Performance Measurement of State Secondary Schools of New Zealand: The Teachers’ Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide managers 1 an understanding about teachers' expectations from the schools. This research identifies key performance factors and their indicators that reflect the status of teachers' expectations from the schools. This paper's focus differs from previous studies of performance measurement of schools by explaining the expectations that teachers have from the schools' management. The dataset for this paper comprises of 16 semi-structured interviews of secondary school teachers, 13 teachers were from four different schools chosen purposively, while three teachers from three other schools were chosen on the basis of ease of accessibility and availability. The data was analysed using NVivo2 software. The data was codified into 54 codes, which were aggregated into four themes that led to the development of vignettes depicting each KPF. It was found that teachers of State secondary schools of New Zealand expect schools to perform on seven key performance factors. Teachers look forward to a collegial atmosphere at schools, where their goals and roles are clearly specified. They expect school's management system to be robust and meet the needs of teachers, parents and students. Teachers also expect support from management and a workload that is manageable. They want schools to be adequately resourced and last but not the least to be safe. This study focuses on 13 teachers working in seven different schools which may be reflective of the conditions in State secondary schools of New Zealand. However, the results cannot be generalised to all State secondary schools of New Zealand.