A study of the school environment and certain dimensions of institutional functioning of the nine member colleges of the Association of the Christian Schools and Colleges

Abstract

This study is an attempt to find out students' perception of the school environment of their respective colleges, as well as the teachers' perception of the functioning of their respective institutions regarding improvement of instruction, democratic administration, co-curricular stimulation, self-study and planning, autonomy and institutional freedom, innovation and change and morale. The institutions included in the study are the nine member colleges of the Association of Christian Schools and Colleges (ACSC). Aside from assessing the school environment and institutional functioning of each of the said colleges, the study includes comparisons of institutions grouped according to (a) size of schools in terms of college enrolment, (b) location, and (c) size of full-time college faculty. The study also aimed to discover the relationship between the school environment scale scores and the individual scores of students when they were grouped according to age, sex, or course being taken. Moreover, the study tried to determine whether such variables as (a) salary, (b) number of years of teaching experience, (c) sex, and (d) age are associated with the extent of concern for the seven dimensions of institutional functioning, Answers to the following questions, therefore, were sought: 1. What are the general perceptions of students about the environment of their schools? 2. Are there significant differences in the ways the institutions are perceived when viewed from the angles of the six dimensions of school environment, when such institutions are grouped by size of enrolment? by location? by size of full-time college faculty? 3. Are such variables as student's (a) age, (b) sex, and (c) course being taken associated with his perception of the six dimensions of school environment: achievement orientation; orderliness; supprtiveness; welfare social; aggression, restiveness; and impulse control, restrictiveness? 4. What is the perception of the teachers of each institution of the functioning of their institution on such concerns as (a) improvement of instruction, (b) democratic administration, (c) co-curricular stimulation, (d) self- study and planning, (e) autonomy and institutional freedom, (f) innovation and change, and (g) morale? To what extent do these institutions show concern for these areas of institutional functioning? 5. Are there significant differences among the teachers' perceptions when institutions are grouped according to (a) size of school in terms of college enrolment, (b) location, and (c) size of full-time college faculty? 6. Do the teachers and administrators differ in their perceptions of the seven dimensions of institutional functioning? 7. Is there any significant difference among the teachers' perceptions of the seven dimensions of institutional functioning when these teachers are grouped according to academic preparation? 8. Are such variables as (a) salary, (b) number of years of teaching experience in the institution, (c) sex, and (d) age associated with the extent of concern for the dimensions of institutional functioning?