| dc.description.abstract | Shared decision making focusing on faculty involvement and participation
in decision making at the local school Ievel, has been identified as an essential
element in successful educational reform. The purpose guiding this study was to
examine and compare the perceptions of school leaders and teachers regarding
actual and preferred faculty participatron in decision making across nine
dimensions of school governance. These dimensions were goals/vision/ mission,
budgeting, staffing, operations standards curriculum/instruction, facilitating
procedures and structures, staff development, and spiritual matters.
Demographic information was gathered concerning the educators, age, gender,
qualification, years of teaching experience, and years of service in same school.
Data were collected from school leaders and teachers working in 11
Seventh-day Adventist secondary schools in north Philippines. The total
population was 175 fulltime educators. The overall response rate was 94%.
Principal instrumentation used was the Teacher lnvolvement and participation
Scale 2 (TIPS 2) developed by Russeil, Cooper, and Greenblatt (1992), with an
additional spiritual matters scale by Masinda (1997).
Findings revealed tevels of faculty decision making preferred by teachers
in all nine TIPS 2 dimensions were significantly greater than the levels they
perceived currently existed. The larger discrepancies were perceived in the areas
of staffing, budgeting, staff development, and operations. Similarly, the levels of
faculty participation in decision making perceived by school leaders in all nine
areas were significantly greater than the level they perceived faculty currenly
enjoyed. School leaders perceived the larger discrepancies to be in the areas of
staffing, budgeting, staff deveropment, and operations. Differences between
perceptions of teachers and school leaders were not significant across all nine
areas indicating similarity of perceptions.
The teachers and school leaders support the desirability of faculty
pafticipation in decision making in schoors. Both groups agreed that faculty
participation in decision making is important for school improvement, better
school morale, increased job satisfaction, and increased professionalism.
Commitment of teachers and frequent consultation were often cited to be
significant factors that can enhance faculty participation in shared decision
making. Both groups indicated domineering leadership and management style as
the major consideration adversely affecting faculty participation in decision
making, followed by poor relationships, insufficient resources, inadequate
support, and mediocre communication. The data also revealed that educators
who had 11-20 years of teaching experience were more actively involved than
their peers in areas related to staff development and curriculum and instruction.
Educators in schools operating under the conferences or missions were found to
have greater autonomy in their schools over operation aspects than educators
working in secondary schools operating under a tertiary institution.
Major recommendations include: (a) that school leaders initiate,
implement, and facilitate greater participation of faculty in decision making at
school; (b) that school leaders make self-assessment of their leadership style
and provide nonthreatening conditions; (c) that training be done for both leaders
and teachers in facilitation of the group process and decision-making skills; and
(d) that school leaders seek ways to encourage and sustain greater faculty
participation in those areas perceived to have the larger discrepancies between
preference and practice. | en_US |
