Deal and Kennedy defined organisational culture as” the way we get things done around here.” They were able to suggest four classifications from their findings; I believe my organisation fits into the `work hard/play hard culture` where few risks are taken. We strive for high quality, and rapid feedback is given in the way of team meetings.
The advantages this organisational culture has on my teaching and learning methods are such organisations are strong, proud and dynamic, they react quickly to external demands such as training and professional development.
The disadvantages are that power cultures may suffer from disaffection. People in the middle layers such as myself may feel they have insufficient scope. The interventionist pressure and constant need to refer to the centre may encourage competition and jostling for support of the line manager or boss. I personally feel that the power orientated culture holds me back slightly based on my teaching as I cannot just try something new without referring it to the main power source. Even things such as resources cannot be ordered
Without agreement from the central power. In my opinion individuals who succeed in this culture must have the ability to be power orientated, politically minded, risk taking with a low need for security. Also, I believe that the power to the organisation’s members is based on control over resources and personal influences with the central person. During my teaching practice I regularly ask my students to undertake assessments in the form of case studies and tests and also presentations in order to build on the methods in the future. This enables me to check their knowledge and understanding of the subject area covered. Also I carry out a short quiz at the end of some units which again allows me to assess the students but I an informal way this time. The purpose for me doing this is so I can adapt the scheme of work if necessary or a lesson plan.
However implications arise when trying to do so because of the power culture I am in. On my suggestion to the so called,` central power` all the tutors now meet to discuss any changes that need to be made, if they are a common occurrence then the `power` will agree the change. This is a huge issue in my mind, as the tutor knows the students they work with and needs the flexibility to change and adapt lessons to meet their individual requirements. Also, what is right for one group may not be right for another. But as this was the only way I could get any change allowed by `the power` I felt it was a necessary thing to do.
Edgar Schein, one of the most prominent theorists of organisational culture, gave the following general definition which I feel relates to the collective learning methods we use as mentioned previously :`“The culture of a group can now be defined as: A patter of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.’ (Schein, 1993.p373-374)
A good thing about working in a power culture is that I am told what to do then left to complete it myself which has allowed me to develop my teaching methods and learning to deal with problems on my own. I feel this is very beneficial when you are training as you can learn from your own mistakes.
Charles Handy (1985:p177) states, “the organisational imperatives in our present society are locked into an inevitable battle with the individual imperatives (for greater opportunity of personal expression and choice)…If our organisations are to survive, they must adapt their managerial philosophy to one which is better suited to the needs) aspirations and attitudes of individuals. In the new mix of gods which will result, Apollo will be less dominant and less inhuman. This will mean, however, a massive reorganisation of the structure of the organisations and their work.”
I believe this is not a forecast for the future of human service organisations (generally forecasts can be wrong), it is simply stated to suggest that organisations can be designed and that in the future we may be faced with the need to redesign and possibly it is a good idea for college to start now by analysing existing structures and ensuring functions are performed to the benefit of everyone.
As an organisation vast amounts of support are available to both myself and the students. Again the central person has to agree the request for professional development before you can go ahead and enrol on whatever it might be. To date all areas of professional development I have requested to undertake or have been advised to undertake have been extremely useful which will in turn prove beneficial to the organisation, as I will be able to improve my practice with my newly gained knowledge. Next year I wish to continue to the 2nd year of the teacher training course to improve my practice as I am being requested to teach more and more. To aid this progression I feel I would benefit from further training internally or through external bodies for areas such as the delivery of Key Skills including numeracy, literacy and ICT.
At present I offer minimal support to my students who undergo key skills on a 1-1 basis in the work place. I also feel I would benefit and manage to succeed at the key skills training if I could attend recap sessions as it has been ten years since I completed Key skills.
At present I believe that the teaching methods I use are appropriate and very successful but on numerous occasions my teaching paperwork isn’t always up to scratch such as plans and schemes of work. Again I feel I might benefit from some form of lesson or course to aid me in this subject. Perhaps looking at examples or even following another teacher’s plan could help.
When I started teaching I didn’t know how to design a power point. Working on a power point with my teaching colleague helped me a great deal and I now feel happy in this area. When I began teaching I would ask students if they were happy and if they felt the lesson worked for them but I didn’t begin using student feedback sheets and questionnaires until the subject was approached in my teaching class. I am confident in this area after attending delivery on how to use questionnaires and the most beneficial questions to ask to aid detail responses and find them very useful for my planning.
I have found that I almost always offer extra work and activities now for those who may finish early or have already completed the unit personally whereas before I never offered anything else, students have commented positively about the extra activity which makes me feel good.
Since commencing teacher training I have gained knowledge in many areas and as mentioned previously I feel my students have gained from this. One area I have learnt about at College but still feel I could do with extra support is differentiation. Although I am now fully aware of its meaning and the reasoning behind it I am still unsure in a lot of areas in my subject delivery how to make those adaptations. Unlike the other points raised I am not entirely sure how I could develop this effectively. The obvious answer would be to commence some sort of training but after having a short session on this at college I am still none the wiser relating to my subject matter. Possibly working with another colleague in the same subject who has previous experience of tailoring the lesson to all the learners needs and then trying to apply their methods to my lessons and maybe borrow and adapt some of their resources to fit my lesson plans.
The organisation does provide lots of support to its students as an extra to their course. Support such as literacy and numeracy lessons or 1-1 support and ICT support is available. This support can help the students build on the curricular development or possibly help them to learn how to deal with challenging parts of their learning. I feel that a student needs to have confidence and high self esteem to succeed in learning and if they are struggling with the work I set this will be apparent. Therefore as their teacher I must be able to adapt their work for their gain or enrol them onto extra support if necessary.
By offering support the students will complete their course resulting in the organisation receiving a monetary lump sum. These support areas are advertised to the students and therefore should be easily accessible but I feel this is not always the case which may result in some students not bothering to seek information about them. At present in my department for a student to access the extra support they must sit two tests, if they come out below average they must then sit another which highlights the specific problems and only then will they receive dates for a meeting with the support teacher and a programme is set up.
At the beginning of a new academic year I plan lessons and activities generally as I am unaware of the student’s individual needs until I have actually had time to assess the students myself. However if a student has applied for the extra support and has undergone the assessments I will have been informed by the Skills For Life Practitioner, thus allowing for differentiation in my planning. So if a student or a few students have not bothered to apply for the extra support they need because it seems like to much hassle it will have a negative effect on the first few lessons. This could have a negative effect on the students learning and self esteem and motivation which in turn could result in a loss of students.
As a teacher I evaluate every lesson I deliver thinking about how well the deliver went, if the learners had met the learning outcomes and if the resources worked well. I also think about, `how well am I teaching? ‘And ` which aspects of my teaching are good and which areas need to be improved?’ I record these details on the bottom of my lesson plans. I also record any major changes that I feel need to be made on my scheme of work or any really positive comments on certain lessons. This enables me to make these changes when designing the next year’s scheme of work or even incorporating the positive teaching methods into the next year’s lessons. Using this method enables me to learn about the effectiveness of my teaching and it helps me identify areas that need further development.
W.J Mckeachie (1994) gave the following definition relating to evaluation; ”Assuming that no one is perfect and therefore everyone has room for improvement, evaluation is the means by which we try to identify which aspects of our teaching are good and which need to be changed. The question then arises as to who should take responsibility for doing this evaluation. My belief is that evaluation is an inherent part of good teaching. Therefore it is the teacher himself or herself who should take primary responsibility for doing the evaluation.”
WORD COUNT-2599
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Deal.T.E and Kennedy.A.A (1982) The rites and rituals of corporate life, Penguin Books.
Edgar Schein. (1993) Organisational Culture and Leadership. In Classics of Organisation Theories. Eds. (2001). Fort Worth : Harcourt college publishers.
Handy, C. (1985) Gods of management. 2nd Ed. London:pan. Pg 177.
Hofstede, G (1880) Cultures consequences: International differences in work related values, SAGE Publications.
Mckeachie, W. J. (1994) Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. 9th Edition. Lexington, Massachusetts: Heath.
