The Principal and Staff
Development:
The findings offered
on the following
pages about the
nature of the school
culture should prove
helpful to any
principal attempting
to understand the
factors that influence
teacher behavior.
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Countering the School
Culture
Joseph F. Rogus
Mary Martin
NEW TEACHERS GENERALLY ap-
proach their first teaching assignments
with tempered optimism. They are anxious
about their abilities to relate with unseen
and unknown youngsters as well as with
staff veterans. They believe they can
make a difference in the lives of young-
sters, and in so doing experience the sat-
isfaction that comes with carrying out a
valued commitment. They are eager to get
their work underway. Events in their state
and federal legislatures and district
courts as well as master agreement provi-
sions are but distant concerns.
Within a few years the perspective of
many teachers undergoes radical change.
The dream of finding fulfillment in teach-
ing evaporates and personal satisfac-
tion increasingly is sought outside of
student and school involvements. This
change in perspective, more common
than frequently thought, is under-
standable. In recent years the teacher’s
role has expanded dramatically, not by
teacher initiation but as a consequence
of the school organization’s response to ex-
ternal social forces.
Joseph F. is associate professor, Department of
Rogus
Educational Specialists, and Mary Martin is lecturer,
Department of Specialized Programs, Cleveland
(Ohio) State University.
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82

Within the past decade, legislators responding to the public’s demand

for accountability have called for state-wide assessments, annual reports
to the community, competency testing, and a host of other school-ori-
ented prescriptions. Where legislative provisions have been approved
school personnel, including teachers, have carried them out. The courts,
responding to public confusion about such concepts as integration, rights
of the handicapped, student due process, and sexism have interpreted
each; and classroom teachers have carried out the court’s mandates.
Events in the legislatures and the courts, together with the right economy
and a host of social and political factors over which citizens feel power-
less, have contributed to negative voter attitude toward school levy
issues. Teachers have had to respond to such offshoots of reduced voter
support as increased class size and decreased supply allowances. As a
survival mechanism, they (teachers) have taken an increasingly aggres-
sive posture at the negotiating table to maintain a vestige of professional
respectability.
In essence, recent years have seen an other-directed expansion in the
teacher’s role; as an outcome of this process, many teachers have come
to feel &dquo;dumped on&dquo; and have lost a portion of their original teaching
zest.
Within a demanding role complicated by these same external events,
the principal lives with the responsibility of managing the school’s
daily operation and simultaneously arranging conditions for teacher
growth, no simple task under the best of conditions. Addressing this
staff development challenge first requires that selected findings on the
culture of the school be given careful consideration in staff develop-
ment planning, regardless of the external pressures encountered. For
external forces are unlikely to be dealt with constructively unless a
staff is first secure in itself.
These cultural findings relate to the nature of teaching, the rela-
tionship of teachers with each other and with administrative staff, and
the relationship of teaching and research. The findings are simple,
powerful, and pervasive; so much so that their significance, as well as
the significance of the issues they surface, can be easily overlooked.

Selected Findings on the School Culture

The first finding of note is that teaching by its nature is enormously
draining in a physical, emotional, and psychic sense, and for many
teaching becomes routine.
Effective teaching requires extensive giving of self. Giving is possi-
ble to the extent that one receives. When positive reinforcement for
teaching effort is slight, as it often is, abilities to give become

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 83

drained. With the depletion of energy comes fatigue, frustration, apathy,

and defensive behavior. Saracen, in addressing this point, writes:
When the teacher is alone with many and diverse children, subject to all
kinds of internal and external pressures to give and to do, and where the
level of giving exceeds the level of getting, (even) the model teacher is hard
pressed to escape the psychological effects of routine.’I
Most teachers experience the draining effects of instruction. The
disturbing possibility that one can put everything into teaching and
make little or no impact on some youngsters; the fact that one never has
sufficient time, latitude, and energy to give to each and every youngster
all that is needed-these realities combined with the normally demanding
nature of classroom management make understandable the universal
feeling that &dquo;spring break may never come.&dquo;
The finding that teaching is draining is hardly revolutionary. All who
teach know it well. Surrounding the condition, however, is an issue
which often remains unaddressed: What might be done to assist teachers
in taking care of themselves and each other to prevent the debilitating
effects of fatigue? This issue must be addressed within each school
faculty.
The second finding deserving of the principal’s attention is that
the limited technology of teaching leads to self-doubt among many
teachers on the issue of competence.
To the important questions facing teachers daily, clear-cut answers
are few. To the question &dquo;Which instructional approach is likely to be
most effective with a group of youngsters with a given set of character-
istics ?&dquo; for example, there are just hunches. Here, as is true with most
classroom survival questions, the technology fails and the teacher is left
alone to cope. This absence of technological certainty, even the lack of
precision in pedagogical language, suggests to the individual teacher that
teaching is an &dquo;infant&dquo; profession. This condition, accompanied with the
knowledge that the profession is making slow movements to address its
technical gaps contributes to the teachers’ diminished professional
self-image.
The problem suggested by this finding is not so much one of un-
knowing as it is one of resignation and of failure to continue searching.
The issue suggested by both the finding and the problem is: What, if
anything, might be done to assist teachers toward taking an active role
in reducing the technical knowledge gaps relative to teaching and
learning and thereby develop an increased pride in their professional

1. Seymour Saracen, The Culture of the School and the Problem of Change (Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1971), pp. 168-169.

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84

selves? Addressing this issue requires courage, for it defies simple

solution.
The third noteworthy finding is closely related to the first and the
second: Teaching is for many a very lonesome and lonely profession, and
the history of school organizations contributes to this state.
Most teachers work in a cellular arrangement with 25 to 35 young-
sters at a time. Their schedules are demanding, with each day calling
for multiple preparations. The major psychic rewards from teaching are
earned in isolation from one’s peers. Contacts with other teachers are
restricted to the margins of the daily schedule.2 Goodlad and Klein
make this point and extend it further:
It would appear that teachers are very much alone in their work. It is not
just a matter of being alone with children ... , it is a feeling of not being
supported by someone who knows their (tic) work, is sympathetic to it, wants
to help, and does.’

This aloneness is poignant in the face of problems which, in number

and magnitude, simply cannot be addressed by individual teachers work-
ing alone. In addition, help toward strengthening classroom performance
is perceived by teachers as difficult to find. The history of school
organizations provides a clue as to why.
Most school systems are organized in a hierarchical way with teachers
appearing at the bottom of the organization table. Those whose role it
is to provide help to teachers are normally located higher on the or-
ganizational chart, are paid more, and occupy a work space distant
from the classroom setting. Helpers are often available to assist only at
appointed times, and they tend to define help differently than do
teachers.
Teachers define help in terms of what someone else can do to assist
with a problem; helpers in supervisory roles tend to define help in terms
of what the teacher can do.’ Similarly, &dquo;helpers&dquo; are frequently re-
quested to assess the teacher’s performance or program plans; teachers
seldom are provided similar &dquo;upward&dquo; assessment opportunities. It is
no surprise then, that teachers view other teachers as the best source of
assistance and are reluctant to risk themselves with designated helpers.
The issue surfaced by this finding on teacher aloneness and loneliness
is simply: What can be done to create among teachers a greater desire
for community, a trust in the belief that others at a different place in

2. Dan Lortie, School Teacher (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1975), p. 81.
3. John Goodlad, Frances Klein, and associates, Looking Behind the Classroom Door
(Worthington, Ohio: Charles A. Jones Publishing, 1974), p. 94.
4. Saracen, Culture of the School, p. 157.

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 85

the hierarchy might desire and be able to help, and a courage to assist
other teachers in growing? The issue is a powerful one for its resolution
calls for an alteration of many traditional management behaviors.

Countering the Culture

In summary, the issues identified from the literature on the school
culture are three:
l. What might be done to minimize the debilitating effects of energy
drainage that affects so many teachers?
2. What means exist to assist teachers in taking an active role toward
reducing the knowledge gap related to the technology of teaching?
and
3. What might be done to facilitate reduction of the loneliness which
touches so many teachers?
These issues must be addressed by individual faculties as a precondi-
tion to effective coping with external pressures.
Following is a list of thought starters offered for use by the principal
in staff development efforts, not in a prescriptive spirit but as suggested
starter steps toward addressing the issues identified:

Countering Energy Drainage

1. Acknowledge the draining nature of teaching in interacting with
staff. Teachers cannot be told often enough that their complex
plight is understood.
2. Reinforce individual teachers for work well done. Few persons
ever receive an overdose of praise.

3. Encourage staff to reinforce one another. An authentic positive

response to one’s work by a colleague is often worth a personal
fortune.
4. Encourage staff development planning groups to hold inservice
on time management. In the administrative world, heavy inservice
emphasis is given to the development of effective mechanisms for
saving personal time and energy; and any teacher working with a
group of 25 or more students is a manager in every sense of the
term.

5. Encourage staff to set weekly objectives for each class against

which personnel effectiveness can be assessed. Part of the fatigue
problem in teaching lies in the absence of positive reinforcement.
Many teachers are more effective than they believe. The setting of
clear, short-term objectives and the gathering of relevant data can
serve to be reinforcing of their competence.

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86

Countering the Weak Technology of Teaching

1. Work to create the mental set that teachers can be producers of
knowledge. This is difficult for the teacher’s role of consumer is
well internalized. The consumer of knowledge perspective is coun-
ter-productive ; for only if teachers identify the problems important
to them and take the initiative for their resolution are those prob-
lems likely to be addressed.
2. In connection with thought number one, work with staff to identify
the major teaching-learning problems confronting them. Select the
top two or three problems identified and approach university staff
for assistance in gathering data and otherwise addressing your
questions. The weak technology problem is widely recognized by
university faculty and most realize that they cannot address these
problems in an important research sense by working alone.
3. In inservice planning, strive to involve building staff in program
conduct. The greatest and most precious resource that any staff has
is itself. Too often faculty go outside the organization for inservice
assistance and then reject the outcome. Our other-directedness tells
something about the way we perceive ourselves. Each teacher can
teach something to others. It’s often simply a matter of matching
persons with the expertise desired.

Countering the Aloneness

1. Encourage staff to team on an informal basis. Emphasize the po-
tential benefits of teaming for teachers rather than for students.
2. Invite instructional supervisors and other central office staff to join
with you and the school staff in problem identification and solution.
The aloneness felt by teachers is experienced by many central office
staff as well. They too are creatures of history and have experienced
a rejection by teachers that comes from their role. In most cases,

supervisory staff want to help, and given a chance, can.

3. Reinforce teachers for the identification of problems encountered
in the classroom setting. Often historically, classroom effectiveness
has been equated with the absence of problems. Teachers have con-
sequently learned to deny their difficulties to others. Principal ex-
ample is an excellent way to legitimate problem identification by
teachers.
4. Work with staff toward developing two attitudes essential to work-
ing effectively with each other: ( 1 ) &dquo;if there is a problem, I caused
it;&dquo; and (2) &dquo;each person with whom we work is doing the best he/
she is able.&dquo; The first attitude, if internalized, makes each staff

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 87

member a part of any problem’s solution rather than its creation.

It creates helping set and commits each to helping others to grow.
a
The second is closely related to the first, and if internalized, it
minimizes nonproductive judgments. The two attitudes in combina-
tion make much defensive and &dquo;lonesome&dquo; behavior unnecessary.
Again principal example in daily interactions with staff constitutes
a powerful model from which teachers might learn.

The key to the potential effectiveness of any of the tactics identified is

the spirit with which they are carried out. The principal’s bearing and
attitude both in his/her daily interactions as well as within the process
of program planning and implementation set the limits of staff develop-
ment program potential.
Langston Hughes asked, &dquo;What happens to a dream deferred? Does
it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Does it fester like a sore and run ...?&dquo;
The staff development task is basically to assist in such a manner that
the dream deferral question for teachers is moot. This can occur if posi-
tive steps are taken to assist teachers in taking care of themselves, and
each other, in relating authentically and caringly with their peers, and
in involving others in the identification and resolution of classroom-
based problems. If these steps are effective, the personal security of
teachers will increase, and external pressures will determine teacher
attitude to a lesser extent than is now the case. Then, and only then, can
external pressures be viewed as simply a different set of problems to be
encountered-together.

Planning a Field Studies

Program
Educators who would like to develop meaningful field study programs
for their students may be interested in Roads to Learning, a book that
describes two field study seminars organized for social studies classes in a
Wisconsin high school.
The workbook, published by the Wisconsin Improvement Program, de-
tails the planning and organization of two field trips, one to the United
Nations and the other to Washington, D.C. Written by the two teachers
who directed the trips, it outlines the steps necessary to making these trips
successful learning experiences. included is information on budgeting,
classroom preparation, parental involvement, scheduling, transportation
and lodging, student guidelines, general information, and the follow-up
expected of the students.
0 Roads to Learning is available free upon request to the Wisconsin
Improvement Program, 109 Education Building, University of Wisconsin-
Madison, Madison, Wis. 53706.

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