School Culture Typology Survey

Professional Education 8
The Teacher and the Community, School Culture, and Organizational Leadership

Gibo, Jessa Marie K.

Sapetin, Anna Marie J.

Sapid, Mencae Marae T.

University of San Jose-Recoletos

School of Education

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 I. Rationale

Background of the Study

The school culture is a critical component in its improvement. The outcomes of

school administrators' efforts are heavily influenced by school culture practices.
According to Lieberman and Miller (2005), it is critical for principals to create an
organization that fosters a professional and collaborative culture. In line with this, the
researchers indicated that the performance of educational institutions could be
determined by the nature of school culture such as quality administration and
commitment of teachers. Wherein this study contributes with a perspective that can be
used to analyze school cultures without simplifying them or the actions needed to
change cultures.

Brown (2004) cited that the school’s vision, mission and values stem from
societal concerns as well as the respective community as they are the backbone of
education. This was further elaborated by Taylor, Mark and Monica (n.d) in which the
entire community influenced the school’s development towards educational
excellence. Thus, a responsible school has a strong vision and mission, and focused on
time, wherein this is the heart of the main school's values.

Moreover, an effective and a healthy school culture facilitates teacher-student,

teacher-teacher and student-student relationships which also gives opportunities and
venues for togetherness, discussing fundamental values, taking responsibility, coming
together and celebrating individual and group success (Brown, 2004). In the case for
teacher leadership, Hargreaves (2003) considered it as a fundamentalist stance
wherein it supports standardization, accountability, and assessment which leads to
policies that holds Lieberman and Miller statement about schools accountable for
meeting externally mandated standards of student achievement. This stance also
believed that teaching is technical and managed work that requires close supervision
and a system of externally determined and administered rewards and sanctions.

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 In addition, Lepper, et al. (2005) stated that committed teachers are those
advisers and counselors of student’s behavior, facilitators of classroom teaching
learning process, equipped on their subject matters, have trust on school activity and
always guided by the teaching-learning plan. This was further elaborated by Hopkins
(2001) in which teachers with high levels of commitment will greatly contribute to
students’ academic achievement.

Hence, the purpose of this survey is to determine the school cultures from
different schools. May it be positive or negative culture that best describes their
respective schools as well as how these cultures being practiced, affect, and be
beneficial on the entire institution which contributes to success and betterment.

Statement of the Problem

This study looks at how school culture affects students' academic achievement,
collegial awareness, shared values, decision-making, risk-taking, trust, openness, and
parent relations, leadership, communication, socialization, and the history of the
organization are all important factors to consider. The data for this study came from
fifteen (15) instructors or administrators. To examine how a school's culture
contributes to its success, the researchers use a school culture typology worksheet.

Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following:

1. School Culture in terms of:

a. Student Achievement
b. Collegial Awareness
c. Shared Values
d. Decision Making
e. Risk-Taking
f. Trust
g. Openness
h. Parent Relations

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 i. Leadership
j. Communication
k. Socialization
l. Organization History

2. Based on the gathered data, what are the salient results and findings?

3. Based on the results, what are the possible conclusions?

The researchers make sure that this survey will be sincerely gathered, carefully
analyzed, and clearly put into write ups for organized results as well as to come-up with
comprehensive conclusions.

II. Review of Related Literatures

In this section, the researchers present some studies that are relevant to the
survey on school culture. Hence, all of the ideas and literature obtained from the
internet.

A number of studies have been conducted in order to examine school culture to

specific schools. According to the article School culture, leadership and relationships
matter by Auli Toom (2018), emphasized the central role of teachers and their well-
being to promote student learning and pedagogical developments. In this study, it was
also evident that some of the papers presented explicitly focus on leadership, school
level factors, and various incentives that motivate teachers to work in their chosen
profession. With that, this shows the complexity of the school community and its
importance for teachers and students to grow, learn and develop.

Moreover, Yusof et. al (2016) in their study School Culture and Its Relationship
with Teacher Leadership sees that there are only few of the studies that focused more
on the relationship between school culture and teacher leadership. Through this study,
this will indicate that there is really a very strong and significant correlation between

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school culture and teacher leadership. As shown in the results and findings, they found
out that the school that has a diverse school culture will produce teachers who have
extensive and positive leadership. This also entails that teachers may have conflicts and
problems with the administrators’ management but the most important is to have
cooperation among teachers and school administrators in an effort to improve school
performance. Besides, school administrator’s responsibilities should be the backbone
to the changes that are supposed to happen in the school as well as being role models
to all the teachers. Thus, the administrators must be smart in setting the strategies in
implementing positive school culture which later can build a close relationship between
administrators and teachers.

Bidwell & Kasarda (1980) also stated that teachers are shaped by their school
cultures as what teachers manifest in their classrooms. This could be determined by
teachers’ manifestations of their school cultures such as school structures, policies,
traditions, and even how teachers interact with others. With this, according to
Hargreaves (1994), to better understand school cultures and the reciprocal
relationships between school cultures and teachers, this needs to be examined.
Rosenholtz (1991) also recommended that to understand schools, people must
understand them like teachers do; one must attempt to analyze how schools appear to
teachers who inhabit them. More importantly, teachers’ shared understandings of their
school cultures need to be collated and unveiled.

Another is from Pniewski (2017) in his study Administrator and Teacher

Perception of School Culture, he stated that improving a school culture will increase
teacher morale, teacher and administrator cohesiveness, and increase students’
achievement. In his findings he concluded that with a common, clearly defined goal,
everybody (students, teachers, and administrators) would have a clear purpose, and
this would also improve the culture. With a clear instructional vision, the schools
teachers and leadership would have a clear and defined goal and common vision.
Another way to improve the school culture would be to increase the interactions and
professional collaboration among teachers in the building. This could potentially clear

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up any miscommunication by making the behavior code more visible to the teachers
and students.

Furthermore, an article on Practices in different school cultures and principals’

improvement work by Nehez (2020) stressed school culture as a decisive factor in
school improvement in which practices in school culture creates an impact on the
outcome of school principals’ improvement efforts (Deal & Peterson, 2016). With that,
Leithwood et.al (2019) also cited in their school leaders research the importance of
principals building an organization which supports a professional and collaborative
culture. Teachers, principals, school administrators, and other stakeholders play a
huge role in fostering a collaborative and conducive learning environment that caters
the whole institution's development and improvement. Change and improvement in
organizations are somewhat complex processes however, if all of these people
mentioned above, especially the presence of the principal work hand in hand
everything will be possible and reach success.

III. Data Presentation, Analysis and Discussion of the Findings

This section discloses the presentation, analysis and discussions of the

gathered data by the researchers. With this, it aimed to determine the salient results
and findings that helps to fulfill the survey on school culture.

The table below presented the separate results of the 11 different schools in
which respondents were randomly picked and with no particular number per school.

Table 1.1: School A

Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

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 A1 0.75 3.92
Balkanized Collaborative

A2 0.33 3.33
Toxic and Balkanized Collaborative

A3 0.42 5.17
Balkanized Collaborative

A4 0 3.75
None Contrived Collegiality

A5 0.92 3.33
Fragmented Contrived Collegiality

A6 0.17 3.92
Balkanized Contrived Collegiality

Table 1.2: School B

Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

B1 0.67 3.25
Balkanized Collaborative

Table 1.3: School C

Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

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 C1 0.92 5.42
Balkanized Collaborative

C2 0 4.17
None Collaborative

C3 1.25 2.5
Balkanized Comfortable
Collaboration
and Collaborative

Table 1.4: School D

Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

D1 0 5.17
None Collaborative

D2 1.66 3
Balkanized Contrived Collegiality

Table 1.5: School E

Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

E1 2.58 1.42
Toxic Collaborative

E2 1.5 3.75

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 Toxic Contrived Collegiality

Table 1.6: School F

Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

F1 6.6 9
Balkanized Collaborative

Table 1.7: School G

Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

G1 0.8 2.9
Balkanized Collaborative

Table 1.8: School H

Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

H1 1.9 2
Toxic Contrived
Collegiality

Table 1.9: School I

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 Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

I1 1.3 2.25
Toxic Contrived
Collegiality

Table 1.10: School J

Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

J1 0.4 & 0.4 3.6

Toxic and Comfortable
Balkanized Collaboration

Table 1.11: School K

Highest Average
Teacher
Negative Culture Positive Culture
(A,B,C) (D, E, F)

K1 1.8 2.75
Toxic Contrived
Collegiality

The eleven (11) different schools follow the same explanation with regards to its
arrangement per row and per column. Column 1 signifies the respondents of the school.
Column 2 is divided by two: Negative Culture, statements from columns A, B, and C;

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Positive Culture, statements from D, E, and F. The answers of the respondents are
converted into the average to give the general idea of the responses as a whole. The
analysis of the average is based from the Typology Descriptions: Column A-Toxic;
Column B-Fragmented; Column C-Balkanized; Column D-Contrived Collegiality;
Column E-Comfortable Collaboration; Column F-Collaborative.

Based on the survey worksheet, the researchers interpreted that the first three
columns are statements considered as practices of a Negative Culture and the last three
columns are statements considered as practices of a Positive Culture.

Chart 1. General Findings

Chart 1 revealed the general findings from the twenty (20) teacher respondents.
Out of 20 respondents, 7 respondents answered toxic, 1 respondent answered
fragmented, 11 respondents answered Balkanized, 8 respondents answered Contrived
Collegiality, 2 respondents answered Comfortable Collaboration, and 11 respondents
answered Collaborative.

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 As revealed in the chart, the highest negative school culture which was answered
mostly by the respondent is balkanized while the highest positive school culture is
collaborative. According to Steve Gruenert & Jerry Valentine, Middle Level Leadership
Center (2000) in Typology Descriptions, balkanized is where the school community is
divided into smaller groups competing from one another. It is a very negative school
culture because it leads to poor communication, indifference, and groups even the most
effective teachers going separate directions. It is also crucial in sharing beliefs and
cultures because there is no harmony among the members of the school community.
The impact of the negativity does not just not refer to the teachers but as well as to the
relationships among students and parents. This type of environment is more on self-
preservation this means that they focused more on individuality than being in a shared
environment.

Whereas, collaborative entails interdependence, commitment to change and

improvement. This fosters help, support, trust, openness, and collective reflection and
efficacy as these are the heart of this culture. The teacher in this type of culture is
focused more on the student’s achievement and the success of everybody to the vision,
mission, and the school’s goals. The teachers embrace failures as an opportunity to
learn and grow both for themselves and for their students. With that, it is possible that
in this type of culture, everyone is productive and is held to a high professional
standard.

IV. Conclusion

Based on the results of the survey, this section presents the comprehensive
conclusion. Some respondents have experienced some negative practices in their
respective schools, the average of their positive practices far outweighs the negative.
School culture has a significant impact on both students' and educators' achievements;
it may vary from time to time due to differences in norms and many other factors, but
most importantly, these differences must not diminish unity.

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 This survey of teachers' relationships with their colleagues and students reveals
to the researchers that there is no perfect colleague. Teachers may always practice
professionalism, but human nature will always be with them. Research shows that
negativity is a part of positivity, and that despite difficulties in relationships, there is
always collaboration and goodness in everyone. The members of the institution may
have shared different values, beliefs, practices, etc. in the community but the goal of
the school unites them together. That is, therefore, the meaning of school culture in
this study means that the members are seen as individuals but when it comes to their
function in the institutions they have to play their responsibility abiding to the school's
vision, mission and goals.

The researchers also realized that there is no perfect school culture. With the
study on Educational Leadership there are different types of leaders. In relation, they
conclude that the type of leadership in the school does not guarantee that it will be
acceptable for everyone. With that, some teacher respondents may not be able to
understand and appreciate the type of leadership their school head has.

Moreover, the researchers also found out that this study can be expanded not
only in 11 schools but throughout the country. This is to enable in-depth knowledge of
the school culture and also can generalize the study to a larger location. Further studies
can be done to examine the factors that can affect school culture. In addition, further
research should be conducted to assess the effect of school culture to the success of the
goals of an institution.

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V. References

Auli Toom (2018) School Culture, Leadership and Relationships Matter, Teachers and
Teaching 24:7, 745-748, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2018.1503855. Retrieved
from:https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2018.1503855

Hongboontri, C. & Keawkhong, N. ( 2014). School Culture: Teachers' Beliefs, Behaviors,

and Instructional Practices. Australian Journal of Teacher Education.
Retrieved from
https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2332&context=ajte&fbclid
=IwAR3bawxUF31n6V1A59x4_Y2qEyuQVMWvsW8266SuPLy8xYhDyZn-
Bu5ofpc

Jaana Nehez & Ulf Blossing (2020) Practices in different school cultures and principals’
improvement work, International Journal of Leadership in Education.
Retrieved from
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080%2F136
03124.2020.1759828&area=0000000000000001

Lieberman, A. and Miller, L (2005). Teachers as Leaders. The Educational Forum.

Retrieved July 28, 2021 from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ683740.pdf

Pniewski, L. E. (2017). Administrator And Teacher Perception of School Culture.

Western Kentucky University. Retrieved from
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2974&c
ontext=theses

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 APPENDICES
Appendix A1: Legend

For the purpose of confidentiality, the researchers did not reveal the name of the
following institutions. The researchers used the capital letters A-K to indicate which
school they are referring to.

A. St. Catherine's Academy

B. Royal Colleges of Sciences and Management

C-Carmen Central Elementary School

D-Catmon Integrated School

E- Naga National High School STE

F-Cebu Doctors' University

G- Cirilo Roy Montejo National High School

H- University of San Jose-Recoletos

I- Academia de San Isidro Labrador

J- San Andres Elementary School

K- Leyte National High School

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 Appendix A2: Survey Answers

School A
A.1

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A.2

17
A.3

18
A.4

19
A.5

20
A.6

21
School B
B.1

22
School C
C.1

23
C.2

24
C.3

25
School D
D.1

26
D.2

27
School E
E.1

28
E.2

29
School F
F.1

30
School G
G.1

31
School H
H.1

32
School I
I.1

33
School J
J.1

34
School K
K.1

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