Schools as learning organizations

Abstract

The public educational profession is under constant pressure to abandon philosophies and practices in favor of immediate change to current demands or interests. The profession is, by its very design, held hostage within the context of beliefs endorsed and supported by the community at large. Public schools, district, county offices, and universities as organizations of learning are not able to have learningful conversations that address issues raised and determine a true need for change. There is little time for their members to operate as "learning organizations" defined by Peter Senge (1990) with common goals and a clear understanding of how to accomplish those goals because outside forces of power and control diminish their capacity to do so. The constant barrage of requests for change makes public education vulnerable to state and national political agendas, and more susceptible to packaged solutions as the latest cure for success. The number and variety of demands, challenges, conflicting theories, and alternative ideas creates an overwhelming sense of insecurity, overload and vulnerability as conditions of teaching change based on political, societal, or parental demands. Societal demands, state and federal agendas, as well as big business interests have entrapped the education profession by creating a dependency on approval rather than a shared vision of what is best for our nation's youth. Utilizing two school districts, the purpose of the study is to determine the extent to which organizations of learning (e.g. schools, districts, county offices, universities) truly operate as "learning organizations" where together, people develop a shared vision of the future and work toward that vision through systemic thinking, personal mastery, examination of current reality, and continuous team learning. A secondary purpose to the study will be to develop an instrument that will examine within an organization's culture, the existence of behaviors which prevent the organization from truly operating as a learning organizations. Information gained from this research should assist organizations of learning in assessing their internal structures of communication, interaction, problem-solving, and culture. It will identify exhibited behaviors that either contribute to or inhibit the components of a true learning organization as defined by Peter Senge (1990). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)