Teacher Perceptions of High School Community Viewed Through the Lens of the Constructs of Collegiality

• In Event: Roundtable Session 91
  In Roundtable Session: Perspectives on School Community, Climate, and Culture Roundtable

Abstract

This qualitative case study examined teacher community from the perspective of teachers (n = 18) in two rural high schools. Our purpose was to examine professional community through the lens of collegiality; that is, trust, shared expertise, shared accountability, shared beliefs, and collaboration. Interview analysis found that trust was not a school wide phenomenon, collaboration was a narrow and bounded practice, teachers could not articulate the presence of expertise sharing, shared goals focused on student achievement, not student learning, and a culture of disconnect from collaborative community was widespread. While this study began as an examination of teacher community, findings led to a study of the implications of a dysfunctional culture on those constructs that support teacher community.

Authors

• Pamela S. Angelle, The University of Tennessee

• Mary Lynne Derrington, The University of Tennessee