The Organization of Teaching and Learning

1
The Organization of Teaching and Learning

• Professional freedom vs. Bureaucracy

2
Teacher Training

• Grimmett and Wideen (1995) say there should be a
  mix of school and university based education.
• In Canada it is mainly pre-service training.
• Question do you think this type of training is
  adequate to prepare teachers today?

3
Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals

• Giroux and McLaren (1986) say that teachers
  should be trained to be critical intellectuals
• Tranformative Intellectual a teacher who
  inserts teaching and learning directly into the
  political sphere by arguing that schooling
  represents both a struggle for meaning and a
  struggle over power relations.

4
Organization of teachers over the decades

• 1900-1914 teachers were brought together
  principally through meetings.
• 1915-1935 teachers organized to promote
  teaching.
• 1936-1955 teachers fought for a greater part in
  the policy decision making.
• 1956-1975 teachers sought professional status
  through formal training.

5
Teaching as a Profession

• Major characteristics of a profession
• Formal credentials based on a body of advanced
  knowledge.
• Social recognition as high status work.
• High degrees of decision-making authority in the
  workplace.
• An altruistic commitment to the career and the
  client.

6
Teachers in Canada

• Nearly half a million people work as teachers in
  formal education institutions in Canada.
• Today teachers are recognized through their
  professional training, and make decisions
  regarding such matters as curricular planning,
  pedagogy, discipline and evaluation of students.
• However, teachers report frustration with how
  they are often perceived by people outside the
  occupation.

7
The Formal Organization of Education

• A formal organization is a type of group or
  interaction system whose behaviour is directed to
  specific goals.
• e.g. Societal goals of education, The school
  goals, and Individual goals (teachers, students,
  parents).

8
Bureaucracy and Education

• A bureaucracy is characterized by rationality and
  efficiency in the performance of complex tasks
  toward the attainment of specific goals.
• According to Max Weber, the rules are at the crux
  of the ideal type bureaucratic model.
• These rules are performed by a division of labour
  with clearly stated duties for each office.

9
The School as a Bureaucracy

• A division of labour with recruitment and
  promotion policies, e.g. teachers, principals,
  superintendent
• A well-defined hierarchy of authority, e.g. from
  the Ministry to school board to principal to
  teachers
• A system of rules covering the rights and duties
  of positional incumbents, e.g. teachers must take
  attendance, fill in report cards etc.

10
School as a Bureaucracy continued

• 4. A system of procedures for dealing with work
  situations, e.g. disciplining students
• 5. Rationality or impersonality of
  interpersonal relations e.g. new report cards in
  Ontario, teachers must treat all students the
  same.
• 6. Positions individuals hold in the organization
  belong to the organization, e.g. if a teacher is
  forced to retire, they cant take the position
  with them.

11
The roles and duties in the hierarchy of education

• Roles are a set of responsibilities or parts to
  be played that a person is to carry out when
  holding a particular position. These positions
  help to meet the goals of the organization or
  system.
• The Ministry of Education must follow the
  directions of the political party in power on
  matters such as curriculum, discipline and class
  sizes

12
School boards

• Formal Duties
• Hire superintendent, principals, and teachers.
• Determine teachers salaries and contracts.
• Provide transportation for students.
• Determine the size of the school budget.
• Building new schools and facilities or closing
  them.
• Enforcing school discipline set out by the
  Ministry of Education.

13
Director/Superintendent(s) Manager of the School
System

• Routine roles
• Staff negotiations
• Answering mail and phone calls
• Meeting with principals and staff
• Keeping up with new regulations
• These take up the bulk of the time with the
  time remaining they can deal with long term
  planning and curriculum evaluation.

14
The Principal

• Plays a key role in the decision-making process
  and influences the relationship between teachers
  and the world outside the classroom. They are
  expected to protect teachers and act as a buffer
  between them and the outside world. In return
  the principal receives support and respect from
  the teachers.

15
Open Structured Schools

• Where children are grouped according to
  achievement level or interest, rather than by age
  and grade. Teachers work in teams of 2 or more
  so that students, space and materials are shared.
  Members of the same teaching team must cooperate
  and agree on the specific instructional goals of
  their subgroup.
• (can reduce some of the effects of bureaucracy
  i.e. greater freedom to use constructivist models
  of teaching).

16
Open structured schools

• Other effects of the open structured schools on
  teachers are their feelings of loyalty toward the
  teaching team goals rather than the single team
  goal of the school found in regularly organized
  schools.

17
The regulation of teaching

• The school inspector
• Teacher duties
• The regulation of a teachers social behaviour
  outside of school.
• Teachers training Normal Schools

18
Proletarianization vs. Professionalism in Teaching

• Where Proletarianization refers to the processes
  whereby teachers, like workers in many industries
  are subject to increasing, externally driven
  forms of control and pressures to intensify their
  work.
• e.g. new report cards, student class sizes, new
  curriculum, standardized testing

19
Schools and Bureaucracy and the effects on
students

• Studies have revealed that the relationship
  between schools and bureaucracy has a powerful
  effect on students by the fact that,
• An increase in bureaucratic efficiency may
  produce increased student alienation.
• When the school climate is more intimate and open
  (unlike highly bureaucratic organizations),
  student achievement and creativity is greater.