Study On Teachers' Participation In School Governance

The modernization of education governance system and governance capacity put forward higher requirements for school governance.To improve the structure of school governance and improve the ability of school governance,it is necessary to establish the dominant position of teachers in school governance and to give full play to the role of teachers in school governance: “power sharing,” “power supervision,” and “share of responsibility”.This is the mission of the times,and more practically required.However,in the face of the predicament in which teachers are helplessness,indifference to participation,and principals are concerned about teachers' participation.It is necessary to build reasonable mechanisms and paths for promoting teacher participation based on a re-examination of teachers' participation facts.Based on the theory of governance and participatory governance,this paper adopts a qualitative and quantitative mixed research method,through questionnaires and interviews to in-depth study performance mechanism,influencing factors and the proper mechanism and path of teachers' participation in school governance.Firstly,this paper builds the basic framework of teacher participation according to content/dimension,degree/limit.The scope of participation of teachers in school governance is divided into: professional-related affairs,competition affairs,and overall management affairs.There are five levels of teacher involvement ranging from “no participation” to “participation in decision-making or program development”.According to the degree of teacher's expected participation,relevant policy requirements and the connotation of governance,the minimum and maximum limits for teachers to participate in school governance are set,which are to “express opinions”and “participate in decision-making” respectively.Under this framework,teachers enter school governance mainly through three ways of “Defensive participation”,“mobilization participation” and “autonomous participation”,and promote the improvement of school governance through different operating mechanisms of three ways.However,the participation of some teachers in some school affairs is lackluster."Indifferent","hitch-free ride" and "fatigue acceptance" are their frequent performances.Teachers' participation is complicated,but in general,teachers' participation in professional-related affairs is mostly through autonomous participation,and most teachers can “express views”;participation in competition affairs is more complicated,because autonomy,mobilization,and defence all exist,and "Hitchhiking" and "fatigue acceptance" are full of the process,so most teachers are in an "knowing" state.Participation in overall management affairs is also more complex,mainly through mobilization and defence,and "Indifference" and "fatigue acceptance" are more common.See,most teachers even "do not know" in the construction and funds.In general,compared with the expectation degree and the minimum level of participation in governance,there is still room for improvement in the actual participation of teachers."Expect but not positive" is the overall description of the stae of teacher participation.This is related to the contradiction in the process of teachers' participation,and it is also influenced by various factors in the micro-to-macro system.As far as the former is concerned,the contradictory relationships between democracy and efficiency,overall interests and self-interest,individual reuse and mobilization of a wide range of teacher enthusiasm have been accompanied by teacher participation.They affect the concept and understanding of school administrators,and the teachers' performance in the school governance.As far as the latter is concerned,teachers' participation is influenced not only by the influence of micro system factors,such as their willingness,teaching age,and position,but also by the middle system factors such as school feedback,relationship atmosphere,institutional system,government-school interaction and home-school interaction.Of course,the macro background of collectivism,high power distance and high cultural context are also exert a subtle influence on Teachers' participation.There are slight differences in the factors influencing the participation of teachers in different participation categories.Based on the understanding of reality,it is necessary to set up an ideal state in which teachers' good performances can be reproduced and poor performances can be transformed.The ideal state of teachers' participation should be positive and orderly,that is,teachers are willing to participate,can participate and know how to participate,teachers' legal participation,reasonable participation and moderate participation.In order to achieve this goal,schools need to build four mechanisms: information disclosure,deliberative democracy,feedback and participation incentives.They provide the possibility,feasibility,and power source for teachers' participation,and they are the basic institutional logic to promote teachers' participation.At the same time,schools should explore the procedural path to promote and regulate teacher participation.Firstly,through the adjustment of government-school relations,expand the autonomy of school running and expand the scope of teachers' participation.Secondly,we should clearly define the purpose of teachers' participation and determine the methods and approach of participation.Thirdly,consider many factors,determine who take part in school affairs,and be brave to empower them.Finally,formulate a manual for participation in procedures,attach importance to publicity and let teachers realize their value.