A study of the relationship between school climate and staff-development practices

摘要

This thesis has two purposes. The first is to investigate theudrelationship between staff development and perceived climate inudTasmanian schools. The second purpose is to develop approaches toudimproving schools using the information gained from teachers aboutudtheir perceptions of school climate and staff-development practices.udIn addition, research questions about school climate, staff-developmentudpractices, and related school-improvement activities areudsuggested and discussed.udMost of the data used in this thesis were gathered during anudevaluation of professional-development practices in Tasmanian schoolsudduring 1983-85. During this evaluation, year-long, intensive caseudstudies were conducted in over thirty schools. Outcomes of these caseudstudies included improvement of staff-development practices anduddevelopment of a related policy in each school.udThe study is described in three main parts. In the first part, anudextensive review of the literature about school climate and staff-developmentudpractices is presented. This review establishesudrelationships between the concepts of 'school climate' and 'staff-developmentudpractices'. The characteristics of the terms schooludclimate and staff-development practices, the relationships betweenudthem, and the argument why research should be done to link theseudconcepts, are discussed. School effectiveness literature is examinedudto further suggest why these two concepts are related. From thisudliterature review the first part of the thesis is developed: theudconceptual framework of the study.udIn the second part of the thesis the author explains whyudparticular instruments were selected for the study. These instrumentsudwere the Work Environment Scale (WES) and the Readiness, Planning,udTraining, Implementation and Maintenance (RPTIM) model for schoolbased,udstaff-development practices. In this part, data for description and validation are provided for both instruments that have been usedudhitherto in a limited way in Australian schools. In the author'sudstudy, both instruments were used to measure teachers' perceptions ofud'actual' and 'preferred' school climates and staff-developmentudpractices.udThe research reported in this thesis consolidates and extendsudprevious research to validate the WES and the RPTIM instruments. Theudevidence suggests that both instruments have face validity and can beudused with confidence in Australian schools. Analysis showed that bothudinstruments possessed adequate internal consistency and discriminantudvalidity if either an individual or a school mean was the unit ofudanalysis. In addition, teachers in all schools were found to haveudsimilar perceptions about their 'preferred' work environments and theudconduct of staff-development practices alike. However, the perceptionsudof the 'actual' environments elicited by both instruments differedudbetween teachers in different types of schools: primary, grades K-6;udhigh, grades 7-10; district high, grades K-10; colleges, grades 11-12.udThat is, some schools and some types of schools were closer to theirudpreferred means than others. An analysis of the data obtained fromudthis study suggests that, if the school climate is 'good', thenudstaff-development practices will also be 'good'. Additional evidenceudis presented from a sample of school case studies to support thisudrelationship between school climate and staff-development practices.udThird, after establishing a relationship between the resultsudobtained by the two instruments, questions are raised about ways toudenhance school climate and staff-development practices. The literatureudabout school improvement is briefly compared with documented researchudon school effectiveness. Emphasis is placed on the relationshipsudbetween similar characteristics described by researchers in these twoudrelated concepts. As case studies were conducted in workplaces,udteachers' reflections prompted action to improve school practices. Theudbody of published knowledge and processes by which school improvementudcould occur are discussed. Suggestions are made for enhancing schooludclimate and staff-development practices. This fulfils the secondudpurpose of the study. ududThe final chapter provides a summary of the study and the findings reached in relation to the research questions. Finally, there is auddiscussion of the implications of this research, and recommendationsudare made for further research specifically related to questions ofudschool climate and staff-development practices.