1st Edition
Accountability and Culture of School Teachers and Principals An Eight-country Comparative Study
Accountability and Culture of School Teachers and Principals studies the degree to which teachers and principals in eight countries view themselves as taking responsibility, working by clear standards, reporting transparently, and accepting feedback at work.
The book focuses on cultural values that explain variation in accountability levels of school educators, drawing on data from Canada, China, Hungary, Israel, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. It addresses the question of whether cultural values, specifically collectivism and individualism, are related to teachers’ and principals’ external and internal accountability dispositions. It also explores the intriguing role of organizational support and key school personnel in school reforms across the world, providing a new way to understand school accountability.
The book will be of great interest for academics, post-graduate students, and scholars in the field of education policy and international and comparative studies in education.
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Notes on Contributors
List of Tables, Figures and Appendices
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Teachers’ and Principals’ Accountability: Theoretical Background
Conceptualizing Accountability
Accountability and Cultural Values
Accountability and Organizational Support
Chapter 3 Study Methods
Introduction
Data Collection
Study Measures
Analytical Approach
Chapter 4 Study Findings
Introduction
Accountability Distribution
Cultural Values Distribution
Organizational Support Distribution
Prediction of External and Internal Accountability
Prediction of Accountability: Summary
Chapter 5 Discussion of Study Findings
Introduction
The Two Dimensions of Accountability: External and Internal
Accountability Audiences: Parents and School Management
Effect of Principals’ Accountability on Teachers’ Accountability
Predicting Accountability by Personal Individualism and Collectivism
Accountability at a Country Level
Organizational Support as a Predictor of Accountability
Chapter 6 Concluding Thoughts
References
Biography
Zehava Rosenblatt is Professor Emerita in the Department of Leadership and Educational Policy at the University of Haifa, Israel. Her research is focused on ethical issues in teachers' work, such as personal accountability and absenteeism, as well as other related topics in teachers' organizational behavior.
Theo Wubbels is Professor Emeritus of Educational Sciences at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. His research interests developed in his career from the pedagogy of physics education, via problems of beginning teachers and teaching and learning in higher education to studies of learning environments and, especially, interpersonal relationships in education.
