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School Culture and Climate Assignment

This document discusses the critical relationship between school culture and instructional climate in achieving effective teaching and learning outcomes. It emphasizes the role of school leaders in fostering a positive environment that enhances both student achievement and teacher satisfaction through various leadership theories. The document highlights the importance of collaboration, clear expectations, and ongoing professional development in creating a conducive educational atmosphere.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
186 views20 pages

School Culture and Climate Assignment

This document discusses the critical relationship between school culture and instructional climate in achieving effective teaching and learning outcomes. It emphasizes the role of school leaders in fostering a positive environment that enhances both student achievement and teacher satisfaction through various leadership theories. The document highlights the importance of collaboration, clear expectations, and ongoing professional development in creating a conducive educational atmosphere.

Uploaded by

mphomalatjie135
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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School Culture and Climate Assignment

Educational Management, Law and Policy (University of Pretoria)

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1. Introduction
Establishing an environment that upholds effective teaching and learning is a
multifaceted undertaking, necessitating the coordination of multiple components and
in today's educational landscape, the importance of school culture and instructional
climate cannot be overstated. The linkage between these two elements is vital for a
school leader who desires to achieve effective teaching and learning outcomes in
their institution. Durlak et al. (2011) put forward that the correlation between school
culture and instructional climate constitutes a pivotal feature in this process and a
school leader who can effectively link these two elements is better positioned to
ensure effective teaching and learning in their institution.

This essay critically discusses how such a leader can achieve this goal by examining
literature and by drawing on theoretical frameworks across this topic and aims to
provide new insights into the complex relationship between school culture,
instructional climate, and effective teaching and learning strategies and
demonstrates how leaders can create an environment that fosters academic success
while also enhancing student welfare through an exploration of the key factors that
underpin school culture and instructional climate.

2. Defining School Culture and Instructional Climate


2.1 School Culture

Derek Glover & Marianne Coleman (2005) defines school culture as the referring to
the shared values, beliefs, and practices that shape how members of a school
community interact with one another. School Culture is often majority driven (staff),
intangible, difficult to describe and difficult to positively impact or change in a
systematic way; attitudes, beliefs, and values may often be “hidden” to those new to
or outside of the school community and primarily the students of the school and is
seemingly developed as staff or stakeholders of a school work together, solve
problems, cope with conflicts, achieve goals and deal with tragedy (Barkley et
al .,2014). Durlak et al. (2011) also reiterates that school culture is important as it
influences an array of things in the school such as: focus (what individuals in the
school pay attention to), commitment (how individuals in the school identify with the

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school), motivation (how hard individuals in the school work) and productivity (which
entails the degree to which individuals achieve their goals). However, school culture
can be tangibly represented through the school climate:

2.2 Instructional Climate

Osman (2012) defines school climate as the quality and character of school life. He
explains that it is based on patterns of students', parents', and teachers' experiences
of school life and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching
and learning practices, and organizational structures. Rudasill et al. (2018) speaks
on how school climate is expressed in tangible ways, is more leadership driven, and
responds more quickly to change. School climate is demonstrated through
collegiality, communication, decision-making, trust, expectations, ideology,
leadership, recognition, celebration, support and experimentation (Showers,2019).
The cschool’s climate should directly reflect the school’s mission statement through
its focus and actions.

Instructional climate relates to the atmosphere within classrooms where teachers


teach and students learn, taking into account the intellectual, social, emotional and
physical environment in which the students learn and instructors teach (Osman,
2012). In summary, instructional climate refers to the overall emotional tone of the
classroom, as well as the level of support and respect shown by the teacher.

3. Why is School Culture and Instructional Climate Important.


3.1 The Effect of School Culture and Climate on Student Achievement
A quantitative study conducted by MacNeil et al. (2009) implores that student
achievement is directly impacted by their organisational health. They suggest that a
positive school culture and climate are essential in achieving excellence in student
achievement. The test sample consisted of 29 schools within a large suburban
school district located in southeast Texas. According to the Texas Education
Agency, schools were assigned one of three ratings based on their performance on
the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Test results from 24,684 students were
used to determine these ratings. A total of 1727 teachers completed the

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survey to rate the organizational health of their respectiveschools. The results were
categorised into 4 different groups:
1) Exemplary—at least 90% of the students who were tested passed and 1% or
fewer of students dropped out in Grades 7–12.
2) Recognized—80–89% of the students who were tested passed and 1.1–3% of
students dropped out in Grades 7–12.
3) Acceptable—50–79% of the students who were tested passed and 3.1–5.5% of
students dropped out in Grades 7–12
4) Low-performing—less than 50% of the students who were tested passed and over
5.5% of students dropped out in Grades 7–12. The table below depicts the results of
their study based on. The table below shows the differences between exemplary,
recognized, and acceptable schools on 10 dimensions of organizational health which
are Goal focus, Communication, Power equalization, Resource utilization,
Cohesiveness, Morale, Innovativeness, Autonomy, Adaptation, and Problem solving
where exemplary schools outperformed acceptable schools on all 10 dimensions of
organizational health, while no statistical significance was found between Exemplary
and Recognized schools and Recognized schools outperformed Acceptable schools
on the Organizational Health dimensions of Goal focus and Adaptation.

3.2 The Effect of School Culture and Climate on Teacher Satisfaction


According to Osman (2012), school climate can have an impact on teacher
satisfaction. A positive school climate can lead to higher teacher morale and job

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satisfaction, while a negative climate can have the opposite effect. He suggests that
school principals should work towards improving school climate and creating a
conducive environment for learning for teachers, students, and the school
community. Some traits of successful principals include holding high expectations for
staff and teachers, spending a major portion of their day working with teachers to
improve the instructional program, and being deeply involved in the school's culture
and climate to influence it in positive ways. Osman (2012) also emphasized the
importance of principals taking care of their teachers. This care involves supporting
teacher preferences, which means that principals should take into account the needs
and wants of their teachers when making decisions. When teachers feel good about
themselves and their work, they are more likely to become inspired to teach and
deliver instruction at an exceptionally high level. This can lead to improved
classroom instruction and better outcomes for students.

4. The Role of School Leaders in Cultivating a Positive School Culture and


Climate for Student Achievement and Teacher Satisfaction.
Creating an environment that fosters effective teaching and learning is a complex
task, requiring the interplay of multiple factors. One critical aspect of this process is
the connection between school culture and instructional climate. The importance of
linking these two aspects cannot be overstated as they are vital in promoting student
achievement, teacher morale, and overall school success. However, achieving this
synergy requires leadership from an informed cadre of educators who understand
both components well enough to make them work together seamlessly. Therefore, a
school leader plays a critical role connecting school culture and instructional climates
towards achieving enhanced effective teaching and learning via promoting
collaboration among stakeholders; setting clear expectations alongside offering
continued Professional Development opportunities for educators across various
subjects/disciplines

Subsequently, it is important to scrutinize how educational administrators can merge


school culture with instructional climate enabling effective education outcomes
through concerted efforts involving all vested parties while establishing unambiguous
academic benchmarks aligned with predetermined objectives. Additionally, providing

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ongoing professional development opportunities for teachers plays an essential role


in enhancing pedagogical skills leading to improved student performance levels.

4.1 A review on Educational Leadership and Management


Leadership involves a type of obligation geared toward accomplishing precise ends
through applying the to be had sources (human and cloth) and making sure a
cohesive and coherent employer within the manner (Ololube, 2013). Northouse
(2007) and Rowe (2007) defined leadership as a system whereby a person affects a
set of individuals to achieve unusual intention. They additionally contend that
effective management is vital to the right operation and the very survival of a non-
profit business enterprise. This enthuses that a powerful chief strives to inspire,
inspire, and directs activities to help gain group or organisational desires.
Outstanding leaders have a vision for their establishments. They have a photograph
of the preferred future, which is shared with all in the group and which shapes the
programmes of studying and coaching as well as the rules, priorities, plans and
procedures pervading the day-to-day lifestyles of the organization (Ololube, 2013).
Leadership inside the instructional context is also the ability to count on the destiny.
Through words and examples, leaders in schooling encourage the whole system
with the aid of effectively influencing the behaviours, thoughts, and emotions of these
running inside it, and make certain their imaginative and prescient through
developing a strategic alignment throughout the complete device (Ololube, 2013).

4.2 The Significance of Educational Leadership on School Culture and. .


Climate
As mentioned before, MacNeil et al. (2009 implores educational leaders play a
significant role in cultivating an environment that nurtures student growth and
teacher satisfaction. Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) suggests that by understanding
and applying various leadership theories, these leaders can inspire and motivate
their staff, thereby creating a supportive and inclusive school environment.
Furthermore, the impact of leadership on student achievement and teacher
satisfaction cannot be underestimated.

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4.2.1 Relationship between Positive School Culture/Climate and .


Leadership Theories
The significance of leadership in fostering a positive school culture is closely
intertwined with understanding different leadership theories and their application in
educational settings. Leadership plays a pivotal role in creating a positive school
culture, as it sets the tone and values that permeate throughout the entire institution.
Effective leadership contributes to an environment conducive to effective teaching
and learning by providing clear direction, establishing high expectations for all
stakeholders, and promoting a sense of collaboration and mutual respect. Research
done by Hoy and Miskel (2008) highlights the impact of leadership on school culture,
with evidence showing that schools led by strong, transformational leaders tend to
have higher levels of teacher satisfaction, student engagement, and overall
academic achievement. A study conducted by Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) found
that principals who exhibited transformational leadership behaviours had a significant
positive effect on student achievement. This evidence demonstrates the influential
role that effective leadership can have in shaping the culture and climate of a school,
ultimately leading to improved teaching and learning outcomes. Thus, it is crucial to
delve into different leadership theories in order to gain a deeper understanding of
how they can be applied in educational contexts to cultivate a supportive school
culture that fosters effective teaching and learning.
Exploring different leadership theories in educational settings not only allows school
leaders to establish a supportive and inclusive environment but also contributes to
the creation of a positive school culture conducive to effective teaching and learning
(Fullen, 2014).

Leithwood and Jantzi (2005) suggests that transformational leadership display


great resonance within the educational realm. Inspired by this theory, school leaders
inspire and motivate teachers and staff by providing them with a clear vision and
intellectual stimulation, fostering a sense of purpose and dedication among the
faculty. This approach encourages innovation, collaboration, and continuous
professional development, ultimately enhancing the overall teaching and learning
experience. Moreover, transactional leadership plays a crucial role in creating a
structured and accountable school culture. By establishing clear expectations for
both teachers and students, transactional leadership ensures that everyone is on the

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same page and working towards common goals (Hoy and Miskel, 2008). The
combination of these leadership styles subsequently displays characteristics of the
contingency leadership theory which alludes to the fact that there is not only one
leadership style to be adopted but multiple which in this case when cultivating
positive school culture and climate allows for a balance between inspiration and
accountability, setting the stage for a harmonious and results-oriented school
environment (Hoy and Miskel, 2008). Some may argue that focusing solely on one
leadership theory is sufficient for cultivating a positive school culture. However, it is
important to consider that different situations and contexts may require the utilization
of multiple theories to address diverse needs and challenges.

Ultimately, understanding different leadership theories and their application in


educational settings is essential in fostering a positive school culture conducive to
effective teaching and learning (Wolinski, 2010). By embracing transformational and
transactional leadership, school leaders can create an environment where students
can thrive and reach their fullest potential (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005).

The connection between leadership theories and the development of a supportive


school culture is undeniable. Leithwood & Sun (2012) identifies one prominent
example that can be found in the transformational leadership theory, which
emphasizes the leader's ability to inspire and motivate their followers to achieve
common goals. In their research, they beseech that by adopting this theory, school
leaders can nurture a positive school culture by fostering a sense of shared purpose
among staff members. Under the guidance of a transformational leader, teachers are
encouraged to share their knowledge and ideas, collaborate with their colleagues,
and actively engage in professional development opportunities (Robbins & Coulter,
2016). This inclusive approach not only empowers educators to contribute to the
collective growth of the school but also creates an atmosphere of trust and support
(Bush & Glover, 2004).

Leithwood & Sun (2012) reinforces the impact of transformational leadership, stating
that schools led by transformational leaders have higher levels of teacher job
satisfaction and lower turnover rates. This evidence underscores the importance of
leadership theories in cultivating a school culture that not only supports effective

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teaching and learning but also creates an environment where all individuals feel
valued and respected. By embracing such theories, schools pave the way for
improved student outcomes and set a strong foundation for academic success.

According to Hallinger (2003), transactional leadership is a crucial factor in creating a


positive school culture and climate where effective teaching and learning can take
place. This leadership style is characterised by the exchange of rewards and
punishments based on performance and adherence to predetermined standards and
by utilizing transactional leadership, school leaders can effectively communicate
expectations, set goals, and provide feedback to teachers and staff (Marzano et al.,
2005). Hallinger (2003) explains the establishment of clear expectations, such as
academic standards and behavioural guidelines, through transactional leadership
creates a culture of accountability where everyone understands what is expected of
them and this fosters a sense of structure and order, which is essential for effective
teaching and learning to occur in the school environment. Critics argue that
transactional leadership may lead to a focus on compliance rather than intrinsic
motivation and creativity among teachers and staff. However, proponents of
transactional leadership argue that when used in conjunction with other leadership
styles, such as transformational leadership, it can create a balanced approach that
combines accountability with inspiration and empowerment. By setting clear
expectations and holding teachers and staff accountable, transactional leadership
establishes a foundation on which other leadership styles can thrive. In conclusion,
transactional leadership has a significant impact on cultivating a supportive school
culture conducive to effective teaching and learning by establishing clear
expectations and accountability for all members of the school community.

4.2.2 Other Leadership Concepts to Consider


Instructional Leadership
Instructional leadership involves the actions and behaviours of school leaders that
directly impact teaching and learning (Hallinger, 2003). School leaders who prioritise
instructional leadership are focused on improving the quality of instruction and
supporting teachers in their professional growth. Hallinger (2003) explains that
instructional leaders provide guidance, resources, and feedback to teachers to
enhance their instructional practices. For example, a principal who observes a

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teacher's lesson and provides constructive feedback on areas of improvement


demonstrates instructional leadership. Additionally, instructional leaders create
opportunities for professional development and collaboration among teachers to
share best practices and stay updated with current research in education (Hallinger,
2003). These efforts result in the development of a supportive school culture that
prioritises effective teaching practices (Fullan, 2014). The influence of instructional
leadership in promoting effective teaching practices cannot be underestimated, as it
contributes to creating a school culture that values and supports effective teaching
and continuous improvement in student learning (Hallinger, 2003).

Distributed Leadership
Distributed leadership is a concept that involves the sharing of leadership
responsibilities among various stakeholders within a school community
(Weddle,2013). This approach recognizes that leadership is not limited to a single
individual or position, but can be found in teachers, administrators, support staff, and
even students. By distributing leadership roles, the school community is able to tap
into a wider range of talents and skills, leading to increased innovation and diverse
perspectives (Fullan, 2014). Additionally, this inclusive approach to leadership
creates a positive school culture and climate, as each individual feels valued and
empowered to contribute to school improvement. (Hoy & Miskel, 2008). Ultimately,
the distributed leadership model fosters effective learning and teaching, as it
encourages collaboration, shared decision-making, and a collective sense of
ownership in the pursuit of educational excellence (Weddle,2013).

However, it is essential to consider alternative viewpoints that argue that leadership


theories alone do not determine teacher satisfaction and retention. While it is true
that factors such as salary and workload undoubtedly influence these aspects,
leadership theories provide indispensable guidance to school leaders in creating an
engaging and supportive school culture. Moreover, when leadership theories are
effectively implemented, they have the potential to mitigate the negative impact of
other factors and significantly contribute to teacher satisfaction and retention. By
focusing on the diverse needs of teachers, recognizing their efforts, and providing
opportunities for professional growth and development, leaders can address multiple

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aspects affecting teacher satisfaction and retention within the broader context of
leadership theories.

4.3 Implications of not effectively connecting School Culture and Instructional


Climate
In order to support this research, a situational analysis had to be conducted to
explore how positive school culture and instructional climate impacts effective and
enhanced teaching and learning.

4.3.1 Purpose of the Situational Analysis


This analysis is to provide snap-shot view is trying to be depicted on how school
leaders are not effectively managing their schools in ways to improve and maintain
teachers at their schools and simultaneously reaching student achievement goals.
The snap shot will facilitate the identification of critical localized and systemic factors
that might impact teacher retention and student achievement. Hopefully it will also
provide a starting point for measuring managing outcomes in subsequent years.

4.3.2 Scope of Situational Analysis


The situational analysis being conducted is only limited to one school for purposive
reasons and will only focus on general and observational practices in the school that
have an impact on teacher turnover, the teaching and learning curriculum concerning
the school that I am currently employed.

4.3.3 Situational Analysis of the School


[Link] Introduction
School X was established in 1989 in the coloured township of Johannesburg. The
school has a community poverty index of 0.80, which means that most of the
learners are too poor to afford fees.

[Link] How is the School Organised?


(a) Administrative Structure

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The management structure of the school consists of an Executive comprising of the


principal and two deputy heads, and the School Management Team made up of
subject discipline HDs. The executive is responsible for overall school administration,
discipline and finance. The School Management team is responsible for the delivery
of the curriculum. The school has undergone a change of leadership as the school
reported 3 new SMT members that were appointed outside of the existing teachers
in the school, they come from outside the region of the school. There currently 20
educators which 7 of them are newly appointed for the year 2023.
(b) Policies
School X has developed policies to enable basic school functioning over the years.
SMT members interviewed mentioned that the school had policies on absenteeism,
punctuality and assessment. However, they were unable to furnish documents to
support these claims. Additionally, teachers have reported no support from
management and parents regarding school discipline making it difficult for students
to show commitment and responsibility for their learning. Furthermore, when asked if
they could explain their organisational culture, they gave no indication about the
knowledge or experience on the school’s mood and personality.
(c) Culture and Climate
The executive compromising of the school believes that their school has a loving
family that is committed to seeing everyone in the family reach their full potential and
praises they success. However, when teachers and learners were interviewed about
the school mood and personality, teachers said they keep mostly to themselves
expect for the friends they make amongst their colleagues and most learners
identified that they only come to school to eat and see their friends.

[Link] Who delivers the curriculum?


(a) Teacher Qualifications
The table below highlights the qualifications of the teachers mentioned with the
exemption of the principal.

Characteristics
Gender
Male 4

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Female 28
Qualifications
HDE 9
[Link] 22
PGCE 1

(b) Departmental Organisation of Teaching


School X’s curriculum is organised around six discipline departments (Learning
Areas): These are Mathematics, Languages, Sciences (Social and Economic
Management included) and Life Skills. The Department Heads of these learning
areas are also members of the school management team. School Management
Teams meet weekly to keep abreast of the day-to-day developments. Formal, whole
staff meetings take place once a quarter.

[Link] How is the curriculum delivered and for whom?


(a) Attachment of direction
Attachment of direction is characterised as a common perspective and obligation to
the school's main goal, by all partners. When all stakeholders are aware of the
school's mission, identify with it, and actively seek to accomplish it both individually
and collectively, cohesion of purpose is evident. The school's mission places a
primary emphasis on the quality of instruction and learning. The school improvement
plan additionally underscores centre regions that arrangement with working on
nature of instructing and learning, and student accomplishment as need regions for
advancement. Teaching and learning, and learner achievement as priority areas for
development. The school however has shown no personal initiative for enhancement
of subject co-ordinators’ content knowledge, and the provision of additional
(afternoon) classes as possible interventions towards improving curriculum quality. In
fact, much time outside of school hours is spent on sports. Furthermore, students
and parents are not aware of the goals they are expected to achieve based on the
school vision and mission as parents meeting are only taking place 4 terms a year
when report cards are to be collected, annual budget meetings and elections for the
incoming School Governing Body. Based on general observation the school’s vision
and mission are nowhere to be found expect the administration block and with no

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evidence of school management team reminding teachers of the policies, vision and
mission of the school – which leaves no room to believe that students and other
various stakeholders are being reminded of this either. The school’s student
achievement is at below GDE’s achievement aspirations and can only plummet if
intervention strategies and practices are not put in place.

(b) Curriculum Planning


Curriculum planning is done solely through the co-ordination of GDE with no
collaboration between teachers currently in the school. They are responsible for only
their grade and subject lesson/curriculum planning.

(c) Learner Characteristics


There is a total of 1365 learners in the school. 691 of these learners belong to the
Foundation Phase, 516 belonging to the Intermediate Phase and 158 learners in the
Senior Phase.
The learner characteristics above highlight the following issues pertaining to learners
at the school.
(a) Roughly 35% of learners come from other provinces where the Home
Language of the school was their second or third language and the First
Additional Language was not even taught in their schools
(b) Also, almost 25% of learners are repeating or have been progressed to the
following grade with major condonements done to student results.

[Link] What are the outcomes of the curriculum delivery?


Internal Assessment of performance
The below table depict the core subject like languages and mathematics
performance across 3 phases for the year 2022:
Averages
Grade 1
English (HL) 86%
Afrikaans (FAL) 82%
Mathematics 80%
Grade 2
English (HL) 92%
Afrikaans (FAL) 79%

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Mathematics 72%
Grade 3
English (HL) 76%
Afrikaans (FAL) 73%
Mathematics 70%
Grade 4
English (HL) 58%
Afrikaans (FAL) 47%
Mathematics 52%
Grade 5
English (HL) 55%
Afrikaans (FAL) 49%
Mathematics 47%
Grade 6
English (HL) 51%
Afrikaans (FAL) 43%
Mathematics 56%
Grade 7
English (HL) 58%
Afrikaans (FAL) 49%
Mathematics 52%

Additionally, interviews from teachers explored how they struggle in achieving high
student achievement when there seems to be a huge gap in subject knowledge from
grade to grade. Students do not have the prerequisite knowledge when entering a
new grade which causes teachers to be demotivated as they have to spend ample
time on recovering the “lost knowledge” students do not have and cannot allocate
the specified amount of time allocated to teaching current grade knowledge and this
becomes troublesome when students are required to be tested on standard. Other
issues identified by teachers include the fact that they do not seem to grow
professionally as they are stuck on old knowledge being taught and have no
opportunity to show the accumulated skills, they should have gathered over the time
they spend teaching which leave little space for promotion.

4.4 Ways School Leaders can Connect School Culture and Instructional
Climate to foster effective Teaching and Learning
Uniting these two elements (school culture and instructional climate), holds
paramount importance since they are indispensable in promoting student success,
teacher well-being, and overall prosperity for schools. However, attaining such
cohesion mandates guidance from informed educators who comprehend both

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aspects with sufficient proficiency to orchestrate seamless integration. As Lewis et al.


(2019) argues, "Instructional leaders can use school culture as a tool to influence
and lead by establishing coordination among employees, having a direct impact on
student achievement.". Therefore, it is essential for school leaders to understand
how they can connect these two critical aspects of education to ensure effective
teaching and learning. One practical way that school leaders can link school culture
and instructional climate is through promoting collaboration. Ismail et al. (2022) notes
that "collaborative leadership plays a fundamental role in creating an effective
organisational culture." This means that when teachers work together towards
common goals, there is more cohesion within the staff team which creates better
relationships between teachers/staff resulting in an improved atmosphere for
students. Some of this can be achieved through co-teaching and teachers belonging
to the same phase or the same subject department who can develop lesson plans
collaboratively to enrich lessons and student learning. Another way to achieve this
connection is by setting clear expectations for both staff members and students
alike. Spicer's (2016) study highlights the importance of principals creating positive
cultures by determining what impacts or determines the climate of schools which
involves setting clear expectations/goals regarding behaviour expectations from
everyone involved including parents/guardians so they know what’s expected of
them too. This includes informing students and parents of what is expected of them
in a well-constructed school code of conduct, continuously reminding staff, students
and all other stakeholders of the schools, well defined, vision and mission to ensure
that it is taken into account at all times when doing tasks set out for all teachers,
students and stakeholders alike and ultimately establishing clear teaching and
learning objectives and outcomes. Finally, providing ongoing professional
development opportunities will allow faculty members to continuously improve their
skills while also improving overall instructional quality across different subject areas
such as math or science; schools has been successful at this with their focus on
project-based learning activities where various subjects are integrated into one
curriculum plan leading not only academic success but lifelong skill sets like
creativity problem solving, etc. Additionally, schools, especially the principals, school
governing bodies and department heads should hire and promote from and within
their own organisations to control teacher and staff turnover/retention rates to ensure
the school climate stays positive and provide a sense of belonging or welcoming.

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5. Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident that a school leader plays a crucial role in linking school
culture and instructional climate to ensure effective teaching and learning. By
implementing appropriate leadership practices, school leaders can cultivate a
positive school culture that fosters collaboration, innovation, and respect for diversity
among staff and students alike, the school leader can set the tone for an instructional
climate that promotes student engagement and achievement. Practical examples of
how this can be achieved include implementing professional development programs
focused on cultural competence and inclusive pedagogy; integrating technology into
instruction to enhance student learning experiences; fostering teacher leadership by
providing opportunities for teachers to take ownership of their professional growth;
using data-driven decision-making processes to guide instructional practices.
Moreover, school leaders must distinguish the interdependence between these two
factors in promoting effective teaching and learning. By designing policies that reflect
this interconnectedness while also prioritizing equity as well as social justice issues
such as access to education resources like books etc., they can help create an
environment where all students feel valued regardless of their background or
abilities. In summary, effective teaching requires more than just knowledge transfer
from teachers to students but rather involves creating a conducive atmosphere
where both parties are engaged in collaborative efforts aimed at achieving common
goals. School leaders have a critical responsibility of ensuring that these conditions
are met through proper linkage between school culture and instructional climate.
Finally, I recommend that future research focusing on exploring new strategies
geared towards enhancing teaching effectiveness should consider examining how
various aspects of school leadership shape educational outcomes.

References
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