I am a young teacher. With only
three incomplete years of professional experience, I would compare myself with
an unfeathered chicken who just came into the world of hawks, falcons and owls.
My young teaching age did not prevent me from working in different collegial
circles of more experienced “birds”, though. Some preferred to “hunt” alone;
others united in small flocks. Some deigned to assist with problems; others
chose to do little. In either case, the way, in which these birds selected to
work, did not leave me unaffected. In this post, I would like to share my
understanding of how working in different teacher cultures influences the
professional experience.
When entering the school for the first
time, you can always feel it: a strong smell of wood and paint, a nimble
sunbeam on the wall, loud voices of first-graders in the hall… Each school has
its unique atmosphere where teachers play major role. In fact, they build their
own teaching culture significantly affecting the atmosphere in schools (Peterson,
1994).
Hargreaves (1995) describes teaching culture as “beliefs, values, habits and
assumed ways of doing things among communities of teachers” (p. 165). As a rule, the teachers, especially in
their early careers, perceive teaching culture as a medium which gives meaning
to what, how and why they do things.
School cultures differ considerably.
Hargreaves (1995) distinguished four major types of teacher cultures.
1.
Individualism
Despite
being surrounded by different people within school community, the teachers are
highly exposed to work in isolation. Many of them find individual work
acceptable and even desirable. Individualism becomes a matter of considerable
concern, when solitude becomes an indispensable part of teachers’ professional
life. The teacher preferring separateness to company could be compared to a
thrush in the world of birds.
 |
| http://www.animalsandenglish.com/thrushes.html |
2.
Balkanization
However
unusual the word “balkanization” might sound, it, in fact, is quite common in Kazakhstani
schools. What makes it relative to our cultures is that teachers work neither
in isolation, nor collaboratively with most of their colleagues. Instead, they
choose to work in small groups according to their departments, qualifications,
personal preferences and interests. The balkanized school culture may have a
negative impact on learners’ achievement: the teachers do not work in
collaboration to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses. These teachers
represent kinglets, which like dividing in small groups.
 |
| http://birdnote.org/show/kinglets-winter |
3.
Contrived collegiality
In
this type of teaching culture the teachers work jointly: they plan together and
team-teach. A distinctive feature of contrived collegiality is that the
relationships are enforced by formal administrative regulations. The prescribed
nature of this culture does not promote inner desire to collaborate. Such
relationships are implementation-driven, superficial and unnatural. Teachers
staying together mostly because of the environmental conditions are like
penguins who have to group to warm one another.
 |
| http://www.systronic.com.au/blog/former-googler-lmari-heikkinen-buys-40-new-penguins/ |
4.
Collaboration
As
its name suggests, collaboration encourages the people to work collaboratively
and jointly. It is positively associated with school efficiency and quality of
teaching. This type of collegial culture is the most desirable in schools as it
stimulates teachers to learn from each other, share and develop on a voluntary
basis. Of course, it does not develop overnight. This is a long and uneasy
process. This group of teachers is like long-tailed tits among birds.
 |
| http://imgur.com/gallery/WyNE3 |
Contrary
to the widely held beliefs, one school cannot be associated with one type of
teachers’ culture. Just like the forest having multiple flocks of birds, one school may comprise several elements depending on
characteristics of teacher population. The schools with severe individualism
may contain the features of contrived collegiality. The best schools promoting
collaborative work have components of individualism and balkanized culture in
them. Therefore, it would be wrong to assume that collaborative culture should
be promoted in isolation from other constituents of teaching culture. Instead,
it is of vital importance to identify and promote the magic set and proportions
of each type to promote the successful school operation.
True
to myself, as always I am dying to know your opinions. What kind of bird are
you? What is the teaching culture in our school like? What is the best
proportion of teaching culture components for an “ideal” school?
P.S.:
I apologize for the possible misuse of some birds’ actual role. Forgive me,
ornithologists of the whole world! No birds were harmed in writing this post.
References:
Hargreaves,
A. (1995). Changing teachers, changing times:
Teachers’ work and culture in the postmodern. London: Cassell.
Peterson, K. (1994). NCREL monograph: Building collaborative cultures:
Seeking ways to reshape urban schools. NCREL’s Urban Education
Monograph Series.
