Peer-reviewed article
Organizational Climate in Early Childhood Education
Mefharet Veziroğlu-Çelik, Tülin Güler Yıldız ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This peer-reviewed study examines organizational climate in early childhood education centers in Turkey, surveying 214 teachers about their work environment. The research measures ten components of organizational climate including collegiality, professional development, and director support. The study found that collegiality was rated most positively while professional development was rated most negatively among teachers. The paper discusses findings in relation to existing literature and provides recommendations.
Key points
- Collegiality was rated at the highest level among organizational climate components
- Professional development was identified as the most negative component of organizational climate
- Survey measured ten organizational climate dimensions: collegiality, professional development, director support, clarity, reward system, decision making, goal consensus, task orientation, physical setting, and innovativeness
- Study involved 214 teachers from public early childhood centers in an urban school district of Turkey
Limitations
This study measures teacher perceptions of organizational climate but does not evaluate the impact of organizational climate on child well-being outcomes. The research does not establish causal links between work environment factors and children's development or learning.
Abstract
Organizational climate is a concept that may affect individual behaviors, attitudes and well-being in organizational life as well as explain why some organizations are more productive, effective, innovative and successful than others. The concept has been investigated in many disciplines such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, and management for years and was first considered in education at the end of the 1960s. Since then it has been researched in the field of education in many studies. In this paper, the organizational climate of early childhood centers is examined according to the opinions of early childhood teachers. The Early Childhood Work Environment Scale was used to obtain the data. Participants were a total of 214 teachers who work in public early childhood centers in an urban school district of Turkey. Teachers reported on their opinions of ten components of organizational climate: Collegiality, professional development, director support, clarity, reward system, decision making, goal consensus, task orientation, physical setting, and innovativeness. Results showed that collegiality is at the highest level among the components and the most negative opinion was expressed for the professional development component of the organizational climate. The findings are discussed in the light of the related literature. Suggestions for educators, researchers and decision makers are provided.