Culture of the Czech School: On Particular Areas of Its Manifestation

Autor/inn/en	Pol, Milan; Hlouskova, Lenka; Novotny, Petr; Zounek, Jiri
Titel	Culture of the Czech School: On Particular Areas of Its Manifestation
Quelle	(2002), (7 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Opinions; Educational Change; School Culture; Institutional Characteristics; Questionnaires; Administrator Attitudes; Educational Assessment; Educational Indicators; Educational Principles; Educational Practices; Czech Republic + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Lehrmeinung; Bildungsreform; Schulkultur; Schulleben; Fragebogen; Education; assessment; Bewertungssystem; Educational indicato; Bildungsindikator; Bildungsprinzip; Bildungspraxis; Tschechische Republik
Abstract	Dealing with the results of an advanced stage of a three-year-study, this contribution is aimed at a detailed recognition of some areas of school operation, identified earlier by a preliminary research. Five areas, or subjects, are analyzed: consent in main principles of school operation, creation and attainment of a path the school is to walk on (school vision), openness of the school towards its environment, stimulating milieu to learning and teaching, and school management. These subjects have been contemplated by the respondents (basic school head-teachers in the Czech Republic) from two viewpoints: First, as their general opinion on the importance of such areas, on the aptness of work contents, on the involvement of various participants in school life, and on adequate forms of support to schools. Second, the respondents have remarked on the situation in their own schools, in all five areas, commenting on both their successful practice and the blind spots they can see in such context. The questionnaire makes the respondents meditate in two levels. The first deals with the importance of certain subjects for the general functioning of schools. The second represents the judgment of actual situations in respective schools. As for the first level of opinions, a stimulating milieu to learning and teaching, and a consent of those involved, seem to be of predominant importance. Such consent should mainly concern the schooling and educative pursuits of the school and the relationship between adults and pupils. These two areas, and processes, should become the focus of powerful managerial actions, taking advantage of efficient communication. The second level of opinions is a comparison between real situations and the head-teachers' ideas of perfection. Seemingly, most approaching the ideal situation is the openness of the school towards its environment and, mainly, the consent in main principles of school operation. However, why is it that the worst judgment comes for how visions are treated? Is that because the work with visions, being rather vague, suffers under the factual everydayness of school-life reality? Or, is it a question of balancing a long-term development concept of the school (vision work) and the pressure of short-term or mid-term reflections? Is the vision perhaps dispensed in all other areas, while an explicit question looses its accent? Or, does a vision grow up as a product of all the other areas? It could be supposed that, from the head-teachers' viewpoint, management would become top priority. Yet, management does not rank very first. In both levels of contemplation, this area is in the third place (provably interrelated to previous two areas). (Contains 2 charts, 2 diagrams, and 3 footnotes.) (Author).
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10