This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Tschannen-Moran, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Fostering Teacher Professionalism in Schools

The Role of Leadership Orientation and Trust

College of William and Mary, School of Education, PO Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795, mxtsch{at}wm.edu

Purpose: Schools necessarily employ elements of a bureaucratic structure to organize the complex task of educating large and diverse groups of students— elements such as a hierarchy of authority, a division of labor, policies, rules, and regulations. Although such a structure is useful, there is a danger that school leaders will overemphasize these elements and so adopt a bureaucratic orientation at the expense of cultivating professionalism in schools. The hypothesis that guided this study was that the degree of teacher professionalism in a school would be related to (a) the professional orientation of principals in their exercise of administrative authority—especially, the extending of adaptive discretion to teachers in the conduct of their work—and (b) the trust evident among various actors in the school community. Research Methods: Data on the five variables under study were gathered via surveys completed by teachers in 80 middle schools in a mid-Atlantic state. Teacher professionalism was assessed using a subscale of the School Climate Index. Four dependent variables were included: the professional orientation of principals and the trust of faculty—namely, in their principals, their colleagues, and their clients (parents and students). The professional orientation of principals was assessed using the Enabling Structure Scale, a scale of teachers' perceptions of how administrative authority is exercised by school leaders; faculty trust was assessed using the Faculty Trust Scales. Findings: The evidence supports the hypothesis positing that degree of teacher professionalism is related not only to the professional orientation of school leaders but also to faculty trust. Faculty perceptions of their colleagues' professionalism were found to be strongly related to a professional orientation in the exercise of authority by administrators, as well as to faculty trust in the principal. In a multiple regression analysis, a professional orientation by the principal and faculty trust in colleagues were each found to make an independent contribution to explaining teacher professionalism, whereas faculty trust in the principal and faculty trust in students and parents were found to play a moderating role. Implications for Research and Practice: For schools to foster greater teacher professionalism, school leaders would do well to resist adopting a bureaucratic orientation, with its implicit distrust. They would be better served by exercising their administrative authority with a professional orientation, extending adaptive discretion to teachers in the conduct of their work, and adopting practices that lead to strong trust among school leaders, teachers, students, and parents.

Key Words: trust • teacher professionalism • bureaucratic leadership • enabling structure

Educational Administration Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 2, 217-247 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0013161X08330501


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Van Maele and M. Van Houtte Faculty Trust and Organizational School Characteristics: An Exploration Across Secondary Schools in Flanders Educational Administration Quarterly, October 1, 2009; 45(4): 556 - 589. [Abstract] [PDF]