Original scientific paper
Several aspects of school climate in Croatian elementary schools
Branislava Baranović
orcid.org/0000-0001-6768-3596
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb
Vlatka Domović
; Faculty of Teacher Education of the University in Zagreb
Marina Štibrić
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb
Abstract
In this article several aspects of school climate in elementary schools in Croatia are analysed.
The analysis is based on findings of the empirical research conducted in 2006 on a
sample of 688 class and subject teachers in 25 elementary schools located in different regions
of Croatia. The research was aimed at identifying teachers' perception of school climate
in their schools, differences in their perception of the school climate with respect to
their years of service and their work position (whether they are class or subject teachers).
Additionally, one of the research goals was to establish differences in school climate between
schools. The teachers' answers indicate that their principals support their professional
development as well as cooperation with colleagues in schools. They also reported
having a high level of autonomy in instructional design and teaching practice, accompanied
by a low level of perceived external control. However, their inclusion and real influence
on school life were estimated as being significantly less favourable. This particularly
concerns their limited ability to voice critical opinions regarding how the school operates.
Through the use of factor analysis, three dimensions of school climate were derived: “supportive
working environment”, “autonomy” and “openness to change”. The dimension
“autonomy” discriminates teachers according to the years of their work experience and
their work position. It appears that subject teachers estimate their autonomy more positively
than do class teachers, particularly those that have 6 – 15 years of work experience.
The fact that class teachers perceive their status in school as lower compared to the subject
teachers' status was acknowledged through low estimates of their autonomy, where
class teachers working less than 5 years feel the least autonomy. A successful discrimination
of schools on all three dimensions of the school climate confirmed a legitimate usage
of small number item scales. Development of the school climate profiles revealed that the
schools differ mostly on the “supportive working environment” dimension. The modified Moos' scale used for measuring school climate in this research proved to be a valid analytical
tool for identifying organisational characteristics of schools.
Keywords
school climate; elementary schools; class teachers; subject teachers; work experience; supportive working environment; autonomy; openness to change
Hrčak ID:
93834
URI
Publication date:
17.2.2007.
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