The relationship between school organizational climate and professional growth and development attitudes of high school teachers

School districts must efficiently and effectively use scarce resources (money and people) and meet the public demand for accountability in educating today's children. A common problem among school districts is the maintenance of an organization in which the environment where the education process takes place and the renewal activities of the organization's members occur are factors considered important to organizational health. This study explored the relationship of high school teachers' perceptions of the school organizational climate and their attitudes about their professional growth and development.

Data were collected from fifteen high school faculties in the Knoxville - Knox County, Tennessee, school systems. Teachers responded to two instruments: the CFK Ltd. School Climate Profile which measured teachers' perceptions about their school's organizational climate; and the Professional Growth and Development Attitude Scale which measured teachers' feelings and beliefs about their professional growth and development. Correlational statistics, gamma and lambda, were used to analyze the data.

Results of the study are as follows:

1. High school teachers' perceptions of the process determinants of the school contributed most to their perceptions of school organizational climate while program, general climate factors and materials determinants followed in that order.

2. Individual school climate profiles indicated the importance of the determinants in another order: general climate factors, process, program and materials.

3. Teacher's professional growth and development attitudes were based more upon the work context of the school than teachers' individual needs while individual school profiles reversed the order; each concept was considered near equal in importance.

4. Teachers as a group compared to teachers at individual schools perceived similar determinant subsets to be important contributors to the school organizational climate (i.e., caring, involvement in decision-making, effective communication).

5. Teachers as a group compared to teachers at individual schools indicated similar attitude descriptors as important to their professional growth and development attitudes (i.e., personal satisfaction and other's role performance assessment).

6. A highly predictable and direct relationship was found to exist between teachers' perceptions of school organizational climate and their professional growth and development attitudes.