Abstract
This report presents the findings of research conducted in an all girls traditional secondary school (School R) in Trinidad. It sought to ascertain the views of teachers, students, and parents on school culture including traditionally held beliefs, values, and practices. Interviews with teachers, deans, a past administrator, and questionnaire responses from 116 parents and 73 students of varying levels of the school indicated that certain values and cherished traditions are still valued by the majority of stakeholders. Parents’ views indicate the need for more communication and collaboration among the school’s major stakeholders. Parents and students suggested enabling students to cope at school, teacher attitudes and strategies, maintaining standards of discipline, what students should learn, and enabling a sense of belonging as ways of maintaining student excellence.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berger, R. (2003). An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship With Students. Plymouth, NH: Heinemann.
Character Education Partnership (CEP) (2010). Developing and Assessing School Culture—A New Level of Accountability for Schools—A Position Paper of the Character Education Partnership (CEP). HYPERLINK “http://www.character.org” www.character.org
Conor, P.E. & Lake, L.K. (1988). Managing Organisational Change. New York. Praeger.
Deal, T. E. (1993). The culture of schools. In M. Shaskin & H. J. Walberg (Eds), Educational Leadership and School Culture (pp. 3–18). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing Company.
De Charms, R. (1983). Personal Causation: The Internal Affective Determinants of Behavior. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Elbot, C.F. & Fulton, D. (2008). Building an Intentional School Culture: Excellence in Academics and Character. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Finnan, C. (2000). “Implementing school reform models: Why is it so hard for some schools and easy for others?” Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, April 2000.
Fong, K. I. S. (2006). Complexity theory and staff development. Paper presented at the Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association International Conference, November, 2006. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Education.
Hardy, L. (2003). Overburdened, overwhelmed. American School Board Journal, 190(4), 18–23.
Hinde. E. R. (2004). School culture and change: an examination of the effects of school culture on the process of change. http://usca.edu/essays/vol122004/hinde.pdf/essays/vol122004/hinde.pdf. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
Hoyle, E. (1986). The Politics of School Management. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Kilpatrick, W. (1992). Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right from Wrong. New York: Simon & Shuster.
Kohn, A. (1997). How not to look at character education. Phi Delta Kappan. February.
Leithwood, K., Leonard, L. & Sharratt, L. (1998). Conditions fostering organizational learning in school. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34, 2, 243–276.
Lickona, L. Schaps, E., & Lewis, C. (1995). Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education Washington, DC: Character Education Partnership.
Lockwood, A. L. (1991). Character education: the ten percent solution. Social Education, April/May, 246–248.
Lumby, J. & Foskett, N. (2011). Power, risk, and utility: interpreting the landscape of culture in educational leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 47, 3, 446–461.
Owens, R. (1987). Organizational Behavior in Education (3rd edn). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Peterson, K. D. (2008). Excerpts from an interview with Dr. Kent Peterson in School Culture. Shaping School Culture. Apple Learning Exchange. http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000488//ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000488/. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
Purpel, D. E. (1991). Moral Education: an idea whose time has gone. The Clearing House, 64, 5, 309–312.
Sarason, S. (1996). Re visiting “the culture of the school and the problem of change”. New York: Teachers College Press.
Silins, H., Zarins, S., & Mulford, B. (2002). What characteristics and processes define a school as a learning organisation? Is this a useful concept to apply to schools? International Education Journal, 3, 1, 24–32.
Yin, R. (1994). Case Study Research: Design and Methods (2nd edn). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Jennifer Yamin-Ali
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Yamin-Ali, J. (2014). The Challenge of Maintaining School Culture in a Traditional School Setting—A Case Study. In: Data-Driven Decision-Making in Schools: Lessons from Trinidad. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137412393_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137412393_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-49167-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-41239-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Education CollectionEducation (R0)