Secondary school teachers' perceptions of the characteristics of good schools

Abstract

Many research studies on effective schools have yielded lists of characteristics of good or effective schools. However, these characteristics were identified mainly by the researchers, the principals or the local educational authorities. Very few studies were done where the characteristics of effective schools were identified by the teachers. This present study addresses this lack of information concerning teachers' perceptions of the characteristics of good schools and aims to identify what teachers in Singapore secondary schools perceive to be characteristics of good schools and the level of relative importance they perceive each characteristic to have. Four research questions were posed.