Unity of purpose is not enough? The importance of teachers collaboration in school: Some reflections based on a case study

The plague of present schools is to promote competition through various tasks and activities. The entire school system is based on comparisons and competitions. Schools, teachers and students are unfairly judged and graded through the results of various tests. Based on the results of external tests school rankings are developed. Interestingly, what is the culture in good schools occupies a high position in the ranking – is it collaborative or not? Is unity of purpose – which is education at the highest professional level – a sufficient condition for cooperation? Or in this case, cooperation between members of school community is unnecessary? The author in this paper presents some reflections taking into account above mentioned issues based on the case study. Research was carried out in one of the best middle school in one of the major city in Poland. The main aim of the study was a multi-faceted exploration of school culture. Quantitative analysis were complemented with qualitative analysis. Results indicate that (1) school presented in this study is characterized by an emphasis on professional development and goal orientation, (2) school is dominated by a culture of individualism and competition, (3) teachers recognize the need to improve interpersonal relationships among school staff, (4) in teachers’ opinions the school management and the introduction of electronic registration system are the reason of poor interpersonal relationships.