Teachers' organisational behaviour in public and private funded schools

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to compare teachers' organisational behaviour in publicly‐ and privately‐funded schools in the Dutch Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.Design/methodology/approachA percentage of all middle managers in publicly and privately funded schools (72 per cent and 43 per cent respectively) distributed self‐report questionnaires to their teachers measuring teachers' attitudes, sense of identification and perception of the school climate. The sample consisted of 705 teachers in publicly funded schools and 25 teachers in privately funded schools. Data were analysed through multilevel analysis accounting for the dependency of teachers working within the same teaching unit.FindingsThe analyses show that teachers in publicly funded schools report a less curriculum‐oriented attitude, a lower sense of identification, and perceive a less supportive school climate than teachers in privately funded schools. Funding did not have an effect on the extent to which teachers have a student‐oriented attitude. In addition, the analyses show significant effects of teacher characteristics, the disciplinary sector, and affiliation characteristics on teachers' organisational behaviour.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper clearly indicates differences in teachers' organisational behaviour in publicly and privately funded schools. Contrary to common beliefs, the institutional context hardly influences the extent to which teachers have a student‐oriented attitude.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to insights in behavioural aspects of the fading boundary between the public and private sector.

Teachers’ Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and Organizational Identification in Public and Private Preschools

“…Goulet and Frank (2002) compared employees in public, non-profit and for-profit organizations, and found that private sector employees were the most identified with their organizations. Similarly, Honingh and Oort (2009) found that teachers in privately funded schools in the vocational sector identified with their schools more than their colleagues working in publicly funded schools. Feather and Rauter (2004) also found that organizational citizenship behavior was higher in private schools in comparison to that of the public schools.…”

“…Teachers' job status has a statistically significant effect on both organizational citizenship behaviors and organizational identification. Honingh and Oort (2009) have stated organizational behavior of employees in public sector and private sector organizations differs. For instance because of difference in monitoring and evaluation of performance, the visibility of individual efforts in private schools is higher than public schools.…”

“…While the job status of teachers working in state schools is permanent, the job status of teachers in private schools is contracted. Honingh and Oort (2009) have stated organizational behavior of employees in public sector and private sector organizations differs. Hence, teachers' organizational citizenship behaviors and identification with their schools also may differ according to job status.…”

Teachers and middle managers in a hybrid educational sector

“…In analysing the extent to which teachers have a goal-oriented attitude, Honingh and Oort (2008) found a significant difference between teachers in privately and publicly funded schools. Teachers working in privately funded schools had a stronger goal-oriented attitude.…”

“…In a recent study Honingh and Oort (2008) investigated teachers' attitudes to education in three disciplinary branches: catering and tourism, health and social care and economics and administration, 5 in publicly and privately funded schools in the Dutch VET sector. The items in the questionnaire were based on Denessen's (1999) questionnaire measuring secondary school teachers' attitudes to education.…”