Collegial Relations and Teacher Involvement in School Development

It seems well established in the school development/improvement literature that improvement may only take place if based on a truly participative process. It means that not only the headteacher or the school boards are entitled to create the school vision, identify problems and plan the development, but that responsibility is distributed to many more people within and beyond the school. Teacher participation in school development is determined by multiple conditions from rather stable factors, like personal characteristics, to contextual variables, such as the norms of teacher collaboration. A research was carried out in 51 basic schools in Serbia, involving 385 teachers, in order to identify the background of individual preferences of those who participate in school development planning. The analysis shows that relations among teachers may be a burden to improvement projects once they are in progress, or, on the other hand, may increase their importance and the chances of success. Yet, most school improvement projects have improved collaboration and team work in schools, while indications that they led to further fragmentation of the staff were sporadic.

keywords: Teachers, collegiality, collaboration, school improvement, school development planning