An Exploration of the Relationship between School Culture and Teacher Efficacy in an Elementary School Setting

Abstract

This study focuses on the relationship between school culture and teacher efficacy in an elementary school setting. Research has been conducted about these two aspects of the education system, however, there is limited research in regard to the elementary school setting. Elementary schools are a unique setting because the responsibility for teaching most of the content areas to students is placed on one classroom teacher. Therefore the level of teacher efficacy is a greater factor in a self-contained classroom. This research explored if the practitioner’s view of their contribution and their role in the school culture affected their level of teacher efficacy. The research was conducted in two elementary schools in southeastern New Hampshire. Ten educators volunteered to take part in the study over a four month period. The mix method measures included Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSOES), long form, developed by Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001 and the School Culture Triage Survey by Wagner, 2006 as well as semi structured interviews, observations and analytic memos. All data points were compiled and a thematic analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between school culture and teacher efficacy in an elementary school setting. The teachers who participated in this study self reported that they saw themselves as having high teacher efficacy with their vision of school culture being lower. Teachers did not lead the researcher to conclude that their view of their own teacher efficacy was directly influenced by their school culture. Based on the data collected, the participants did not show that they felt they were working in a toxic culture. The data did illustrate that their school culture would benefit from modifications and improvements. The research showed that participants believed their microcultures (grade level teams) were very strong however they reported that the macroculture (whole school culture) was weaker. Therefore, an organization filled with robust microcultures does not necessarily equate to a stable macroculture.