From
Teacher Recruiter
April
2004
A
'Perception Gap' on Working Conditions
A
survey of educators in
teachers and school administrators
have dramatically
different perceptions of the working
conditions in their
schools, according to guests
participating in an online chat
hosted by Education Week on the Web on
The
finding has significant implications for schools looking
to improve teachers' job satisfaction, the
guests suggested.
The
live chat focused on the
Conditions
Initiative, a wide-ranging effort launched by
North
Carolina Gov. Mike Easley (D) to improve teacher-
retention rates by rooting out the
causes of educators'
frustrations. Among the guests for the
chat were Gov. Easley
and
At
the heart of the Working Conditions Initiative is a
statewide survey seeking to capture
teachers and school
administrators' views on teachers' jobs.
The survey was
first administered in 2002; a follow-up is
currently in
process.
A
key finding of the 2002 survey, the chat guests said, was
that teachers and principals had conflicting
views on the
conditions in their schools.
"There was significant
difference on the perception of
working conditions between
teachers and administrators on
*every* question," said Eric
Hirsch,
a vice president at the
Quality,
a nonprofit group that is analyzing the survey
results. "Principals thought
working conditions were far
superior than teachers themselves
[did]."
The
finding raises important questions for schools
because "principals will not
be able to fix things they
don't perceive as problems," Hirsh noted.
Gov.
Easley stressed that
from the survey-- through professional
development modules
and evaluative school reports, for
example--to give school
leaders a better sense of
teachers' needs. "It was apparent
that principals need more tools to assist
them in providing
positive working conditions, and
that is why our efforts our
now focused on providing this type of
assistance to
schools," he said.
While
the working-conditions survey is designed to provide
individualized, school-by-school
information, the chat
guests also highlighted a number of other
general themes
apparent in the results and in
related case studies of
schools. Among them:
Time. Lack of time was the number one
frustration cited by
teachers who completed the survey.
Teachers felt that their
schedules didn't allow enough time
"to discuss student work
with colleagues, participate in professional
learning
opportunities, and provide the type of
quality instruction
[they] want to deliver," said Hirsch. "We need to
begin to
think differently about our teachers'
professional day,"
added teacher Bartlett.
School size. Teachers in small schools
tended to be more
satisfied with their jobs than those
in large schools. Time
was again a central factor. "In small
schools teachers were
more likely to have the time to know
students" and to hold
planning and problem-solving
meetings with colleagues, said
Barnett
Berry, president of the
Quality.
Instructional leadership.
Teachers benefited from principals
who understood and actively supported
teachers' classroom
work. "In our case studies of schools
that received high
working- conditions marks, the
constant was a quality
principal focused on
instruction," Hirsch said.
Achievement. Gov. Easley said that
school-performance
ratings also appear to "have
a significant relationship to
working-conditions satisfaction."
However, Hirsch noted,
school poverty was "not as significant in
teacher
perceptions as we thought [it] might
be. So good working
conditions are achievable
anywhere."
With
schools across the country striving to meet new federal
standards on teacher quality, Gov.
Easley urged other state
leaders to seek out teachers'
opinions on their work. "They
are the experts in the classroom and need to
be a part of
policy decisions that affect them and their
students," he
said.
View
a transcript of the chat.
Read
more about the
Initiative.
—Anthony
Rebora
Senior
Online Editor
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© Copyright 2004, Editorial Projects in
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