School culture at risk of political and methodological expropriation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to problematize the concept of school culture both as a concept and as a subject of investigation. It deals with the historical roots of this concept and the fact that it is shrinkinga consequence of the managerial imperatives of effectiveness and accountability in education. School culture, in relation to the quality of schools and the quality of education, has become the subject of audits, arrived at through a developed network of standardisation in education, testing and evaluation. The methodology of evaluation currently lending particular substance to school culture, however, generates different methodological perspectives on investigating school culture and thus research is becoming an instrument of political power. In the research it is then necessary to either abandon the concept of school culture or to free it from spinning round the cycle of evaluation/self-evaluation-a change in school culture-improving the "quality of the school"-a new evaluation/self-evaluation. One way to do this is to employ ethnographic approaches in research into schools and to understand school culture as a system of texts.

School culture as a starting point for school development

“…Stoga je, u nastojanju da se uvedu inovacije i sprovedu reforme školskog sistema, potrebno razmotriti specifičnosti školske kulture i promeniti je ukoliko ona predstavlja prepreku njuhovom sprovođenju (Pavlidou and Efstathiades, 2021;Schonmann, 2006). Pritom, promena školske kulture bi trebalo da dovede do povećanja efikasnosti i poboljšanja u školi (Kaščák et al, 2012). Škole koje su vođene kulturom koja pokazuje pozitivne kvalitete imaju nastavnike i članove osoblja koji su spremni da preuzmu rizik i sprovedu reforme (Hinde, 2004).…”

“…Centralna svrha svake škole je stvaranje okruženja koje podržava kontinuirano učenje i stvaranje uslova koji olakšavaju učenicima i nastavnicima da ostanu posvećeni celoživotnom učenju (Pavlidou and Efstathiades, 2021). Organizacija koja uči je ona koja je sposobna da se menja "odozdo" i koja je sposobna za trajne promene (Kaščák et al, 2012). Kako bi škola mogla da napreduje i da se razvija, potrebno je da ima snažnu školsku kuluru koju vremenom izgrađuju oni koji rade u njoj, a koju podstiču je formalni i neformalni lideri (direktori, nastavnici i roditelji) putem jačanja zajedničkih vrednosti, normi i tradicija (Hinde, 2004;Peterson and Deal, 2009;Uğurlu, 2009).…”

Konec pedagogiky: kritický esej

“…Nebudeme se zabývat analýzou toho, jak různé ideologie ovlivňují pedagogiku. Jednak to velmi dobře činí jiní (viz Kaščák & Pupala, 2012) a jednak se domníváme, že některé konstrukty se prolínají několika ideologiemi napříč (např. ideu pedocentrismu lze spatřit jak u Elen Keyové, tak v alternativních školských teoriích či v neoliberalismu).…”