The effect of the school internal environment of secondary education on daily work of teaching staff: A systemic approach

Abstract

This article focuses on exploring the School Internal Environment and on identifying disorders that appear in the workplace of the Teaching Staff of Secondary Education, in order to record the effects of these problems in natural (physical) and mental balance and health of the teachers. It is based on a sample of 188 teachers, 65 men (34.6%) and 123 women (65.4%) who work in High and Senior High Schools of the city of Karditsa (Thessaly, Greece). It focuses most on the effect of the Schools' Location, the Schools' Organizational and Operational Structure, the Head Teachers, the Schools' Human Resources as well as the Media and the Teaching Methods of the Personnel in their daily work. The results demonstrate especially that the Head Teachers' institutional weakness to control the students' behaviour and the school internal physical and psychological climate affect negatively the teachers' daily work. On the other hand, especially the development of educational projects, the location (site of installation) of the school unit, the Head teachers' incentive policy and both the Head teachers' and the colleagues' behaviour affect positively the teachers' daily work. Finally, the findings shed light on the factors that can contribute to the creation of necessary conditions which could improve the working environment of the Teaching Staff of Secondary Education.