Cognitive Structures of Teachers in Relation to ‘Ideal School’

Abstract

There are various factors influencing teachers' perceptions of the ideal school concept, but the school they work has a foremost impact shaping cognitive structures of the ideal school quality. However, the research on school and qualities of schools are limited with metaphor analysis. This research addresses this gap by elucidating the similarities and differences between the cognitive structures of teachers working at primary schools regarding the qualities of the ideal school, using the repertory grid technique. The participants of this research are twenty teachers who are working for three years in the same school. The study employs a mixed research design. Decision making grid technique was used as a data collection tool and content analysis and exploratory factor analysis were used in data analysis. Findings show that the structures formed by teachers are composed of two dimensions: individual and institution. The factor that comes to the fore in the individual dimension is the ideal school, and the factor that stands out in the institution dimension is the non-ideal school. The structures that represent the ideal school factor are the managers, teachers, students, parents, satisfaction, trust and hierarchal relations in the individual dimension. Teachers' cognitive fictions are more prominent in the institution dimension of non-ideal schools. In non-ideal schools, teachers' cognitive fictions showed that factors such as socio-economic environment, physical condition of the school, equipment and in-service training opportunities are influential.