Educational Improvement and School Development

As a result of Research Question 1, one component of Educational Improvement and School Development is being suggested: school development. This can be seen once again in Table 30 below:

Components/Perceptions Emerging Themes

 School development. Educational Improvement and School Development

Table 30: Components/perceptions and the emerging theme of Educational Improvement and School Development, as a result of Research Question 1

Combining the components already discussed to answer this research question: common purpose; responsibility; teamwork; CPD; and motivation, these are important factors linking to school development. HMIE (2007) asserts that when:

the opinions of staff are valued and are used as input to the school‟s development plan and policy development processes (p. 4),

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HMIE (2007) outlines the conditions whereby collegiality can happen effectively with the need for “a climate of professional trust” (p. 2). This they believe leads to improved teaching and learning which in turn encourages staff to contribute to the school development process. HMIE (2009) evaluation identified four common themes in the descriptors of collegiality in securing an “improvement in outcomes for all learners” (p. 23). The four common themes were:

professionalism, adaptability, commitment to professional development, and commitment to working together with teacher colleagues and others (p. 23).

5.3 Summary

To summarise therefore, the first research question is:

How can collegiality be conceptualised in a contemporary educational setting?

To answer this question, the review of literature in Chapter Two outlined the amount of research into leadership strategies which has taken place in recent years (Townsend, 2011a) which is extensive, and stated that literature which explains and describes leadership theories is extensive, but literature that explores collegiality in England is not. It was suggested that on first glance, collaboration and collegiality may appear to be the same, and a literature review established their similarities.

As a result of this research, four themes emerged and the sub-themes of these can be seen in Table 10 (p. 90). With regards to Assimilation, each of the components mirror the theories presented in the review of literature. It could be argued that the responses from the participants demonstrate more understanding at Middle Leader level of the concept and potential of collegiality within the case study when compared with the findings from Bosher (2007). It could be argued that if all members of staff understand

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the concept of collegiality, and buy into the school ethos, and receive appropriate leadership (dependent upon their experience and situational needs), greater proactivity may be embedded within the culture of the school.

Within Systematisation, the sub-themes of leadership for collegiality (including emotional intelligence) and strategic awareness have been presented. It is apparent that time is a factor of much concern and teachers are stretched sometimes with negative effects, for example not being able to spend time with the learners. Analysis of the data also demonstrates that the things that are important to the Middle Leaders include freedom, being supported, encouragement, a common purpose, sharing, being listened to, feeling valued, and feeling equal. Leadership for collegiality I have suggested is essential, with the leaders being emotionally intelligent, and this is explained further in a framework of leadership for collegiality in Chapter Six.

The four components/perceptions of Self-efficacy are: CPD; motivation; trust; and respect. CPD, as discussed, is an important component of the development of teachers (HMIE, 2009) and this was agreed by eight participants. The perceptions of the participants matched respondents to Bosher‟s (2007) questionnaire and interviewees: “there is a clear recognition from many interviewees that CPD opportunities have been enhanced enormously” (p. 43). Being able to contribute to a team as mentioned previously requires, I would suggest motivation, and “increased motivation” (HMIE, 2009, p. 26) can be an outcome of collegiality.

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Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) believe that “trust, respect and understanding” (p. 125) are essential in a collegiate culture, and within this research, trust has been placed within two of the sub-themes: trust; and respect.

There are no sub-themes within Educational Improvement and School Development as the fourth emerging theme. The role of collegiality within school improvement has been stated by HMIE (2007) whereby they believe “a climate of professional trust” (p. 2) leads to improved teaching and learning which in turn encourages staff to contribute to the school development process.

It is Hazlewood and Bosher‟s (2008) belief that collegiality is a “more advanced and richer concept” (p. 78) when compared with collaboration. As a result of this research, the concept of collegiality is, to an extent complex, with many components which can be layered to try to understand its potential as a leadership strategy and an instrument for change. The components of collegiality which were articulated or inferred by the participants can be seen in Table 8 (p. 81-82).

These components along with comments gathered through the other Research Questions have allowed a reconceptualisation of the term collegiality to be created to answer this Research Question and this is one contribution this study is making to creating new knowledge. This reconceptualisation is presented in Chapter Six.

150 5.4 Research Question 2:

 To what extent do individuals within the organisation perceive collegiality as a valuable strategy for educational improvement?

The second research question was designed to examine the potential of collegiality for educational improvement by asking the participants what examples of collegiality they are aware of the case study, what changes they have seen as a result of the collegiate way of working, and whether they believe collegiality has impacted on their view of leadership. The findings are discussed alongside the documentary evidence (Bosher, 2007), and some theories presented in the review of literature. The responses enabled the development of the four themes (Assimilation; Systematisation; Self-efficacy; and Educational Improvement and School Development).