School Climate,School Improvement and Site-based Management |
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Authors: | Dellar Graham B |
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Institution: | (1) Faculty of Education, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia, 6845, Australia E-mail |
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Abstract: | This article examines the relationship between school organisational climate and the school's preparedness to undertake restructuring
and improvement. Over the last two decades, much research into school improvement and effectiveness has indicated the importance
of school climate for a school's efforts to change. For school-level personnel, an understanding of the nature of the prevailing
climate would seem valuable in determining the school's willingness and capacity to embark on school improvement initiatives
and to evaluate the impact that such initiatives have on the nature of the school's climate. The research reported here was
conducted in three phases. The first phase involved the assessment of the prevailing organisational climate in 30 secondary
schools drawn from three State education systems in Australia. The second phase involved analysing and documenting the principles
and school-level process associated with the establishment of site-based management in the three State education systems.
The third phase sought teachers' perceptions about the impact of site-based management on school improvement planning, collaboration
and curriculum leadership, and classroom practices. The research indicated the existence of an important relationship between
organisational climate and the school's capacity to implement and sustain authentic site-based management. Where the prevailing
organisational climate is negative, tailored ‘front-end’ strategies designed to improve the climate might be undertaken prior
to the school embarking on substantial school improvement initiatives. Finally, assessing organisational climate can provide
information about a school's preparedness to undertake change, and a re-assessment of climate following a change initiative
can provide evaluative data about the extent of change within the school.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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Keywords: | school climate school improvement site-based management teachers'perceptions |
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