POL, Milan - HLOUŠKOVÁ, Lenka - NOVOTNÝ, Petr - ZOUNEK, Jiří. School Culture. [Kultura školy. Příspěvek k výzkumu a rozvoji]. Brno : Masarykova univerzita, 2005. 217 pp. ISBN 80-210-3746-6.

This publication is focused on the issue of school culture. In the opening part, a team of Czech editors present the results of their detailed research of the culture of Czech schools, performed in 2001–2003 at basic schools (pupils aged 6 to 15) in the Czech Republic. The genesis of the term school culture is described, a classification of the purposes of school culture studies is offered, and a variety of findings about the functioning of major areas of school life at Czech basic schools is presented, with particular regard to the manifestations of school culture. The general level of knowledge is enhanced by a case study of the culture of a provincial basic school. Following are seven texts by authors from various countries of Europe and Asia, all of them authentically experienced in the research and/or development of school culture, founding their contributions mainly on the real life in their home countries. From the educational viewpoint, these are highly varied environments — from those where schools endeavour to allow quite a wide range of liberties of their development, to those where the framework of their own development is rather limited. Some contributions come from countries of similar developments in the last decades (Slovenia, Slovakia — also interesting in comparison to the Czech milieu), some are from countries of more continuous stability (Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden), and some have originated in distinctly different cultures (Hong Kong, Iran).

The foreign contributors are Monica Gather Thurler (Switzerland), Justina Erčulj (Slovenia), Gunnar Berg (Sweden), Paul Mahieu (Belgium), Yin-Cheong Cheng (Hong Kong), Štefan Harkabus (Slovakia), and Massoud Hosseinchari (Iran).

It is evident that school culture is nowadays valued as a significant phenomenon in school development, perhaps even the most important of all. School culture, by definition, reflects what people believe in, shows what they consider correct, and determines what is perceived to be possible or impossible in the school. Any efforts to change the school without taking into account the situation of its culture are usually, sooner or later, doomed to failure. This is one of the main reasons why it is highly relevant for both theory and practice of school development to try to study school culture, discovering thus the possibilities and strategies for the cultivation of school culture. It is an important assignment, sometimes difficult to perform. We believe that the texts in this publication offer some relevant knowledge, concepts, and suggestions to make such a task more feasible.

School culture is defined in various ways, usually with more or less explicit support from the findings and procedures of pedagogy and related disciplines. Apart from pedagogy, in our search for school culture we have looked into the psychology, sociology, anthropology, and management of the school. Yet, it is interesting from more than just the theoretical viewpoint to consider carefully the various approaches to the definition of the term “school culture”. The consequences of a profound grasp of what is really essential at school, and how school culture and its key contents are perceived, are undeniable and linked to what it is typically related to the life of the school and its management, and where the conviction about the possibilities and ways of change is rooted. All this affects any possible efforts to recognize and change the culture of schools.

Contact

Department of Educational Sciences

Faculty of Arts

Masaryk University

Arna Novaka 1

602 00 Brno

Czech Republic