensive case studies, and a survey of teachers in schools under sanction in a large urban school district in the USA. We found limited evidence of organizational learning, and instead evidence suggested superficial use of restructuring planning, rare diagnoses of root causes of low performance, and limited engagement in learning processes of school staff. In addition, schools relied on exploitation resulting in the recycling of previous practices. In part, the limited organizational learning in evidence was the result of structures and climates within these low-performing schools that inhibited a more learning-oriented approach to reform. Our study has implications for school improvement under accountability policies as it uncovers important challenges that limit organizational learning and, as a result, school improvement under sanction.

Examining organizational learning in schools: The role of psychological safety, experimentation, and leadership that reinforces learning

This study draws upon theory and methods from the field of organizational behavior to examine organizational learning (OL) in the context of a large urban US school district. We build upon prior literature on OL from the field of organizational behavior to introduce and validate three subscales that assess key dimensions of organizational learning that build upon and extend prior education research: psychological safety, experimentation, and leadership that reinforces learning. Data from 941 teachers across 60 schools in this urban district suggest that organizational learning is an underlying condition which is expressed by teacher perceptions of subfactors of psychological safety, experimentation, and leadership that reinforces learning. Implications for adopting the conceptual framework and methods employed in this research for studying organizational learning and school change are discussed.

Leadership style and organizational learning: the mediate effect of school vision

PurposeFundamentally, the success of schools depends on first‐rate school leadership, on leaders reinforcing the teachers' willingness to adhere to the school's vision, creating a sense of purpose, binding them together and encouraging them to engage in continuous learning. Leadership, vision and organizational learning are considered to be the key to school improvement. However, systematic empirical evidence of a direct relationship between leadership, vision and organizational learning is limited. The present study aims to explore the influence of principals' leadership style on school organizational learning, using school vision as a mediator.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 1,474 teachers at 104 elementary schools in northern Israel, and aggregated to the school level.FindingsMediating regression analysis demonstrated that the school vision was a significant predictor of school organizational learning and functioned as a partial mediator only between principals' transformational leadership style and school organizational learning. Moreover, the principals' transformational leadership style predicted school organizational vision and school organizational learning processes. In other words, school vision, as shaped by the principal and the staff, is a powerful motivator of the process of organizational learning in school.Research implications/limitationsThe research results have implications for the guidance of leadership practice, training, appraisal and professional development.Originality/valueThe paper explores the centrality of school vision and its effects on the achievement of the school's aims by means of organizational learning processes.

School Innovative Management Model and Strategies: The Perspective of Organizational Learning

Along with knowledge-based economy coming, knowledge and innovation have been the core elements of national competitive power. Education plays an important role to improve individual or organizational creativity and innovational power. School innovational management is conducive to promoting creativity education. Additionally, it helps schools to acquire competitive power so as to develop constantly. This study discusses the related concepts and content of learning school and school innovative management; analyzes the impact factors of school organizational learning; and establishes the model of school innovative management based organizational learning. From the perspective of organizational learning, the study presents the strategies of school innovative management using for reference for China's schools.

Organizational Learning Mechanisms: The Meaning, Measure, and Implications for School Improvement

Purpose: In light of the excessively broad conceptions and nonobservable terms generally characterizing discussions of organizational learning, this study explores the notion of organizational learning in schools through the conceptual framework of organizational learning mechanisms (OLM) and develops a measure of OLM at the elementary school level.Research Design: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of items are conducted to examine factorial validity. To test the criterion-related validity, the OLM scale is correlated to other established constructs.Findings: Based on information processing (management science perspective), the four-factor model of OLM in elementary schools is the best fit between the empirical results and the conceptual formulation. The four-factor model includes the following subscales: analyzing information, storing—retrieving—putting to use of information, receiving—disseminating information, and seeking information.Implications: This study strengthens the feasibility of the OLM framework, based on information processing, to provide a concrete description of organizational learning processes in schools. Using this instrument, schools can assess their own learning cycle, gauging their readiness and increasing their preparation for becoming learning organizations. This study may encourage researchers to explore whether OLM can serve as mediating variable between the system level and the classroom level.

The relationship among the capability of school's organizational learning, teacher's attitude toward continuing education and teachers' perception level of accountability

The relationship among the capability of school's organizational learning, teacher's attitude toward continuing education and teachers' perception level of accountability

Implementing Organizational Learning in Schools: Assessment and Strategy

Journal Article Implementing Organizational Learning in Schools: Assessment and Strategy Get access Yekutiel Sabah, Yekutiel Sabah Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Dennis K. Orthner Dennis K. Orthner Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Children & Schools, Volume 29, Issue 4, October 2007, Pages 243–246, https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/29.4.243 Published: 01 October 2007 Article history Accepted: 27 June 2007 Published: 01 October 2007

Organizational Learning Capacity, Evaluative Inquiry and Readiness for Change in Schools: Views and Perceptions of Educators

In recent review of the literature on integrating evaluative inquiry into organizational culture, Cousins, Goh, Clark and Lee [Cousins, J.B., Goh, S., Clark, S. & Lee, L. (2004). Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation19(2), 99–144] suggest that there is a link between evaluative inquiry and organizational learning in schools. However, there have been no published studies examining the views, perceptions and importance teachers and administrators attach to these practices and activities in their schools. This article reports results from a survey of 970 educators about their views on both of these topics – organizational learning and evaluation. Teachers and school administrators in 41 middle and secondary schools in Manitoba, Canada, responded to questions about current evaluation practices, attitudes towards evaluation and experience with systematic inquiry, as well as organizational learning capacity, school support structures and their readiness for evaluation and change. The survey results suggest that educators perceive their schools to have a moderate capacity for organizational learning. Similarly, respondents indicated that a moderate to low level of evaluation activity is currently taking place in their schools. Some implications for change in building a learning capacity and an evaluative inquiry culture in schools and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Organizational Learningin Schools and School Systems: Improving Learning, Teaching, and Leading

Teachers and administrators in school systems across the United States and Canada have been inundated during the last several decades with silver bullets and quick fixes in an effort to improve education. The reforms have had limited success and little long-term effect on schools and school systems. This article proposes that organizational learning (ongoing learning in a deliberate manner with a view to improvements supporting the organization's goals) has the potential to help schools and school systems renew themselves from the inside out and to improve learning (for students and adults), teaching, and leading in school systems. The authors identify 6 interrelated conditions that appear to foster organizational learning and provide a practical illustration of the conditions in the form of a fictional school created from examples in the literature

Organizational Learning Mechanisms: Exploring a Conceptual Framework for Organizational Learning in Schools

In light of the complexity and wealth of information in societies today the notion of organizational learning has become the forerunner of school change discourse. However, organizational learning is still characterized by mystical and amorphous rhetoric, understood well neither by researchers nor by practitioners. Therefore, this article is an attempt to explore the notion of organizational learning through the concept of organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) and the culture in which they are embedded. A case study in a large school, comprised of middle and secondary grades, provided the context for studying OLMs and the learning values (culture) influencing their productivity. The study strengthens the ability to empirically research learning by schools through the structural and cultural framework. Lessons drawn from the study and future research, which may contribute to the field of organizational learning, are discussed

Two basic mechanisms for organisational learning in schools

SUMMARY In recent literature on teachers' professional communities and organisational learning in schools the focus is on conditions fostering teacher professional developments. Less attention has been paid to clarifying these concepts and to analysing the processes and the full range of outcomes of organisational learning in schools. The question in this article is whether and how teachers' professional communities can play a role in organisational learning and professional development. Firstly, recent research literature on teachers' workplace conditions, teachers' professional communities, and organisational learning in schools is discussed. Next, two basic mechanisms for organisational learning in schools are presented. Some conclusions are that the opportunities for steering intentional organisational learning in the school context are only weak, and that a balance should be created in the school between diverging conditions for organisational learning

Leadership for Organisational Learning and Improved Student Outcomes—What Do We Know?

The Leadership for Organisational Learning and Student Outcomes (LOLSO) Research Project addresses the need to extend present understandings of school reform initiatives that aim to change school practices with the intention of supporting enhanced student learning. In this article results from LOLSO's teacher surveys ('teacher voice') and student surveys ('pupil voice') are organised around six of the project's major research questions: how is the concept of organisational learning (OL) defined in Australian secondary schools (teacher voice)? What leadership practices promote OL in schools (teacher voice)? What are some outcomes of schooling other than academic achievement (pupil voice)? What are the relationships between the non-academic and academic outcomes of schooling? Do school leadership and/or organisational learning contribute to student outcomes? What other factors contribute to student outcomes? The answers to these questions lead to four clear implications relating to distributive leadership, development, context, and a broader understanding of student outcomes. The answers also raise concerns about the current emphasis on transactional leadership, that is school leadership that overemphasises the managerial or strategic.