Issues in Educational Research.docx

Issues in Educational Research.docx

《Issues in Educational Research.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Issues in Educational Research.docx（15页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

IssuesinEducationalResearch

IssuesinEducationalResearch,7

（1）,1997,69-86.

Doesschoolsizeaffectqualityofschoollife?

MagdalenaMok

MacquarieUniversity

MarcellinFlynn

AustralianCatholicUniversity

Thispaperexaminestworelatedresearchquestions.First,issizeofschoolapredictorofstudents'qualityofschoollife?

Second,whatattributesofsmallandlargeschoolscontributetoqualityofschoollife?

Twosampleswereincluded,furnishingbothquantitativeandqualitativedata.Thefirstsamplecomprised4,949Year12studentsfrom44Catholichighschoolsandthesecond570studentsfrom1independentand9governmentschoolsinNSW.Bothqualitativeandquantitativedataanalysesfoundnoapparentrelationshipbetweenschoolsizeandqualityofschoollife.

Introduction

Changingthesizeofastudentbodybymergingorclosingsmallerschoolsisoneofthepanaceasthatpolicymakersputforwardforenhancingeducationaloutcomesandoptimallyutilizingstateresources.Forexample,aboutonethousandstateschoolswereclosedinVictoriain1992toreducethecostofeducation.Similarly,inNewSouthWales,theDirector-GeneralofEducation,DrKenBoston,proposedtoreviewtheviabilityofsmallerschoolsintermsofcurriculumofferingsandtoclosethosenotdeemedviable（SydneyMorningHerald,2Jan1997,page1）.TherecentqualityassurancemovementinNewSouthWalesandotherstatesprovidedfurtherimpetusfortherestructuringoftheschoolsystemtowardsmuchlargerschools,whichwerearguedtobemoreeffectivethansmallerones.

Thereisevidencefromrecentresearchinsupportofsucharguments.Thatis,largerschoolswereobservedtobemoreabletocapitaliseoneconomiesofscaleandstudentsenrolledinlargerschoolswerefoundtoperformbetteratpublicexaminations,evenafteraccountingforinitialdifferencesinschooltypeandstudents'homebackground（Mok&Flynn,1997a）.However,itisunsettlingthatsuchfundamentalreformmovementsastheamalgamation,orclosure,ofsmallerschoolsbeestablishedongroundsofcostefficiencyoracademicachievement,whichisonlyoneofthemanydimensionsofschooling.

ResponsesfromtheAustralianschoolcommunitiesconcerningtheessenceofschooleffectivenessledMcGawandhisassociatestoconcludethat,"Learningandtheloveoflearning;personaldevelopmentandself-esteem;lifeskills,problemsolvingandlearninghowtolearn;thedevelopmentofindependentthinkersandwellroundedconfidentindividuals;allrankedashighlyormorehighlyastheoutcomesofeffectiveschoolingassuccessinanarrowrangeofacademicdisciplines"（McGaw,Piper,Banks,&Evans,1992:

174）.

Workingfromthepremisethataschoolisacommunityofpeoplewhocometogetherinpursuitofacommongoal-thedevelopmentofthephysical,intellectual,vocational,social,emotional,aestheticandmoraldimensionsoftheyoungperson;itisnecessarytodiscernnotonlytheimpactofschoolsizeonacademicoutcomebutalsotheeffectofsizeofschoolonotherfacetsofschoollife.Thisisthepurposeofthecurrentstudy.Theresearchquestionsaddressedhereare:

1.Issizeofschoolapredictorofstudents'qualityofschoollife?

2.Whatattributesofsmallandlargeschoolscontributetoqualityofschoollife?

Literaturereview

Qualityofschoollifehasbeenaccordedspecialsignificancebyeducatorsbecauseitisviewedasimportantinitsownrightandalsobecauseoftherelationshipbetweenstudents'qualityofschoollifeandtheiracademicachievement（Bourke,1993;Mok&Flynn,1997b）.Thus,thereisextensiveresearchonstudents'reportsoftheirwell-beingatschool（see,forexample,reviewinSmith,1997）.

Whereasnumerousresearchstudiesundertakeninthepastdecadehaveexaminedqualityofschoollife,onlysomehaveinvestigatedtheconceptinrelationtoschoolenrolment.Theseexceptionshavesuggestedthattheclaimthatconstructschoolsizeisasignificantdeterminantofschoollifequalityishighlycontestable.Itseemsthatschoolsizeinfluencesqualityofschoollifeinacomplexfashionandatleasttwoopposingsetsofforcesareatwork,oneofwhichiseconomicandtheothersocial.Whetherornotstudentsenjoylifeatschoolislikelytodependontheneteffectofthesecountervailingforces.

Thefirstsetofforcesinvolveseconomiesofscale（Conant,1959;1967）,whichisrealisedinlargerschools.Inthisregard,theeffectofschoolsizeonqualityofschoollifeismediatedthroughstudents'satisfactionwiththebreadthanddepthoftheformalschoolcurriculum.Severalpiecesofindependentresearchconfirmedthathumanandfiscalconstraintsassociatedwithsmallsizeveryoftenprecludedsmallschoolsofferingavariedacademicprogram（Barker,1985;Bryk,1996;Bryk,Lee,andHolland,1993;Haller,Monk,Spotted-Bear,Griffith,&Moss,1990;Poole1987）.Thelimitedchoiceofsubjectofferinginverysmallschoolscouldleadtostudentdissatisfaction.

Nevertheless,itisdangerouslysimplistictoconcludethattheeffectofschoolsizeoncurriculumcomprehensivenessisinvariantacrossallschooltypesandsocialcontexts.Inreality,schoolsizeisonlyaglobalmeasurethatisrelatedtoahostofotherschoolstructuralcharacteristicsandmayitselfbedependentondistrictsize（Williams,1990）.Contemporaryresearchontheschoolsizeeffectthathasincludedotherstructuralfeaturesindicatesthatschoolsizehasdifferentcurriculumimplicationsdependingonthesocialclassoftheschool（BrykandFrank,1991;FriedkinandNecochea;1988）,schoolgovernance（publicsectorversusCatholicsystem;Bryk,Lee,&Holland;1993）,subjectarea,courselevel（advancedversusremedial）,schoollocation（rural,suburban,urban）andunionisation（presenceorabsenceofateachers'unionwithintheschool）（Monk&Haller,1993）.Bryk（1996）alsoobservedthatalthoughschoolsizecouldfacilitateinstructionaldifferentiation,sizeitselfmightnotbeadirectcause.

Anotheradvantageoflargerschoolsoversmalleronesingeneratingeconomiesofscaleisthattheformeraremoreabletorecruitbetterqualifiedteachersandhavesuperiorschoolphysicalenvironmentandfacilities（e.g.Haller,Monk,Spotted-Bear,Griffith&Moss,1990）.Althoughthereisnoexplicitattributionintheschooleffectivenessliteratureofthequalityofschoollifetotheschool'sphysicalenvironment,severalenvironmentalfeatureshavebeenhighlightedascontributingfactorstoschooleffectiveness.Thesefeaturesincludedecorationofbuildings（Rutter,1980）,lownoiselevel（Reynolds,1992）andaquietandorderlyatmosphere（Creemers,1992）.Inaddition,theeasyavailabilityofabundant,appropriateinstructionalmaterialsandresources（Levine,1992）hasalsobeenshowntocontributetoeffectiveschooling.

Thesecondsetofforcesoperatingbetweenschoolsizeandqualityofschoollifeconcernstheaffectiveaspectsofschooling.Theadvantagesofeconomiesofscaleofferedbylargeschoolsmaybecounter-balancedbythisopposingsetofforceswhichcanhaveadverseeffectsontheschool'scommunity.Attheadministrativelevel,largerschoolsarefoundtohavemorecentralizeddecisionmaking,lowerlevelsofstaffcooperation（Rowan,Raudenbush&Kang,1991）,moreformalmodesofcommunication,moreextensivebureaucratizationandahigherlevelofworkspecialisation（Bryk,1996）.Incontrast,asmallschoolsizetendstofacilitatepersonalinteractionandsocialintimacy（Bryk,1996）.Teachersinsmallerschoolsaremorelikelytofeelsatisfiedabouttheirworkthantheircounterpartsinlargerschools（Bryk,Lee&Holland,1993）.

Onthestudent-benefitdimension,smallerschoolsarefoundtobeassociatedwithhigherparticipationratesinextracurricularactivities（Oxley,1994;Stevens&Peltier,1994）,higherandmoresociallyequitableengagement（Lee&Smith,1995）,moreopportunitiesfordevelopingleadershippotential（Bryk,Lee&Holland,1993）,betterschooldiscipline（Haller,1992;Rowan,Raudenbush&Kang,1991）,betterschoolclimate（Gregory,1992;Lindsay,1984;Oxley,1994）,betterstudentattitudes（Fowler,1992）andlowerschooldropoutrates（Kleinfeld,McDiarmid&Hagstrom,1989;Toenjes,1989;Fetler,1989）.However,theeffectofschoolsizeisnotinvariantacrossallschooltypes.Forexample,Brykandhisassociatesnotedthat,withintheCatholicsector,schoolsizehaslittleinfluenceonstudentoutcomesandreportedspecificexamplesofpositiveeffectsforlargeschools（Bryk,Lee&Holland,1993）.TheirfindingsweresupportedbyBerkey（1996）whomaintainedthatifstudentservices,staffdevelopmentandcurriculaareproperlymanaged,largeschoolscanbeasefficientandeffectiveinestablishingagoodlearningatmosphereassmallschools.

Thecurrentstudydistinguishesitselffromearlierstudiesintworegards.First,thisstudyisundertakeninthecontextofAustralianschoolsandsecond,itcombinesqualitativeandquantitativeapproachestocollectingdatafromstudents'perspectives.Thus,thisstudyaddstoextantliteratureandisthefirstofitskindtoprovideaninsider'sviewpointonhowAustralianYear12students'well-beingisrelatedtosizeofschoolenrolment.

Method

Thestudydesign

Twoindependentinvestigationssharingthesamethemecontributeddatatothisstudy.ThefirstwasalargescalelongitudinalsurveyofthecultureofCatholicschools（Flynn,1993）andwasundertakenbetweenMay1990andMarch1991.Thesecond,aseparatesurveyundertakenin1993,wasconcernedwiththecultureofNewSouthWales（NSW）schools（Mok,1994）.

TheCatholicschoolculturestudyisacomponentofalargerinvestigation（Flynn,1993）inwhichYear12studentsenrolledinsam