Antecedents of employee collaboration among newly qualified teachers in Danish schools
Sammanfattning
This study examines newly qualified Danish teachers perceptions of peer collaboration through the lens of organisational theory. In Denmark, a new teacher employment policy has introduced primary and secondary school reforms aimed at greater employee collaboration, increased workloads and extended learning time. In this article, we explore the organisational antecedents of collaboration-oriented activities among newly qualified teachers in Denmark. This study represents only a snapshot of newly qualified teachers perceptions of school organisations in the wake of the reforms. The sample was comprised of 143 newly qualified teachers in Denmark that were nominated by their schools principals. Structural equation modelling of the cross-sectional survey data was used to assess the strength of statistical associations between the dependent variable and the hypothesised organisational antecedents. Teacherprincipal trust is not associated with collaboration among newly qualified Danish teachers. However, this trust seems to contribute to collaboration, albeit in a contradictory wayfirst negatively through increased job autonomy, and then positively through increased affective commitment to the organisation. Role clarity, organisational citizenship behaviour, job autonomy and affective commitment were all associated with newly qualified teachers involvement in collaboration. Further, affective commitment and job autonomy were found to have mediating characteristics.