School culture as predictors of primary schools’ performance

Abstract

This purpose of this study is to explore the level of school culture and its prediction towards school performance as perceived by teachers. The data was collected using survey questionnaire. Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) developed by Cameron and Quinn (2006) was used to measure school culture. A total of 324 questionnaires were distributed to 36 primary schools in the state of Selangor, Perak, Johor and Pahang in Peninsular Malaysia. Subsequently, the data was analysed using descriptive analysis and multiple regression. The result shows that teachers in National schools and National Type Tamil schools perceive that the level of school culture in their schools is significantly higher than National Type Chinese schools. In addition, clan culture is perceived as most practiced culture in National and National Type Tamil schools. While, hierarchy culture is perceived as the most practiced culture in National Type Chinese schools. There is a similarity between these schools in terms of culture practice where the adhocracy culture become the least culture practiced in these schools. Apart from that, the result also showed that teachers perceived school culture significantly predict the school performance. Hence, it is noted that emphasis in school culture is vital to have an environment, which supports the school performance in the long run. This study would be very helpful for all the relevant stakeholders to identify primary school culture as well as its contribution towards school performance to take any action for school improvement.

Keywords

• malaysian primary schools
• school culture
• school performance
• teacher’s perception