Teacher participation in decision making of secondary school teachers from aided schools in Hong Kong

Since the year 2000, all Hong Kong schools have implemented a school-based management policy. Such a policy is expected to provide teachers with opportunities to become involved in school decision making, which has been identified as one of the key characteristics of an effective school. This research is based on an empirical study of teachers from Hong Kong aided secondary schools. It investigates the status quo of their current involvement in school decision making and the factors affecting their participation. It explores the relationship between teachers' perceptions of school managerial practices, their perceptions of their participation in decision making, and their perceptions of their job satisfaction, commitment and workload. The research uses a survey method for data collection. The analysis is based on data from questionnaires, which were completed by 405 teachers from 22 aided secondary schools in June 2002. A correlational research design was used. The analysis was statistical, using both descriptive and inferential data analysis procedures. Three instruments based on Likert five-point scales were constructed to measure (1) the level of teacher participation in decision making within four decision domains: school level managerial, class level technical, school level technical and class level managerial decision domains (2) four variables of managerial practices: bureaucratic control, collaboration, professional autonomy and shared vision and (3) three variables in the affective domain: job satisfaction, job commitment and teachers' perceptions of their workload. Factor analysis and reliability analysis were used to confirm the construct validity and internal consistency of the instruments. The findings throw light on the relationship of teachers? perceptions of the management practices of their schools and their perceptions of their participation in decision making. Teachers? involvement in decision making was significantly related to their perceptions of bureaucratic control, collaboration, professional autonomy and shared vision. It was possible to predict participation in different decision domains from teachers? perceptions of different management practices. The research identifies the decision domains within which teachers were involved in decision making and finds that both overall and within each of these domains the status quo is one of decision deprivation in which teachers perceptions of their actual involvement in decision making is consistently and significantly lower than their desired participation. The findings also suggest that higher job satisfaction and higher teaching commitment are correlated with greater participation by teachers in decision making in all four decision domains. On the other hand, although higher workload was correlated with high participation in the instructional decision domain, workload bore little relationship to the other decision domains. This thesis is intended to make an original contribution to educational management. Its findings suggest practical steps that could be taken by school administrators to increase teachers? participation in decision making. The results confirm those of other studies that suggest that an increase in teachers? participation in school decision making will contribute to greater school effectiveness. The thesis also provides a theoretical model that can be used in other research.