AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF COLLABORATIVE CULTURE AS A MODEL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR IN GREEK PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Autori

  • Nikolaos Tsipas MEd, Frederick University, Cyprus
  • Vasileios Zagkotas MEd, PhD, pDR, University of Ioannina, Department of Philology, Greece
  • Spyridoula Tsipa MEd, PhD, Neapolis University of Paphos, Department of Educational Administration, Cyprus, in Co-Supervision University of Peloponnese, Department of Social and Education Policy, Greece

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v10i6.4835

Parole chiave:

school collaborative culture, small rural/urban Greek primary schools, descriptive/ comparative analysis, questionnaire “S.C.S.-T.F.”

Abstract

The investigation of the collaborative culture in Greek primary schools with an emphasis put on Small rural and Urban all-day primary schools was the basis for conducting the study. The main purpose of the study is to highlight the ways in which teachers in everyday school practice act and shape school collaborative culture, so that if a redefinition of their role is required, feedback to focus their interest on the effectiveness of their schools of responsibility. The scope of the survey was the total number of teachers (N=782) in randomly selected primary schools in the country. The research tool used was the School Culture Survey - Teacher Form (S.C.S.-T.F.) questionnaire which evaluates and records the teachers' views on the six dimensions (collaborative leadership, teacher collaboration, professional development, unity of purpose, collegial support and learning partnership) that shape the model of collaborative school culture. The findings demonstrate that teachers adopt the model of collaborative culture to a relatively satisfactory degree, applying several forms of collaborative behavior, as illustrated by the descriptive analysis. The analysis of One-way variance (ANOVA), between the factors of the collaborative school culture in relation to the variable “Position in the school unit” revealed the existence of a significant difference for the “collaborative leadership”, “professional development”, “unity of purpose”, “collegial support” and “learning partnership” factors, while, there was no significant differentiation for the “teacher collaboration” factor. In addition, the analysis of ANOVA between collaborative school culture in relation to the variable "geographical location of the school unit” revealed the existence of a significant difference only for the “collaborative leadership”, “teacher collaboration” and “collegial support” factors. Via Independent Samples T-test, the comparative study of relationships between the factors of the collaborative culture in the two types of schools revealed the existence of a significant differentiation for “collaborative leadership” and “collegial support”, while no significant difference was observed for the other factors of collaborative school culture. Of course, the observed forms of collaboration do not support the existence of a genuine collaborative culture, however, they lay the foundations for the development of more meaningful partnerships.

 

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Biografie autore

  • Nikolaos Tsipas, MEd, Frederick University, Cyprus

    Nikolaos Tsipas is a graduate of the Department of Engineering of Information and Communication Systems Engineering of the Aegean University of Greece, and holds a Postgraduate Specialization Diploma (M.Ed) in Special Education from Frederick University of Cyprus. Additionally, Nikolaos is graduated with his upgraduate degree in Engineering of Information and Communication Systems Engineering of the Aegean University of Greece. He holds a degree in English (C2) and he uses the sufficiently French Language. He has three years of teaching experience as a Deputy Teacher in Greek high schools. Nikolaos also, is in charge of educating children with special needs and disabilities to become familiar with computer information systems, in special vocational schools. He has participated in educational conferences, seminars and workshops on informatics in education, educational administration, intercultural, social special education, teaching and he has writing work.

  • Vasileios Zagkotas, MEd, PhD, pDR, University of Ioannina, Department of Philology, Greece

    Vasileios Zagkotas is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Philology, University of Ioannina, Greece. He has a PhD in Educational Sciences and a Master’s Degree in Educational Assessment. He also holds a degree in History and Ethnology. He has written five books and many articles in Greek and foreign scientific journals, while his works have been presented at international conferences. He sufficiently uses bibliography in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish language. He has been working for over 20 years in Greek Primary Education as a teacher and principal of a primary school. His scientific interests are Didactics, Educational Assessment, Teaching of History and Arts, and Educational Psychology.

  • Spyridoula Tsipa, MEd, PhD, Neapolis University of Paphos, Department of Educational Administration, Cyprus, in Co-Supervision University of Peloponnese, Department of Social and Education Policy, Greece

    Spyridoula Tsipa is a graduate of the Department of Primary Education and Second Foreign Language of the Plovdiv University of Bulgaria, holds a Postgraduate Specialization Diploma (M.Ed) in Special Education from Frederick University of Cyprus and she has a PhD in Education Administration of the University of Neapolis Paphos (School of Management and Economics) in Cyprus with Co-supervision of the University of Peloponnese (Department of Social and Educational Policy) in Greece. She holds a degree in English (C2), Bulgarian (C2), French (B1) and ICT Level 1 “ECDL Progress Certificate“. She has five years of teaching experience as a Deputy Teacher in Greek primary schools. She has participated in educational conferences, seminars and workshops on educational administration-leadership, intercultural, social education, teaching, management of inter-school conflicts and has research and writing work.

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Pubblicato

2023-05-15

Fascicolo

V. 10 N. 6 (2023)

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