Edition IX
The experiences of UK teachers in international schools, learning by arguing, leading global perspectives (January, 2020)
Welcome to EDDi, Edition IX
We hope that the new term has started well.
As we work to refine EDDi, 2020 brings a slight change. For the moment we have dropped the PDF version. You can still access the digest via e-mail or online, the PDF will be taking a hiatus. If you miss the PDF and would like it reinstated, let us know: contact@eddi.ac.
Also coming in 2020, look out for some special editions. The first will be an edition dedicated to extra-short 500 word academic digests.
This week though is a ‘normal’ edition. We have digests exploring how to prepare Asian students for UK schools, the experiences of UK teachers in international schools, learning by arguing, leading global perspectives, and school climate differences between local and expatriate staff.
As ever, please do forward EDDi to colleagues and friends. We appreciate your support.
Happy reading.
EDDi
PREPARING ASIAN STUDENTS FOR OXBRIDGE: SOME TIPS FOR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL TUTORS
It will be the biggest culture shock of their young lives.
THOUGHT PIECE
Is working in an international school the ideal job for a UK teacher?
LEARNING BY ARGUING
The big push in primary and secondary education is now getting students to think and write critically, creatively, and to confidently engage in open-ended discussion on a variety of topics.
GLOBALLY MINDED LEADERSHIP:
A NEW APPROACH TO LEADING SCHOOLS IN DIVERSE DEMOCRACIES
Today, school leadership is arguably one of the most complex leadership roles anyone can assume, made more so by the need to ensure the school ‘thrives in a diverse, interconnected world’.
SCHOOL CLIMATE IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL SETTINGS:
DIFFERENCES IN TEACHER PERCEPTIONS AMONG INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC-ORIENTATED DEPARTMENTS
‘School Climate’; an intangible concept but one which has been researched for over a century, and quite intensely since the 1970s.
Full links and references for each articles below.
PREPARING ASIAN STUDENTS FOR OXBRIDGE: SOME TIPS FOR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL TUTORS
By: Dr Stephen Whitehead
A number of years ago I did a series of lectures for the British Council in Bangkok. My audience was a couple of dozen Thai graduates each of whom had been awarded government scholarships to study at leading UK universities.
My topic: ‘preparing for postgraduate study in the UK’
By definition, these were some of the best and brightest of Thai graduates, most of them straight out of Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, and Mahidol universities, with first class degrees. But were they ready for the UK experience? No.
In my previous professional identity as a UK university senior lecturer (Leeds, Keele) I’d seen first-hand how most Asian students respond to UK university life. They retreat into their own cultural ghetto. They are first to arrive at the lecture, last to leave. In class they are attentive but silent, only the brave will venture to ask the occasional question. They sit together, constituting the ‘Singapore’ or ‘Chinese’ contingency, surrounded and not a little overwhelmed, by the Brits and the smattering of other nationalities. One Thai doctoral student I knew spent the three years doing her doctorate mostly closeted up in her campus bedsit. Never mixing with the crowd, even though her English was nigh perfect. Avoidance seemed for her, far easier than attempts at assimilation. She got her science doctorate. She learned little about the UK.
My daughter has just graduated from Oxford (Balliol College) with an MA in History, in the autumn of 2019 she embarks on her PhD at Oxford. I recently asked her about South East Asians at Oxford and she replied that “mostly they are invisible”. I also asked my daughter what were the main topics of conversation of postgrad Oxford students outside lectures, and she confidently replied “sex, politics, sport’ in that order. It is considered odiosis to discuss one’s research. As for her postgraduate peers, she observed “all are incredibly clever and intellectual, several are geniuses, and many are downright weird.”
My travels around Asia have introduced me to a great many actual and prospective UK university students, all Asian, all very bright, dedicated, hardworking, with money and family support behind them. Most will survive the UK HE experience; if only because failure cannot be countenanced under any circumstances. The loss of face alone would destroy them.
But it won’t be a fairy-tale experience. It will be the biggest culture shock of their young lives.
EDDi will return to this topic in the future, but for this edition the focus will be on postgraduate Asian students. That is, Asians who did their first degree in Asia and are applying for or been accepted onto a Masters at a UK university.
Some advice for students:
You must hit the ground running. Forget about slowly easing your way into your study. An MA at Oxbridge, or indeed any UK university, lasts a mere nine months. Not only must you fulfil all assessment criteria in this period, including any field work, you’ll also need to prepare and submit a PhD proposal if you intend to do one post-MA.
Stay close to a tutor. No, not that close! But you must establish a rapport with a tutor who appears supportive. At the very least you’ll be allocated a tutor in your department who’ll act as a personal support. Ensure you meet them every week, yes, every week, at least during key phases in the term, to discuss your essays, your ideas, and get tips on what to read.
The university library is your greatest source, not the internet. In fact, if you use the internet as your primary research source for a UK MA then you’ll fail. Spend more time in the library reading proper books than on your laptop reading social media.
Integrate. The foreign student who fails to do this would have been better staying at home. Integrate means socialising with British and other overseas students. Do not retreat into a cultural ghetto wherein all you speak is your own language with peers from your own country.
Postgraduate student class numbers are low. Expect to be with no more than 15-20 other students in most lectures. Indeed, in Oxbridge there may often only be you, two other students and the tutor. For two hours. This is intense and you are expected to contribute. No chance of hiding at the back of the class and staying silent.
Keep to deadlines. Do not go and ask for extensions. Yes, you may get the extension but my experience is that once a student starts dropping behind they have to work twice as hard to catch up. And many don’t.
Time management is a key characteristic of the successful postgraduate student. This means managing both study time and leisure time. Yes, you should have leisure time. Don’t spend all your days in the library. Get out and mix with your peers, go to parties, experience the ‘pub’, learn the British culture, and the British food!
Typically, you’ll have no more than 9-12 hours of lectures a week. That is not a lot. you need to add to it by going to seminars, meetings with your tutor/supervisor, library research, field work, writing, and ideally forming your own small discussion group outside of lectures. Also, attend any conferences in your field that get held at the university, or locally. Network with other students in your field. Exchange ideas and research tips.
Critical thinking will get you an MA, not rote learning, and certainly not regurgitating other people’s research and ideas. You are expected to contribute a little originality. You must avoid the slightest whiff of plagiarism. You do this by judiciously following all the university criteria for referencing and acknowledgement of sources. At the same time, you must try and thinking creatively and write accordingly.
If you have come from an Asian university and been used to getting high scores on your essays, then you are in for a shock. Oxbridge is especially known for tight marking. It is the rare student who gets a First for every essay (e.g. 70 +). Indeed, an essay that might achieve 95 in the U.S. university system, may well not even reach 70 (First class) in a top UK university.
A QUICK REQUEST…
To keep EDDi alive we need subscribers. If you like what EDDi offers, please share with colleagues.
Help EDDi on its journey by sharing.
WOULD YOU “BURN IN HELL BEFORE RETURNING”?
Photo by Chris Barbalis on Unsplash
It is 8am on a wet and windy November Monday morning, the clouds casting their dark shadow over the inner-city London school playground.
The sun hasn’t shone for weeks and the gloomy, depressed mood is reflected in the faces of the teachers as they hunker up the energy to exit the staffroom ‘trenches’ and once more face the challenge of teaching a horde of truculent teenagers.
Most have spent their weekend ‘leisure time’ marking and preparing lesson plans. The more anxious ones slept fitfully.
They won’t be leaving early today because the Principal has called an end-of-day staff meeting. He’s just been informed that Ofsted are doing an inspection next week. Not least for his own career, if not that of his teachers, he’s hoping the outcome of this inspection will be better than the last. Meanwhile, he better check how many toilet rolls his parents have been able to donate this week.
I’ve experienced this as a UK teacher, and many of you reading will have too. It is not fiction, it is fact. Which makes the following statistics* both verifiable and a disgrace.
• The percentage of teachers that leave the profession due to stress: 35%
• The percentage of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) that leave the UK teaching profession within 1 year: 12%
• The percentage of NQTs that leave within 5 years (in last 10 years): 28%
• The percentage of UK teachers that leave in first five years: 50%
• The percentage of US teachers that leave in first five years: 30%
• The percentage of UK teachers who expect to quit in less than two years: 18%
• The percentage of UK teachers who expect to quit in next five years: 40%
It is no surprise then that mainstream newspapers such as The Guardian, are finally latching on to an interesting global phenomenon, which is that many of these US and UK teachers are not quitting teaching, they are going to work abroad; invariably heading for a teaching job in an international school where “the pupils are delightful, the classes are small, resources are plentiful, workload is reasonable, staff work well together” and where one can perhaps get in a bit of diving, swimming or sailing after school gates have closed for the day.
“Working conditions are better, with sizes that are half of a UK class. It would be insane for me to return to the UK.”
“I remember spending weekends in the UK sat at home planning, marking, assessing, worrying…Now I actually have a life.”
“I would never consider going back to a UK classroom.”
“Would I go back and teach in the UK? I would find it very hard to go back.”
“I’d rather clean toilets in McDonalds’ than teach in the UK again.”
“In the UK, my work was results and Ofsted-driven. We were handcuffed by bureaucracy and targets.”
“I would burn in hell before returning to teach in an English school. Teaching in the UK is exhausting.”
I could fill this article with identical comments from international school teachers (British and American) all of whom have quit their home country for pastures new in schools the world over. During my years of association with international schools I’ve met very few IS teachers who ever return home to teach. In fact, right now, not one comes to mind.
But is working in an international school the ideal job for a UK teacher? Is it all sun, sea, sand and Tequila’s on the terrace? Well, yes, in truth it can be all of that and more besides. But there are other factors to bear in mind if you are intending quitting the gloom of inner-city London for the clear blue of Phuket.
Pensions. You won’t have one as an international school teacher so you’ll need to ensure you make your own provision for retirement. Many IS teachers invest in property. Those who did so in HK a decade ago, and sold before the recent riots, did very well indeed.
Contracts. One or two years is typical, even for experienced senior teachers. So you’ll need a mindset and attitude which can cope with knowing that nowhere you settle is likely to be permanent.
Culture Shock. I cannot help wondering how newly qualified IS teachers who landed a job in HK last year are now coping. My guess is most are looking for out. OK, HK right now is a dramatic example of culture shock, but wherever one goes, expect to experience it to some degree.
Salaries: Overall, you’ll earn more than back in the UK or US especially as you move up the management ladder, but make sure your IS contract includes essentials such as health insurance, free accommodation, flights home, maybe even a yearly bonus.
Inspections: You won’t suffer Ofsted but you’ll still have to be inspection savvy, not least for organisations such as the Council of International Schools.
Politics and Stakeholders: This can be a big one for many IS teachers, and especially Principals; having to handle the often culturally unfathomable world of multicultural parents, local and national politics and related ideologies, and, not least, the bureaucrats from the Ministry of Education.
Owners: Most classroom teachers will rarely meet the school owner. But Principals and senior managers most definitely will. Some IS school owners are enlightened leaders themselves, liberal-minded, empathetic, and driven by educational values rather than the bottom line. As I say, ‘some’.
Corporatisation and Elitism: There are now some big players in the IS world, notably Cognita and Nord Anglia, both of which were, interestingly, originally UK companies. These companies can offer you many opportunities not least because they have schools all over the world. Likewise, many of the top IS schools in Asia originate from the world of elite private English schools. Just remember their world is corporate and elite, by definition.
Students: If you’re newly arrived from the UK then better swot up on the characteristics of Third Culture Kids. Not that there is a problem with them, far from it, but Moss Side kids they are not, especially those whose parents send them to school in a chauffeured Maserati.
Nomadic Global Citizen: This is what you’ll become once you leave your home country. Very few ever return, not least because while they are away their home country changes and becomes more about nostalgia than familiarity. So, expect to be an NGC until the day dawns when you finally settle in one place, hopefully for the rest of your life. I chose Thailand. No doubt you’ll find you own sunny haven.
And if you happen to be reading this EDDi article in your UK or US school or university staffroom and thinking to yourself, ‘that’s all very well, but are there any IS jobs left for teachers like myself, won’t they all have been taken already?’ Don’t worry, CIS estimates the sector will require up to 230,000 more IS teachers over the next 10 years. Your ‘dream job’ awaits.
NB: If you have any thoughts or comments on this article, or indeed that published by The Guardian (linked below) we’d welcome them.
DIGEST I:
LEARNING BY ARGUING
Authors: K. Iordanou, D. Kuhn, F. Matos, Y. Shi, L. Hemberger, Univ. of Central Lancashire, Cyprus and Columbia University, USA)
TAKEAWAYS
Recognising the importance of argumentation to knowledge acquisition, two alternative approaches are debated:
learning to argue: learning the practice of argumentation
arguing to learn: practicing argumentation in order to learn
The knowledge students gain in arguing to learn is important in its own right, but its benefits also extend to developing rigorous thinking and knowledge acquisition.
The paper provides evidence that students can develop both knowledge and skills through argumentation practice.
In an age when over 50% of young people are likely to attend university, it would appear incumbent on schools to prepare them for the experience, and not just by ensuring they pass the necessary A levels or IB Diploma.
The big push in primary and secondary education is now getting students to think and write critically, creatively, and to confidently engage in open-ended discussion on a variety of topics. Not least because this is precisely the experience they will encounter in university lectures and seminars.
Which is where argument plays a big part.
Whether it be a 3,000-word essay, a student-led seminar, or a 10,000-word thesis, academic success invariably follows an accomplished argument.
Recognising the importance of argumentation to knowledge acquisition, educational research undertaken in recent years highlights two alternative approaches; one group of researchers suggesting learning to argue is the most promising path for students to take for knowledge acquisition, the other group suggesting arguing to learn is better for developing associated practice.
Those in the arguing to learn group are devoted to the idea that engaging in argumentation with peers is a promising path to students’ knowledge acquisition. Those in the learning to argue group focus more on argumentation as a valuable practice in its own right, with engagement and practice enhancing students’ skills in both dialogic and individual written or verbal argument. (p. 2)
In short, a dual-argumentation approach informs the research detailed in the article. The key question being: Can argumentation practice simultaneously promote knowledge acquisition while advancing skill in the practice itself? (p. 2)
The research was conducted through two studies, both undertaken in schools in Cyprus. The participants were 88 fifth and sixth graders (45 female) from a public non-selective school in Cyprus. Students in both grades participated as part of their science classes, taught by the same teacher.
The research method was based around two longitudinal independent studies involving the students writing set essays, devised Q&A, reflection sheets, observation, transcripts, dialogue, and range of techniques designed to test arguments, counterarguments, rebuttals, evidential bases, and collaboration.
The research approach was complex but succeeded in fulfilling the objective of establishing that it is possible to accomplish both knowledge and skills goals in the context of a curriculum centered around dense engagement in argumentation.
‘Furthermore, it is possible to do so even in those cases in which pre-existing factual knowledge regarding the topic is non-existent or at most minimal and superficial, as was the case for the topics involved in this study...It is clear that knowledge gain is not limited to cases of restructuring of existing knowledge, but also how newly received knowledge is absorbed, transformed and gradually put to use as mastery of it becomes firmer and skill level alllows.’ (p. 9)
Summarising the main findings:
The research provides empirical support for treating discourse as a productive path to individual written argument and in particular for a method that emphasizes direct peer-to-peer discourse.
Dense, all-day “workshop” mode of curriculum delivery is effective for students in this age group.
All day workshops based around argumentive activities fully engage the students and get them absorbed in the tasks. This appears more effective for advancing skills than learning activities of a lesser density.
It is not the existence of previous knowledge about the topic that is the key to successful student writing but rather getting the students deeply immersed in the topic.
The knowledge students gain in arguing to learn is important in its own right, but its benefits also extend to developing rigorous thinking and this transfers itself to accomplished argumentive writing.
The discourse skills students develop in peer dialogue are valuable in and of themselves and readily transferred to any argumentive situation, including essay writing.
A novel question and answer method was found superior to a traditional one in promoting knowledge gain with the students.
Regards skill acquisition, prompting students to consider incongruent evidence showed the greatest effect in furthering mastery of a critical argument skill. That is, to acknowledge and address, rather than ignore, evidence that counters one’s own position.
In an age when so much argument is manifesting itself not least online and social media, learning techniques which improve more sophisticated analysis, debate, critical thinking and creative use of evidence, are going to be welcomed by teachers everywhere.
This study provides solid evidence that students can develop both knowledge and skills through argumentation practice, and, importantly, find the process stimulating, absorbing and challenging.
link
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603124.2019.1623916
reference
Christos Hatziconstantis & Tania Kolympari (2019) School climate in international school settings: differences in teacher perceptions among international and domestic-oriented departments, International Journal of Leadership in Education
DIGEST II:
GLOBALLY MINDED LEADERSHIP: A NEW APPROACH TO LEADING SCHOOLS IN DIVERSE DEMOCRACIES
Author: A. Tichnor-Wagner (Boston University)
TAKEAWAYS
• The article highlights a ‘repertoire of practices’ engaged in and actively promoted by school leaders seeking to develop a global minded approach.
• These practices are: setting the direction, developing people, redesigning the organisation, situating glocally.
• The objectives of effective school leadership in the global age are very clear; towards developing global mindedness at every stage in the education process, and from leader outwards.
Despite the fact the academic study of leadership has been evolving for many decades, likely many centuries, still it manages to come up with new concepts, new directions, new theoretical perspectives. Largely this is in response to the constantly changing demands placed on leaders.
This should not surprise us. Leading a school today is a whole lot different to leading one fifty years ago.
Back then there were no performance indicators, no globalisation, no internet, no social media. Surely headship life was a lot easier as a consequence!
Today, school leadership is arguably one of the most complex leadership roles anyone can assume, made more so by the need to ensure the school ‘thrives in a diverse, interconnected world’.
‘Global migration, global markets, and technological advances have connected the world at an unprecedented scale and have diversified the communities with which people engage and the schools in which educators teach…Schools must prepare children and communities for participation in a multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multinational society.’ (p. 1-2)
Accepting the global context of education, and especially international schooling, what leadership attributes do K-12 school administrators committed to cultivating global learning among students and staff display? This is the key question driving this study.
The central, if understated premise of this study, is that leaders make the difference between success and failure in a school.
Leaders count. Therefore, leadership attitudes and approaches matter.
‘Leading a globally focused school goes beyond putting structures and norms in place for changing school cultures, teacher practices, and ultimately, student outcomes. Global migration exacerbates the social justice imperative in education, as more students are enrolling in public schools with varied legal statuses, cultural backgrounds, and linguistic abilities that may adversely impact the opportunities afforded to them for success.’ (p.4)
While the empirical basis of this study is 11 in-depth interviews with school leaders currently teaching in two public school districts in the southern United States, the findings and implications are even more relevant to international school leaders all of whom are, it could be said, located at the interface between localisation and globalisation. The international school leader of today must ‘globally minded, as well as being skilled and politically astute in negotiating the multiple identity mix of the staff, students, parents.
As this research reveals:
‘School leaders [in this study] not only melded practice associated with leading instructional reforms and teaching diverse, historically marginalized students, they also weaved in new leadership practices where leaders situated themselves in a local-global space by directly addressing local contexts and circumstances while simultaneously making global connections for themselves, staff and students.’ (p. 7)
So how was this political/personal/professional balancing act achieved? Through the application of 10 globally minded leadership practices, formulated under four key headings:
Setting the Direction
Facilitating and enacting a shared mission and vision that incorporates global competence. e.g. identifying challenges and opportunities of a rapidly globalising economy for students, while defining the global mission and vision with staff.
Developing People
Supporting students through curriculum and instruction. E.g. Every school leader pointed to at least one global learning program for students that they helped usher into the school.
Providing job-embedded professional learning. E.g. Every school leader provided time and resources for staff to learn how to integrate global content and perspectives into the existing curriculum.
Developing self as a global leader. E.g. The majority of the school leaders had no professional experience or training in global education, but all displayed a mindset for being open to learning on the job. They sought out professional development opportunities and multiple ways to enhance their global perspective.
Redesigning the Organisation
Distributed leadership among staff. E.g. All the school leaders provided teachers with autonomy to shape the global learning in their classrooms while four of the leaders included teachers as part of formal leadership teams on global curriculum, etc.
Reaching out to community stakeholders. E.g. Educating parents as to the importance of the global vision of the school; working with local universities to develop and expand upon global projects.
Realigning resources. E.g. All school leaders redesigned their organisation by finding creative ways to provide and manage human resources that supported global competence development.
Situating Glocally
Confronting inequities. E.g. School leaders viewed global education as a way to confront local socioeconomic inequities facing their students, embodying concepts of social justice leadership.
Appreciating local and global diversity. E.g. Affirming and valuing the cultures of students within the school while promoting appreciation and awareness of global diversity.
Connecting glocally. E.g. Proactively making connections to global educators across local and international boundaries (e.g. via social media) and recognising a professional need to connect to the larger educational world.
What the article highlights is a ‘repertoire of practices’ engaged in and actively promoted by the school leaders with the single aim of developing a global minded approach within the school and its stakeholders.
This energy and vision comes first and foremost from the school leaders. They are the architects, the drivers, the overseers of this objective.
At the same time, they cannot achieve the desired results alone. They must bring on board the whole school. There is no single leadership style which can be said to work for every school leader, at the same time, the objectives of effective school leadership in the global age are very clear; towards developing global mindedness at every stage in the education process, and from leader outwards.
reference
Ariel Tichnor-Wagner (2019). Globally Minded Leadership: A New Approach for Leading Schools in Diverse Democracies. International Journal of Education Policy & Leadership 15(2). URL: http://journals.sfu.ca/ijepl/index.php/ijepl/article/view/869.
link
http://journals.sfu.ca/ijepl/index.php/ijepl/article/view/869
DIGEST III:
SCHOOL CLIMATE IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL SETTINGS: DIFFERENCES IN TEACHER PERCEPTIONS AMONG INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC-ORIENTATED DEPARTMENTS
Authors: C. Hatziconstantis and T. Kolympari (Univ. of Ioannina, Greece)
TAKEAWAYS
There is still no universal theory or indeed definition of ‘school climate’,
Attempts at definition have identified four domains: safety, academic climate, community, institutional environment.
But, objective measures don’t really capture culture.
Understanding school culture requires ‘feeling the pulse’, which means talking to people not just surveying them.
I recall an experienced CIS inspector once telling me that he could “get a feel for a school within 15 minutes of first walking in” and that invariably his first ‘gut feeling’ turned out to be correct.
I knew what he was referring to, I’ve felt it myself. No doubt you have also.
But what is it we are sensing here? Is it culture, is it vibe, is it to do with the physical layout, happy children, the smiling receptionist, or the stressed-out, grim looking teacher hurrying to a class?
What we are sensing, no matter how subjectively, are perceptions of ‘school climate’; an intangible concept but one which has been researched for over a century, and quite intensely since the 1970s.
Attesting to its amorphous character, there is still no universal theory or indeed definition of ‘school climate’, leaving it subject to only broad interpretations. However, over recent years attempts have been made to identify the overlapping features and dimensions of school climate and ‘four domains’ have emerged:
Safety: e.g. physical safety, emotional security, order and discipline
Academic climate: e.g. leadership, teaching and learning practices and professional development
Community: e.g. the quality of the relationships between members of a school unit, involving respect, diversity, partnerships, cooperation
Institutional Environment: e.g. physical characteristics, structural organisation, resources. (p. 3)
For me, this still looks like trying to have one’s cake and eat it.
That is, these four domains actually cover everything in a school. They are all-encompassing, multidimensional, nothing is omitted. In that respect, they refer to every school in existence. Consequently, they offer little insight into school climate: one can sense the climate of a school long before one has had time to assess the organisational structure, physical layout or indeed, the emotional security of the students and staff.
Which makes this research into school climate quite intriguing, because as Fullan argued back in 1982, ‘school climate is crucial to the smooth functioning of the school (p. 4).
‘Specifically, school climate can facilitate or obstruct the learning process, intensify or weaken school networks, improve or hinder the daily functioning, impose or remove sanctions to address delinquent behaviour, consider underperformance and promote or impede participation in school life’. (OECD, 20019) (p. 4).
The article details a quantitative study undertaken in 11 Greek schools (Athens and Salonica); all private, located in affluent neighbourhoods. Five were ‘traditional international schools’ with a ‘large cultural mix of children’. Six were ‘targeting the Greek market’ offering a mix of Greek MoE curriculum (GNED) and IBDP. A questionnaire in Greek devised ‘by the Greek MoE’ was distributed to parents and 340 teachers and anonymously collected by departmental secretaries. 316 parents and 300 teachers responded.
‘The questionnaire structure consisted of 34 questions that examined three aspects: a. relations between teachers; b. relationships between teachers and pupils; and c. relationships between parents and teachers…The data were analysed using Pearson product movement correlation and one-way analysis of variance for each item of the questionnaire.’ (p. 9)
Using a quantitative methodology to assess levels of subjective interpretation would appear to be, at the very least, counter-intuitive. Yet the findings do offer some insight into the quality of relationships in the respective schools.
Relations among teachers:
Differences emerge in terms of perceptions of teacher cooperation between the IB and GNED departments, with one third of respondents in the IB departments considering levels of cooperation unsatisfactory. Overall, GNED schools reveal higher quality levels of relations between teachers than in the International schools.
2. Relations between teachers and students:
There was no statistical difference among domestically orientated and international departments with respect to relations with students. With more than four fifths of all teachers saying their relations with students are characterised by great appreciation and mutual respect.
Twice as many IB teachers think that students behave very well, leading to significant statistical differences between GNED and IB schools in that respect.
3. Relations between teachers and parents:
Almost 98% of teachers found that relationships with parents were characterized by mutual respect. Nearly 6 out of 10 teachers believe there is enough respect, while 4 out of 10 profess strong mutual respect.
At least 90% of teachers stated that cooperation with parents on educational and disciplinary matters delivered adequate or visible results.
The article concludes:
‘Overall, the findings of the study seem ambivalent, at first glance…There are indications of fragmentation among the domestically orientated and the international school departments in certain key educational dimensions such as educational collaborations among teachers and mentoring, fair and constructive treatment…cooperation with parents to promote learning and solve in-class conflict, implying that a monolithic interpretation of school climate may not be a valid predicator of stakeholder behaviour and motivation. (p. 13).
Furthering that final observation, the authors acknowledge that ‘the study tried to avoid treating school climate as a closed, homogenous concept that can be sufficiently manipulated according to an instrumentalist modernist perspective…’ (p. 14).
And that is probably the most important finding of this research. Which is, using top-down, quantitative methods, ‘based on an unrealistic model of nineteenth century natural sciences’ doesn’t work when attempting to identify and define human subjective interpretation, in this case perceptions of ‘school climate’. That the questionnaire was devised by an MoE is in itself, telling.
So, don’t go down that road if you really want to know what your teachers and parents think about your school.
Sure, you may well get your questionnaire completed, and it may offer you some insights, but really the only way to measure ‘school climate’ is to do so over a longitudinal study, albeit supported by questionnaire, but crucially informed by staff exit interviews, new staff interviews, focus groups and involving every member of the school from cleaner to security guard, teaching assistant to receptionist, senior manager to department head.
Either that or invite in your local CIS inspector.
reference
K. Iordanou, D. Kuhn, F. Matos, Y. Shi, L. Hemberger (2018) Learning by arguing, Learning and Instruction, Vol 63, October 2019
link
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959475218304249
Share to help EDDi thrive
Every fortnight EDDi provides vital educational research, summarised. EDDi saves you time and money, keeping you professionally engaged and up-to-date.
To keep EDDi alive we need subscribers. If you like what EDDi offers, please share with colleagues.
Help EDDi on its journey by sharing.