North Carolina elementary teachers' and school executives' perceptions of working conditions, leadership practices, teacher morale, and school improvement planning

Sandra Dee McCormick, Fayetteville State University

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore North Carolina elementary teachers' perceptions of leadership practices, teacher morale, and working conditions. Furthermore, the purpose of this study was to understand North Carolina elementary school executives' perceptions of their leadership practices as related to teacher morale and working conditions. Finally, the purpose of this study was to determine how and to what extent school executives utilize reported teacher working conditions results to develop strategic plans for school improvement. The term "school executive" refers to the building principal. This study gathered data using qualitative face-to-face interviews with ten teachers and two school executives from two elementary schools in North Carolina The 2008 and 2010 Teacher Working Condition (TWC) surveys provided preexisting quantitative data for determining working conditions at the two participating schools. An analysis of each school's improvement plan indicated if TWC survey results impacted school improvement planning. The responses from the teacher interviews generated the following themes: (a) data driven decision making, (b) school climate, (c) teaching and learning, (d) shared governance, and (e) teacher empowerment. The interview responses from the school executives on their perceptions of leadership practices generated the following themes: (a) opportunities, (b) teacher empowerment, (c) professional development, (d) incentives, (e) professionalism, (f) school climate, (g) teaching and learning, and (h) student discipline. The results indicated school executives who engage in transformational leadership practices: (a) positively influence teacher morale, (b) increase teacher job satisfaction, (c) improve school working conditions and (d) experience educed teacher attribution rates. A more representative population would result replication of this study to larger samples across other states.

Subject Area

Educational leadership|Education|Educational psychology

Recommended Citation

McCormick, Sandra Dee, "North Carolina elementary teachers' and school executives' perceptions of working conditions, leadership practices, teacher morale, and school improvement planning" (2011). ETD Collection for Fayetteville State University. AAI3577753.
https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/dissertations/AAI3577753

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