Implication of Effective School Management for the Continuing Professional Development of Teachers

Abstract

In this paper we presented research findings about the implication of effective school management for the continuing professional development of teachers. Empirical data for research in which quantitative, non–experimental, descriptive research method was applied, were collected from a random sample of 1162 respondents from 92 primary schools in Serbia. The primary purpose was to research relations between the perception of effective school management and: (a) teachers participation in continuing professional development programs, (b) possibility of teachers to participate in continuing professional development programs, (c) possibility of teachers to fulfill their educational needs through participation in continuing professional development programs, (d) the prospect of teachers to apply knowledge acquired in continuing professional development programs. The effective school management indicators we considered: (a) strategic orientation of school management, (b) leadership style, (c) organizational climate, and (d) relations of school management to their employees (teachers) regarding continuing professional development. Accordingly, the basic techniques for gathering data were questioning and scaling by the instrument designed as a survey comprised of questionnaire and modified five–point Likert–type scales. The applied instruments showed high reliability; the instrument for gathering data about teachers’ perception of effective school management consisted of 22 items (Cronbach's =0.817), while the instrument for gathering data about teachers’ participation in continuing professional development programs consisted of 25 items (Cronbach's =0.833). The collected data were subjected to a few common (frequencies, std. deviation, mean, etc.) and more complex statistical proceedings (canonical correlation analysis). The findings suggest that effective school management has the capacity to affect: the possibility of teachers to meet their educational needs through participation in continuing professional development programs, teachers’ satisfaction with continuing professional development programs, and to help teachers to apply the knowledge acquired in continuing professional development programs. These findings have important andragogic and pedagogical implications, especially in the fields of management in education and human resource development.