Teachers' perceptions of their own initiative: Collective initiative vs. personal initiative

Abstract

Current trends in education demand from teachers to exhibit proactive behaviour and assume responsibility for the implementation of changes in school practice. In that sense, it is important to study how teachers perceive their own initiative and to gain insight into the activities where such initiative is demonstrated. This study has been conceived as a mixed-methods research. The qualitative study implied forming four focus groups with subject teachers and class teachers (N=38), while the quantitative study entailed surveying 1441 teachers in forty primary schools in Serbia using the questionnaire constructed based on qualitative data. Data from focus groups were processed by qualitative thematic analysis, while the questionnaire data were processed by principal component analysis and univariate analysis of variance. The findings of the study have shown that teachers mostly demonstrate initiative through co­operative activities that include planning of joint teaching as well as conducting joint projects within school and with the local community actors. Teachers are least ready to demonstrate personal initiative and the initiative aimed at accomplishing considerable changes in school work. The concluding part includes the recommendations for encouraging teachers' personal initiative and building organizational culture that would support such initiative.

Savremeni obrazovni trendovi postavljaju pred nastavnike očekivanja da ispolje proaktivno ponašanje i preuzmu odgovornost za sprovođenje promena u školskoj praksi. U tom smislu je važno ispitati kako nastavnici opažaju sopstvenu inicijativu i u kojim aktivnostima ta incijativa dolazi do izražaja. Istraživanje je osmišljeno kao miksmetodsko. Kvalitativna studija je podrazumevala formiranje četiri fokus grupe sa nastavnicima i učiteljima (N=38), dok je kvantitativna studija obuhvatila ispitivanje hiljadu četristo četrdeset jednog nastavnika u četrdeset osnovnih škola u Srbiji upitnikom koji je konstruisan na osnovu kvalitativnih podataka. Podaci iz fokus grupa su obrađeni kvalitativnom tematskom analizom, dok su podaci iz upitnika obrađeni analizom glavnih komponenata i univarijantnom analizom varijanse. Nalazi ovog istraživanja ukazuju da nastavnici najviše ispoljavaju inicijativu kroz saradničke aktivnosti koje podrazumevaju planiranje zajedničke nastave, kao i sprovođenje zajedničkih projekata unutar škole i sa akterima u lokalnoj zajednici. Nastavnici su najmanje spremni da ispolje ličnu inicijativu, kao i inicijativu koja bi za cilj imala krupnije promene u radu škole. U radu se komentarišu preporuke za podsticanje lične inicijative nastavnika i izgrađivanje organizacione kulture koja bi podržala tu inicijativu.