A study into “organisational readiness” and its impacts on school improvement

• Published in: International journal of educational management 2019-02, Vol.33 (2), p.393-408
• Main Authors: Lynch, David, Smith, Richard, Yeigh, Tony, Provost, Steve
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Comparative Analysis; Educational administration; Educational Change; Educational Improvement; Educational leadership; Educational Research; Foreign Countries; Grade 2; Instructional Leadership; Leadership; Learning; Literacy; National Competency Tests; Numeracy; Organizational Development; Outcomes of Education; Principals; School Districts; School Funds; School principals; School Readiness; Socioeconomic Status; State Schools; Students; Studies; Teacher Effectiveness; Teaching; Teaching Methods
• ISSN: 0951-354X; 1758-6518
• DOI: 10.1108/IJEM-07-2017-0181

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare measures of socio-economic status (Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage values (ICSEA)), school performance, school funding and school readiness in terms of their impact on student performance. In this respect, the paper tests the proposition – given research that suggests the teacher is the important ingredient in improved student learning performance – that a school principal who has strategical worked to “ready” their teachers for a whole of school teaching improvement agenda will generate increased student learning results than those who have not and further this improvement will occur irrespective of the circumstance of the socio-economic circumstance of the school. Design/methodology/approach In total, 22 Government schools from a single school district in Australia participated in the study, after having been involved in a system sponsored “teaching improvement program”. A survey, consisting of 30 seven-point Likert-style scale items, was administered to all teachers and school leaders in the school district. The survey was designed to rate levels of staff perceived alignment, capability and engagement to the programme as it was implemented by the Head in each school. The information regarding each school’s ICSEA value, funding per student and student learning performance, was obtained from the database provided by the relevant authority (ACARA). All statistical analysis was completed using SPSS Version 22. Findings The findings of this study indicate that high levels of organisational readiness, as defined by the alignment, capability and engagement (ACE) approach, are associated with effective teaching and improvement in student outcomes. In turn, the authors interpret this to mean that the internal organisation of a school has important effects on student achievement that are independent to external factors such as school funding or even the socio-educational positioning of the school. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study indicate that high levels of organisational readiness, as defined by the ACE approach, are associated with effective teaching and improvement in student outcomes. The implications are that the ACE provides a framework for what the school leader needs to focus on when whole of school teaching improvement is the goal. The study did not investigate what the school leader did in each school to ready their staff. Practical implications These findings in