Estructura de la tarea

Coworker cohesion and team spirit were high at Red School. Despite being told there was an "in clique", which included those that "got on" with the assistant principal, and a "not so in clique", staff at Red School were friendly and generally talked positively about one another. Casual conversations with staff in all four schools indicated that there were 'in groups' or groups of people who got on well together often socialising outside school, and that there were those individuals or groups who were not accepted or were disliked by certain

members. This was also the case at Red School, where the deputy principal was disliked. Three out of four interviewees discussed how the deputy principal was 'tolerated', that he did things that got up people's nose and that staff were hoping he would leave. Despite this, the atmosphere in the staffroom was (as previously mentioned) cohesive, and there was a lot of positive discussion and humour.

Three out of five interviewees talked about the syndicates as having shared goals and a shared vision. Observational data showed there to be a strong team spirit within the school as a whole. This was shown for example by enthusiastic cheers when the school did well at the swimming competitions, a large show of hands volunteering to make poster displays for the school play and loud claps of support for two female staff who completed a triathalon. The fact that there was strong administrative support, and positive statements were verbalised,

appeared to have a trickle down effect, inciting the rest of the staff to focus on the positive. As mentioned previously, teachers appeared content and happy to be working at Red School.

Administrative or supervisor support featured highly in observation and interview data. Four out of five interviewees perceived that teachers felt supported by their principal. The deputy principal when discussing leadership and decision making made comments such as "we are heading in the same direction' and 'teachers like being here and want to be here". These cohesive type of comments were also heard in the staffroom and were commonly featured in the field notes. Support and guidance from the principal in �urriculum development was also mentioned by two teachers as a strong

feature of his leadership. The principal also stated that he got support from a network of principals and senior management friends, (he showed the

researcher six phone numbers on autodial) whom he knew very well and if he needed some advice or to 'sound off', they were there at the end of the phone.

Loyalty and confidentiality were two themes that came up frequently in the field notes and interview data. Five teacher interviewees (including the

principal) discussed the importance of loyalty and confidentiality in the school. During the principal's interview he stated:

"Confidentiality is paramolmt. If teachers ask for something to remain

confidential,but by virtue of them coming to share it with me, my assumption is that in 99% of the cases, they want me to be involved and helping them with a solution. However if hey say "its confidential, I'm just letting you know that there is a concern", then I'd say "hat's fine, and it wouldn't go out the office". (Sr I P )

Although loyalty was not directly observed during visits to Red School, teachers would often mention positive attributes of their fellow colleagues and encourage one another in syndicate and staff meetings. It also appeared that the positive, constructive attitude of the principal rubbed off on the staff. One older teacher who had seen two principals at Red School stated:

"There's been a big change since P came to Red School. There's a better feeling, teachers are not so judgmental or critical as with the last principal. P is very positive and tries to get us to make constructive changes that will help us, he's not Mr Nice guy, but you. know he's doing the best he can for us and that he'll always support you if you get into trouble with parents". (Sr IT)

The relationships of staff with the Board of Trustees for non administrative staff appeared to be satisfactory and not antagonistic. Three out of four interviewees provided information. One indicated that she knew who was on the Board and

that while the Board was quite active within the school, she didn't have any formal meetings with them, but that they were good and nice people. The second interview, given by the deputy principal, stated that the Board was "just part of the service", and the school had excellent people and that he had a lot of Board of Trustee's kids in his class, and that the parents were friends. The principal's comments about the Board were more specific:

"The BOT has a really positive effect on me in that they are really skilful and

experienced people. 1 mean the finance committee chairwoman is an accolU1tant,

the board Chair is an engineer and there's a barrister/ solicitor, so they have expertise that they bring to the school. They're all second termer5 so they've got a handle on the realities of their role". (Sr JP)

Relationships with parents, when discussed with teachers, were generally

positive. Obviously some staff members had difficult parents to deal with, but as the OF stated, 'parents are welcome in the classroom as long as they behave in an acceptable manner'. Further interview data revealed that many teachers thought that " parents tended to be critical". Four out of five interviews revealed that they felt respected by the community. One teacher stated:

"1 do feel valued and respected as a teacher in the commlU1ity and I've been lucky to be involved with parents. We get so much help and support from the commtuuty". (Sr /T)

Observational and anecdotal impressions indicated that conflict within Red School was low. Field notes frequently mentioned the team spirit and positive atmosphere of the school. Three out of five interviews revealed that the deputy principal was generally disliked and "tolerated" and that the assistant principal had "favourites" who did well in the school, but despite this information and some general discussion of back biting and cliques, most of the staff talked positively of the staff and school overall. The fact that senior management were consistently mentioned as being "fair, consistent and supportive", also seemed to influence the positive nature of the work environment.

Conflict within Red School tended to be attributed by staff to work p ressure. This pressure had multiple causes including high numbers in classroom, few

relievers, deadlines, curriculum changes and disruptive children as examples. Three out of five interviewees discussed work pressure or work overload as being the causes of conflict. Conflict from negative interpersonal relationships was rarely mentioned in interviews, although annoying features of the deputy principal and certain individuals were raised. Two pertinent comments about conflict included:

"The principal has the ability to listen to both sides of a situation and be

objective and 'fair' to both parties. He'll be very supportive and try and get both parties to reach a fair solution" . (Sr IT)

"I think there's quite an emphasis on the positive here, and humour. The principal loves to have a laugh and I think that always takes the heat out of things. Also the senior staff (apart from the AP) are helpful". (Sr IT)

Overall, Red School's social environment revealed high coworker cohesion, with positive interactions frequent and evidence of collegiality amongst members of staff. Support and team spirit were evident in syndicate groups, with shared goals and vision apparent. Parent and community relationships were perceived positively in general although some staff considered parents to be critical.

6. 2. 13 Blue School - Social Environment

Interpersonal Relationships - Internal: Coworker Cohesion, Support and Conflict.