The study of organizational structure has long been of concern to social scientists. Much of this concern has been directed towards determining the relationships between the structural features of the organization and the adjustment of individuals within it. Mackay (1964, p. 1), in discussing various studies that have been made on the nature and effect of organizational structure, states:
Basic to all of the studies has been the assumption that the behaviour of individual members of the organization is in some way related to the structural framework within which they work. Indeed the very usefulness of research into organizational structure depends upon the existence of relationships between behavioural factors and structures.
In education, as in other fields, research and opinion support the contention that the nature of the formal organizational arrangements, the physical surroundings, the administrative patterns that are adopted, as well as informal associations and arrangements that may develop, have a direct effect upon the behaviour and performance of persons in an institution.
This chapter deals with some aspects of the school and its organization. In its deliberations, the Committee considered that there was sufficient evidence to justify the belief that such matters as the grouping of students, school size, school government, and plant have a direct bearing upon the quality of student behaviour and teacher/student relationships within the school.
ORGANIZATION IN GENERAL The school in the system
In other chapters of this Report, reference is made to the vast changes that have occurred in secondary education in Western Australia since the time of World War II. Within the last 25 years, high schools in this State have changed from elitist organizations catering for the privileged, academically able few to compre- hensive, co-educational centres providing a broad general education for all children in the lower school, and for all those who wish to take advantage of an extended education in the upper school. Gone, too, is the narrowly intellectual approach and, in its place, under the influence of the Achievement Certificate and its attendant organization, there is an emphasis on tailoring an education to suit the particular needs and capabilities of each child.
Organizationally, the direction and control of Government secondary schools is the responsibility of the Director of Secondary Education. Within a centralized state system, he is responsible for the staffing and operation of all senior high and high schools and the secondary department of junior high schools. Under this system, all decisions relating to administrative matters are centralized under the Director, but recently, following implementation of the Dettman Report proposals, more emphasis has been placed upon giving a greater range of decisional autonomy to principals in matters of an instructional nature.
Appointments to secondary schools
Secondary schools in Western Australia are under the control of a principal who has graduated through service in the various ranks of the promotional positions in the Secondary Division. The following are, in order of status, the various promotional positions in secondary schools:
Principal
Deputy principal/principal mistress Senior master/mistress
Master/mistress
Promotion to any of the above positions in the Secondary Division generally requires service in the position immediately preceding it and no provision exists for accelerated promotion for demonstrated administrative capability or excellence.
Apart from certain academic requirements, which do not include qualifications in administration, promotion occurs step by step as vacancies occur in the next level of the hierarchy. All positions below the level of principal are subject to appeal to the State Government Teachers' Tribunal. Recently the implementation of a promotion list for the position of principal has removed recommendations to this position from review by the Tribunal.
Flexible class grouping
The implementation of the Achievement Certificate has brought with it changes in the administrative organization of secondary schools. Under the influence of the Dettman Report, a multi-level structure is now adopted for the core subjects of English, mathematics, science and social studies and a unit approach for most other subjects. Coupled with this multi-level approach in the core subjects is the administrative device of cross-setting.
Effects of grouping. The Committee sought to determine whether or not the variety of level groupings and the constant changes of classrooms for instruction in the various subject areas had any effect upon student adjustment to the school situation. In the unstructured sections of the Teacher and Administrator Ques- tionnaires, the opinion was expressed by some that the constant shifting of classes at period changes provides opportunities for acts of indiscipline and has an unsettling effect upon students because they have to adjust to constantly changing groups. Responses to individual questionnaire items substantiated these opinions.
Teachers indicated that arriving unequipped or late for lessons were student behaviours that they perceived to be most troublesome and increasing in incidence.
In order to assess the effects of changes in grouping from subject to subject, students were asked in their questionnaires, "Does having to split up into different groups for each subject worry you at school?". Table 9.1 sets out the percentage responses of students in the first three years of high school.
TABLE 9.1
STUDENT RESPONSES TO QUESTION, "DOES HAVING TO SPLIT UP INTO DIFFERENT GROUPS FOR EACH SUBJECT WORRY YOU AT SCHOOL?"
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Response N = 1,407 1,392 1,298
Yes, I do not get to know my classmates and teachers well 8 5 3 Yes, I am separated from my friends .... .... .... 18 10 8 Yes, it is a nuisance .... .... .... .... 4 4 3 It does not worry me one way or the other 23 37 42 No, I enjoy mixing with different groups .... 41 41 41
The majority of students say they are unaffected by the constant changing of groups for instruction and, as students move through the secondary school, this changing of groups becomes less of a worry to them. Reference to the two categories, "It does not worry me one way or another", and "No, I enjoy mixing with different groups", shows that together they attracted 64, 78 and 83 per cent of responses in the three years respectively. A corresponding decrease may be observed in percentages for the other categories combined—З0, 19 and 14 per cent.
While a majority of students in each year state that having to split up into different groups for each subject does not worry them, there are still numbers of students, particularly at the First Year level, who find the practice disconcerting.
In the first year, this may be attributable to the transition from primary to secondary school with their contrasting instructional patterns. One would expect, however, that by the second and third year, the effect of transition would have considerably diminished. The continuing responses in each of these years would appear to be attributable to other factors.
In the analysis of responses to the Student Questionnaire, a comparison was made of the responses of those students who were at Basic level and those who were at Advanced level for all four core subjects. While these groups account for only 5 per cent of students in the sample, an examination of their responses does suggest reasons for the concern that some students expressed with regard
to the splitting of groups for instruction in the various subject areas. Table 9.2 sets out percentage responses for these two groups of students for the question,
"Does having to split up into different groups for each subject worry you at school?".
TABLE 9.2
RESPONSES TO QUESTION, "DOES HAVING TO SPLIT UP INTO DIFFERENT GROUPS FOR EACH SUBJECT WORRY YOU AT SCHOOL?"—BASIC AND ADVANCED GROUPS
Advanced Basic
Responses N = 491 216
Yes,.! do not get to know my classmates and teachers well 2 14
Yes, I am separated from my friends 7 14
Yes, it is a nuisance .... .... .... ••.. 1 4
It does not worry me one way or the other 42 27
No, I enjoy mixing with different groups .... 45 36
Responses in this table indicate strong differences between the Basic and Advanced groups of students. For the first three responses, those showing concerti at the splitting of groups, the Advanced level show a total of 10 per cent, whereas the Basic level group responses account for 32 per cent. These figures indicate that a significant proportion of students Basic in all subjects are disturbed by the constant change of instructional groups. The figures for those students unaffected by changes in grouping support the above trend. In the Advanced group these responses account for 87 per cent as compared with 63 per cent for the Basic level group. While this analysis refers only to those students who are Basic and Advanced in all four core subjects, an analysis of all Basic level responses shows a similar trend.
While the Committee is mindful of the considerable advantages that accrue to a multi-level approach to curriculum construction coupled with the administra- tive device of cross setting, the evidence gained from student responses suggests that, for certain students in Basic level classes, such arrangements may have a detrimental effect upon their learning. These students may require the security of belonging to the same group for most teaching/learning situations and may find the emotional attachment to one teacher a source of security within the school.
PASTORAL CARE IN THE HIGH SCHOOL Introduction
The need to provide for a greater degree of decentralization of decision- making within the school on matters of pupil care and guidance has been recognized in a variety of reports dealing with secondary education. The Spens Report (1938) recognized the need in schools for measures that would allow for a greater degree of individual student care and guidance. In addition to measures of administrative decentralization, such as the use of a "house" system, it advocated the use of a
"tutorial" system in which tutors would be responsible for keeping close contact with a group of 30 to 40 students, and for the supervision of their in-school progress and out-of-school activities throughout their whole school career. The Report described the benefits associated with the scheme as follows (p. 204):
We think it probable that such tutors gain a view of their pupils' development more general than is possible for form masters or mistresses, and more intimate and detailed than heads of schools can hope to attain, and that they would as a result be able to advise the pupils in their charge as to their choice of future occupation.
The Newsom Report (1963) also stressed the need for methods that place an emphasis on individual pupil care and guidance and in its discussion of the school community (p. 67) recognized a dual need in this regard:
As we see it, there are two basic needs to be met, by whatever arrangements a school finds practicable in its circumstances. One is to ensure that sufficient factual knowledge is built up of the background and general circumstances of the individual pupil. The other is to try to ensure that as far as possible any boy or girl will have a natural confidant to turn to.
In Western Australia this need to provide pastoral care and guidance has resulted in the development, at a system level, of guidance and special education facilities, and at a school level a variety of administrative organizations designed to provide a closer contact between teacher and student. The introduction of the Achievement Certificate, with its multi-level approach, has led to an even greater need to combat a sense of fragmentation in instructional procedures, and of impersonality in the large school. The initiative to experiment in these directions has been encouraged by the Department.
In the matter of pastoral care, the Secondary Division has been encouraging the development of a year-master scheme. This particular scheme differs signifi- cantly from other year-master schemes that in the past have operated in some secondary schools.
Essentially, the year-master scheme entails the appointment within the school of a teacher who will direct the pastoral care of students at a particular year level.
His tasks involve the supervision and co-ordination of those activities and services