Preventing Teachers' Dropout Through Improving Atmosphere In Schools For Youth At Risk

Educational climate and school climate

Educational climate or school climate is defined as the quality of the internal environment of the organization, experienced by its members. It describes the layout of the internal characteristics at school, including common perception of the organization members, common values, social beliefs and social standards. The school climate mainly relates to the relationships and atmosphere among the organization members when they collaborate in order to achieve a balance between the organizational, personal and systemic aspects of school. The school atmosphere is characterized by caring, respect and consideration among the employees, the principals’ support of their teachers, the employees’ morale and an emphasis on academic attainments (Bar-Lev, 2007; Friedman, 1993, 1995; Hillel-Lavian, 2007).

One of the theories about school climate presents four “environments”, the teachers being at their center:

• Social environment – consists of teachers’ feelings regarding the questions: Who should they talk to or consult at school? Do they have good friends at school? Does teaching at school win them “respect?”

• Organizational environment – constitutes for teachers the nature and quality of the relationship with the principal, the managerial constraints in the institution, inter-personal relations with the administration, communication media, inspection and supervision at school.

• Physical environment – includes the physical spaces, cleanliness of the building and the facilities available to teachers.

• General feeling – encompasses the “general atmosphere at school”, the way its employees function, competitiveness, mutual help (Friedman, 1989).

The atmosphere in the teachers’ lounge is an inseparable part of the school atmosphere. The teachers’ lounge is a separate and defined place, in which teachers spend time when they are not teaching. This is the only place at school where teachers can meet each other during the workday. Apparently, the teachers’ lounge allows teachers to rest between the lessons. When they are in the teachers’ lounge, teachers drink and eat but most of the time is dedicated to one action – verbal interaction with other teachers (Keinan, 1996). Various studies illustrate that teachers are highly sensitive to the atmosphere prevalent in the teachers’ lounge and they distinguish between a “good staff” and a “bad staff” according to the relationships established in this room (Hargreaves, 1980, as cited in Keinan, 1996). In the teachers’ lounge, informal groups are formed, meet at different times during the workday, leading to complex relationships among the teachers. These groups create an informal communication network among the teachers. This network is also an instrument for teachers’ joint reaction to what transpires in the world outside the teachers’ lounge and for a better way of coping with this world (Woods, 1979, as cited in Keinan, 1996). Support and encouragement in the teachers’ lounge were indicated by numerous studies of school (Mclaren, 1986, as cited in Keinan, 1996). Moreover, many teachers argued that the relationships between the teachers in the teachers’ lounge, determined their attitude towards the school as a place of work (Hargreaves, 1980, as cited in Keinan, 1996). The demand for a warm and encouraging atmosphere is part of the collaboration, since teachers’ feeling at school affects the teaching level in class. This has an effect on the general functioning of the school which, in turn, impacts the teachers’ working conditions (Risenborough, 1984, as cited in Keinan, 1996). The division into sub-groups in the general teachers’ lounge at school offers the teachers a small reference group, the collaboration between its members creating an atmosphere of warmth and encouragement in it. Hence, great importance is attributed to the study of the relation between the atmosphere in the teachers’ lounge and teachers’ dropout, particularly when this concerns a school for at-risk youths, that sets special challenges to the teachers of this population.

At-risk youths

The public committee that examined the situation of at-risk and distressed children and youths determined an acceptable definition of at-risk children and youths

At-risk children and youths are children and youths that live under risky conditions in their family and environment. These conditions undermine their ability to actualize their rights pursuant to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in the following areas: physical existence and development, belonging to a family, learning and acquiring skills, welfare and emotional health, social belonging and participation, protection from others and from their own dangerous behaviors that constitute a risk to themselves. (Schmidt, 2006, p. 67)

In Israel, there are several frameworks that absorb pupils who have dropped out from the normative frameworks:

Technological Education Center – designed for pupils who have found it difficult to persevere in their studies, behavior and regular attendance in comprehensive and other schools. These schools combine theoretical and vocational learning. They are unique in their size (150-250 pupils) as well as in the number of learners per class (13-20).

Youth Employment Enterprise – an Israeli educational - therapeutic framework, designed for the rehabilitation of detached youth, operated by the Youth Rehabilitation Service of the Ministry of Welfare through the local authorities and in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

Boarding schools - some are educational and some are therapeutic, designed for at-risk youths. In these schools, the inmates learn a profession.

Youth Promotion Department - functions as a “safety net”, offered by the Ministry of Education to the local authorities. This department deals with children and youths who have dropped out from formal education frameworks and are in a state of overt dropout (http://cms.education.gov.il/).

Ministry of Economy and Industry Vocational Schools – in which youths can get a paid job in their 11th and 12th grades.

Characteristics of at-risk youths

At-risk youths have many characteristics, some personality-related and others environmental. There are numerous relations between the various factors that affect the states of risk of the youths at school. Some characteristics are common to pupils at risk and exclusion, each affecting the pupils’ ability to cope with challenges of learning and social integration at school. Part of the difficulties are directly related to the pupils’ family background: most of them come from families with many children, the majority of the families suffer from chronic problems, parental dysfunction, delinquency, states of crisis, changes in the family structure, unemployment and economic hardships.

Behavioral and social characteristics of at-risk youths are manifested by the following problems: difficulty to be integrated in normative social frameworks, sense of loneliness, difficulties of self-control and delayed gratifications, behavioral problems, social excommunication and rejection, eating disorders, depression and suicide attempts (Cohen-Navot, Alenbogen-Perkovitch, & Rinfeld, 2001).

Emotional characteristics of at-risk youths include feelings of helplessness, low self-confidence and signs of anti-social behavior. At-risk pupils are characterized by existential anxiety that sometimes renders it difficult for them to get connected to a valuable and deep approach to learning. The difficulty to promote them from a status of at-risk pupils at the margin of society to pupils of normative functioning stems from the very complex conditions of risk and existential anxiety under which they are living. These pupils prefer engaging in things that distract them from that anxiety, avoiding the risks involved in establishing a contact or making a progress in their studies (Lahav, 2014).

Among the learners in the education system, there are at-risk children and youths who experience distress. They find it difficult to adjust to the demands of the mainstream system, although they have a normal academic potential. These pupils are characterized by low academic attainments and failures, which accompany them throughout their life. In a summarizing report of the Committee for At-Risk and Distressed Children and Youths, Harnoy (2005) defined academic risk situations, manifested by low attainments, lack of basic reading and writing skills, transition between frameworks, discipline and adjustment problems, learning disabilities, lack of interest in the studies and frequent absenteeism up to absolute detachment.

Teachers’ dropout from the profession transpires at high rates in many education systems worldwide. Numerous studies explored this phenomenon in schools in general. However, they did not focus on the reasons for teachers’ dropout from schools for at-risk youths. The present study aims to examine the relation between school atmosphere and dropout of teachers from schools for at-risk youths.

Research instrument - Interviews

For the purpose of the present study, interviews were conducted with five Technological Education Center principals; five teachers who have persevered in their work with at-risk youths and have more than a 5-year seniority in teaching; and four teachers who had dropped out from their work in schools for at-risk youths.

The database was built in a “snow ball” format, namely progressing from one interview to the next. The researcher of this study contacted the participating principals, whom she had known from her position as a principal in the past. Through them, she contacted the persevering teachers and dropping out teachers in these schools. All the interviewees agreed to participate in the study and were assured that the researcher would take every measure in order to maintain anonymity and confidentiality of their details (using aliases and hiding identifying details). At the beginning of the interview, the researcher explained the objective of the study to the participants. The interviews were conducted face-to-face, lasted 20-30 minutes and were recorded (after obtaining all the participants’ permission). The interviews related to the reasons for the dropout of teachers working in schools for at-risk youths. The interviewees were asked a general question: “In your opinion, what causes teachers to leave the school and move to another one?” Furthermore, they were asked a focused inquiry question: “In your opinion, to what extent can the atmosphere at school help teachers to persevere in their work?”

For purposes of appropriate disclosure, it is important to indicate that the researcher was herself a teacher and principal of a school for at-risk youths. This fact attests to involvement and ability to thoroughly comprehend the essence of these populations. Patton (as cited in Shkedi, 2003) argues that in order to understand the investigated subject, researchers must be part of it and, yet, remain separated from it. Hence, researchers should be aware of their position. The researcher of the present study has exerted efforts in order to remain faithful to the words of the interviewees. The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. In accordance with the research population, every word said in the interview reflected the participants’ opinions, feelings and views. Consequently, the interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim (Sabar Ben-Yehoshua, 2001).

Data analysis method

After every interview, it was transcribed and analyzed. The data in the present study were analyzed by topics, focusing on the atmosphere at school. This analysis turned the text into a window that facilitated a view of the human experience, displaying the participants’ emotions, thoughts, beliefs and opinions. The data analysis, then, is a process of arranging and building the collected information for the purpose of interpreting it and understanding its meanings (Shkedi, 2003).

The first stage of the analysis illustrated to the researcher the data obtained from the interviews (the open-encoding stage (Strauss & Corbin, as cited in Shkedi, 2003). The second stage served for combining together all the data obtained in the previous stage (axial encoding stage). The third stage (selective encoding stage) aimed to strengthen the internal validity of the findings by aggregating the data according to the category (Sabar Ben-Yehoshua, 2001). At this stage, the researcher of the present study tried finding points of similarity and difference that might link the various interviews around the investigated subject. Following the selective encoding stage, the features indicated below were chosen:

• Perception of school as “a home”, as “a family”.

• Importance of collaboration between the teaching staff and management.

• Sense of belonging.

Perception of school as “a home”, as “a family”

Importance of collaboration between the teaching staff and the management

Sense of belonging