School ethical climate and parental involvement
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230210433427 |
| Date | 01 August 2002 |
| Published date | 01 August 2002 |
| Pages | 349-367 |
| Author | Zehava Rosenblatt,Daniel Peled |
| Subject Matter | Education |
School ethical
climate
349
Journal of Educational
Administration,
Vol. 40 No. 4, 2002, pp. 349-367.
#MCB UP Limited, 0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/09578230210433427
Received December 2001
Accepted March 2002
School ethical climate and
parental involvement
Zehava Rosenblatt and Daniel Peled
Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Keywords Involvement, Schools, Ethics, Israel
Abstract Using structural equations modeling, this study explored the association between
school ethical climate (characterized by values of caring, rules and a professional code) and two
types of parental involvement: cooperation-based and conflict-based. The mediating effects of
perceived parental influence and trust and parents' socioeconomic (SES) level were considered as
well. School-level data were obtained from 157 teachers representing 20 elementary schools in
Israel, and individual-level data were obtained from 936 parents. Results showed that an ethical
climate characterized by rules and a professional code was more common and more strongly
related to parental involvement than a caring climate. Different patterns were detected for the two
SES groups: high-SES parents tended to be less involved (both cooperation-wise and conflict-wise)
than low-SES ones when the school climate was perceived as more ethical. Results have
implications for research on school values and school culture.
Parental involvement in sch ool is one of the most prominent issues in
contemporary education. Alth ough researchers vary in their approaches to the
study of parental involvement, most agree that parents contri bute
significantly to school effect iveness and to students' success. T herefore, the
factors affecting the level and conten t of parental involvement are of particular
importance. One perspective relatively neglected in rese arch on antecedents of
parental involvement is rela ted to the ethical environment of schools. The
present study sought to fill thi s gap by looking into the effect of school ethics
on parental involvement and on oth er related concepts, such as paren tal
influence and trust in schools. T his perspective is in step with a call for
adoption of a cultural framework in school administration research (Hallinger
and Leithwood, 1996). The purpose of this st udy, then, was to investigate the
relationships between morall y-based values of school culture and parental
involvement.
Like all organizations, schools constitute ethical environments. In other
words, schools provide their students, employees and other constituencies with
a set of guiding moral values. In addition, schools also set an ethical-
educational mode of conduct and sometimes even preach morality in the
classroom. School ethics, according to Starratt (1991), provide an ethical
environment that constitutes a firm foundation for daily decision making by
the school administration and for the behavior of people involved in school life.
Studies in the area of organizational climate show that such ethical themes can
be classified as ``ethical climates,'' much like other organizational themes often
included in this metaphoric concept (Schneider, 1975). An ethical climate would
be, then, the attitudes of employees (teachers) toward the ethical policies and
procedures of the organization (Bourne and Snead, 1999; Schneider, 1975). The
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
Journal of
Educational
Administration
40,4
350
following presents a conceptual model of ethical climates, applied to schools
and parental involvement.
Ethical climates
Victor and Cullen (1988) present a model of ethical climates composed of two
dimensions. One represents three basic ethical approaches (Fritzche and
Becker, 1984; Williams, 1985): egoism (maximizing self-interests); benevolence
(maximizing joint interests), and principle (adherence to moral principles). The
second dimension represents levels of analysis: individual; local
(organizational); and cosmopolitan (societal). A cross-tabulation of these two
dimensions produces nine potential ethical climates. In a factor analysis
performed by Victor and Cullen (1988), these nine factors were collapsed into
five ethical climates:
(1) caring (egoism at the cosmopolitan level and benevolence at all levels,
where employees have genuine interest in others' welfare);
(2) instrumental (egoism at the individual and local levels, where personal
and organizational interests are most important);
(3) rules (principle at the local level, where employees are mainly directed
by organizational rules and procedures);
(4) law-and-code (principle at the cosmopolitan level, where employees are
directed by laws, regulations and professional codes); and
(5) independence (principle at the individual level, where employees are
guided by personal convictions and personal morality).
This classification of ethical climates has been validated in various
organizations, including non-profit ones (Deshpande, 1996; Joseph and
Deshpande, 1997). Studies have shown that these ethical climates could
differentially characterize organizations and organizational units. Moreover,
this classification of ethical climates has been validated against various
measures of organizational effectiveness. Of the five ethical climates, the
``caring'' climate was most related to high effectiveness. For example,
Deshpande (1996) showed that managers perceived a caring climate as
responsible for managerial success in a non-profit organization. In another
study conducted in hospitals, a caring climate was found to contribute to job
satisfaction among nurses (Joseph and Deshpande, 1997).
Little, if any research on ethical climates has been conducted in schools. Yet
the ethics of caring have been clearly distinguished as part of school life.
Starratt (1991), for example, mentioned the ethics of caring, characterized by
values such as fidelity to persons and honoring their dignity, as one of three
school foundations. Similarly, Farrar and Crabtree (1999) reported on the
importance of a culture of care and respect to parents' loyalty to school, and
Griffith (1996, 1998) showed that a school climate characterized by caring for
parents as well as students was related to increased parental involvement.
To continue reading
Request your trial