Social capital and teacher perceptions of curricular control

• Main Author: Hunt, Donald J
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Subjects: education, administration; education, teacher training

American public schools will need approximately two million new teachers over the next ten years. Improving perceptions of professional control may increase self-efficacy, which has been shown to improve teacher longevity, as well as student performance. Perceptions of control are central to job satisfaction, longevity, and motivation. One avenue to improving job satisfaction and performance, as well as decreasing burn out, is to implement strategies that contribute to that sense of control. This study looks at the contribution of social capital to teachers' perceptions of curricular and instructional control. Aspects of social capital are shown to strongly influence teacher perceptions of control in this study.
Drawing on the considerable debate about how to define social capital, I argue that social capital is the development of relationships that allow the use or transfer of collective resources by individuals or groups, allowing them to achieve the goals of themselves or others more effectively and efficiently. With social capital, relationships are increased or made 'stronger'. Based on Coleman, Bourdieu, Portes, Putnam and others, I used three variables to represent social capital: communication, trust, and collegiality. In order to study interactions between social capital and teachers' perceptions of control over their curricula, I used the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) from 1993-94 and conducted analyses using scale variables for communication, trust, and collegiality. There are a great many aspects of teaching that administrators cannot directly influence, such as salaries. Since perceptions of control relate to job satisfaction and job longevity, if a connection can be made between social capital and control, then more directed efforts can be taken to keep teachers in the field.