An assessment of institutional functioning in ten schools, Iloilo City after a period of seventeen years

Abstract

This descriptive research assessed institutional functioning in ten selected schools of higher learning in Iloilo City after a period of seventeen years (1973- 1990) in ten dimensions—democratic administration, autonomy and institutional freedom, morale, improvement of instruction, co-curricular stimulation, research and development, self-study and planning, innovation and change, meeting local needs, and improvement of society. It also ascertained the factors that might have brought change in a sample school. Respondents were 184 full-time teachers who had at least one year of service prior to the administration of the questionnaire. The basic data-gathering instrument was the School Functioning Assessment Inventory (SFAI) by Dr. Macario Ruiz which he had administered in 1973. Other sources of the data were an interview schedule for, and reports with, persons connected with the sample school. The findings showed that in the first dimension Democratic Administration--three schools showed significant positive changes which exceeded the 1.96 value at the 5% level in a two-tailed test. Negative changes were significant in five schools and not significant in two schools. In the second dimensions—Autonomy and Institutional Freedom—five schools showed significant improvements. Decreases between means were significant in three schools and not significant in two schools.

In the third dimension--Morale--significant improvements were found in two schools but not significant in five schools. Significant decreases in means were found in three schools.

In the fourth dimension—Improvement of Instruction—all ten schools showed increases between means but these were significant in only three schools.

In the fifth school—Co-curricular Stimulation—while six schools had increases between means, only four schools showed significant improvements. Decreases between means were found in four schools, but only in one school was the decrease between means found to be significant.

In the sixth dimension—Research and Development—all ten schools showed improvement between means which were significant in seven schools. In the seventh dimension—Self study and Planning—improvements were significant in three schools. Negative changes were significant in six schools but not in one school.

In the eighth dimension—Innovation and Change—five schools showed significant increases between means. Four schools had significant decreases between means, but not in one school.

In the ninth dimensions—Meeting Local Needs—eight schools had significant increases between means. In two schools, one had significant decrease; in the other, the decrease was not significant.

In the tenth dimension—Improvement of Society—nine schools showed increases between means, seven of which were found to be significant. The decrease was significant in one school.

An overview of the results showed that three schools with greatest improvement were Schools F, G, and D. Three schools with least improvements were Schools C, E, and I.

In the case study, positive changes were found to be significant in four dimensions—Research and Development, Meeting Local Needs, Improvement of Society, and Improvement of Instruction.

The aspects that brought about improvement in Research and Development were: reduction of teaching loads for those engaged in research, the requirement of elementary courses in research, research involvement/productivity as a criterion for promotion, teacher participation in funded research undertaken by the institution, and involvement and interest in accreditation.

Positive changes in Meeting Local Needs and in Improvement of Society might be attributed to teachers' participation as resource persons in seminars sponsored by outside groups, accreditation and its attendant benefits, DECS orders and government thrust to meet community needs, and the short vocation-technical training offered to out-of-school young adults.

Improvement in Instruction might be due to the improvement in evaluation procedures, the library and other facilities, accreditation, and DECS orders.

Negative changes as shown by decreases in means were in the dimensions Democratic Administration, Innovation and Change, and Self-study and Planning.

The aspect leading to decreased ratings in Democratic Administration were lack of participation, as perceived by faculty, among the staff, and the students fin decision-making in matters affecting them, the perception that there was faculty or absence of effective channels of communication, lack of knowledge of the involvement of students in meetings and unclear delineation of responsibility owing to the unclear organizational charts or guidelines.

Negative change in Innovation and Change was perceived mainly, in failure of the administration to listen to students' complaints and suggestions, and slowness in the release of funds in implementing innovative program.

Decrease ratings in Self-study and Planning were ascertained to lack of willingness of some teachers to do extra work for self-study/improvement, poor dissemination of policies and programs and subsequent lack of understanding about policies, failure to actualize or put into operation the policies and long range plans of the institution, failure to hold regular discussion regarding the direction and the future of the institution and the practice of the faculty and staff of giving priority to income-generating endeavors over activities involving institutional/course self-study and surveys.