Teacher collegiality and commitment in high- and low-achieving secondary schools in Islamabad, Pakistan

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2011 in the subject Pedagogy - The Teacher, Educational Leadership, The University of Malaya, language: English, abstract: This study analyzed the impact of teachers' collegiality on their organizational and professional commitment in public secondary schools in Islamabad, Pakistan. The study also examined the differences of teacher collegiality, organizational commitment, and professional commitment in high-achieving and low-achieving schools. The effects of teacher personal variables (e.g. gender, educational level, and professional experience) on teacher collegiality, organizational commitment, and professional commitment were also investigated. A teacher collegiality scale (TCS) was developed and tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic techniques. The final TCS comprised seven dimensions, namely (1) Demonstrating Mutual Support and Trust, (2) Observing one another Teaching, (3) Joint Planning and Assessment, (4) Sharing Ideas and Expertise, (5) Teaching each other, (6) Developing Curriculum together, and (7) Sharing Resources. The instruments of organizational commitment and professional commitment were adapted from Meyer, Allen, and Smith (1993). The survey instrument, comprising the TCS and Commitment Scale was distributed to a sample of 364 secondary school teachers in eight high-achieving and nine low-achieving schools located in Islamabad. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to assess the impact of teacher collegiality on teachers' organizational and professional commitment. Latent Mean Structure Analysis was used to determine the differences in teacher collegiality and teacher commitment between high-achieving and low-achieving school teachers. The effects of demographic variables on study main variables were analyzed using MANOVA. The analysis confirmed that teacher collegiality positively impacted organizational commitment and professional commitment among secondary school teachers in Pakistan. Multi-group SEM analysis did not support for the moderating effects of school type based on achievement. The differences in teacher collegiality and professional commitment were found to be statistically non-significant between high-achieving and low-achieving school teachers. However, organizational commitment among high-achieving school teachers was significantly higher than low-achieving school teachers. Teacher collegiality among female teachers was more evident than male teachers. Female teachers were also found to be more organizationally committed in Pakistani schools.