Abstract

Every part of the school, including school success, is influenced by school culture, which is viewed as a system of meanings. The goal of this study was to determine how much organizational learning culture impacts school effectiveness in Punjab province's public schools. .The study used a causal-comparative approach with a survey design. A sample of 1037 teachers was chosen from public schools in the Punjab through multi-stage sampling. Dimensions of Learning Organizational Questionnaire (DLOQ) and School effectiveness Questionnaire (SEQ) were used to collect the data. Both questionnaires were found to be highly reliable. The study found a significant positive moderate relationship between the factors of organizational learning culture and school effectiveness with the overall relationship as .46. Further, organizational learning culture predicted 16 percent of the variance in school effectiveness. The results provide clarity to the concept of an organizational learning culture as a crucial element of effective schools. The recommendations have been suggested in the end.

Key Words

Organizational Learning Culture, School Effectiveness, School Cohesiveness, Embedded Learning, System Connections

Introduction

The education system of a country impacts its citizens. Schools must provide high-quality education to prepare pupils for the future. Thus, fundamental knowledge and skills are taught to students in school. Every organization has its own traits based on its goals so each organization operates differently. The learning culture supports and contextualizes many school activities (Dimmock et al., 2021). An organizational learning culture emerges from its members’ shared values, beliefs, and traditions (Senol & Leisinger, 2018). The school culture generates the finest learning and teaching environments and gives personnel a sense of belonging (Dogan, 2017). 

Organizational learning culture influences students’ thoughts, feelings, and actions. Learning culture of school is considered an influence on student performance (Manaf& Omar, 2017; Widodo, 2019).Recent research have shown that school-related factors affect student learning independent of socioeconomic background or family history. Some schools perform better than others according to the studies. Researchers have proposed various school quality criteria. Effective schools provide equal learning opportunities and resources, stimulate personal growth, and hold students accountable (Gunal & Demirtash, 2016). An excellent school teaches more than predicted based on its students (Sammons, 2006). Schools aim to improve standards (Akay & Aypay, 2016) and assist pupils to succeed in life.

Organizations perform better with shared meaning, mission, values, beliefs, and behaviours. Missions, visions, and values can influence school goals and activities. Institutions perform best when people share the same values (Yasin et al., 2017). Positive and cooperative school cultures can help school leaders improve. Strong school cultures influence student behaviour to achieve school goals (VanderWesthuizen et al., 2005).

The low-quality teaching is a serious issue in Pakistan (Ministry of Education, 2019). The government spends less than 2 % of its GDP on education, yet UNESCO (2017) produces poor results. Students are under pressure to do better, especially on high school exit exams. Exam-focused schools resulted. Pakistan's competitive education system prevents administrators from providing a thorough education (Ahmed, 2016). Society's impression of a school's culture affects pupils' learning (D'Sa & Sheela, 2015). To improve schools, a positive school culture is essential. To remedy Pakistani education's low quality, a culture of collaborative learning must be established (Ngang, 2011).

A school's teaching influences everything. Educational innovations must meet current learning styles to succeed. If not, school management may be shallow (Dimmock et al., 2021). It's crucial to understand how organizational learning culture affects school performance since every school change must suit the school’s learning culture (Recepoglu, 2013). Understanding culture helps explain school learning culture. Culture is a wide and complex topic since people and organizations view it differently. 

Schein (2004) defines culture as artifacts’, professed goals, and assumptions. These stages range from visible signs to deep-rooted, unconscious preconceptions. Rules, norms, practices, and an organization's tangible pieces are artifacts (Sabanci et al., 2017). Ideals, ambitions, and aspirations are promoted (Schein, 2004). These are the top organizational behavior methods, goals, and ideas (Sabanci et al., 2017). Finally, foundational assumptions are unquestioned beliefs and ideals. A culture's basic ideas explain what things mean and why they're essential, shape thoughts and actions (Schein,

2004).

An organizational learning culture is a school's shared ideals, symbols, and understanding (Karadag & Oztekin-Bayir, 2018). According to Grunert (2005), values, assumptions, and expectations shape a school's operations. Shared norms, values, beliefs, and traditions define a school's personality and influence how leaders, teachers and students behave (Karadag, Kilicoglu & Yilmas, 2014). It reveals longstanding attitudes, beliefs, and traditions. A school's performance depends on its environment and organizational learning culture. However, culture has grown more crucial in defining a school (Houtte, 2005).A positive learning culture boosts its participants and helps the institution achieve its goals (Van der Westhuizen et al., 2005). Therefore, schools must foster social conditions that benefit students and teachers. A healthy learning culture impacts every aspect of a school, from student motivation to teacher satisfaction to community building and collaboration (Kythreotis, Pashiardis & Kyriakides, 2010). 

Organizational learning is a particular form of organization that continuously improves its abilities for long-term advantages (Senge, 1990). Organizations that implement learning cultures must also have workers who have the capacity to develop, acquire, and use information as well as change as a result of gaining new information and insights (Garvin, 1993). Public institutions of higher education must establish such learning organizations as their fundamental culture even though academic learning is their primary product (Patnaik, Beriha, Mahapatra, & Sigh, 2013).

In order to maintain changes made by individuals, groups, and organizations, learning and work are integrated in a continuous, systematic manner in learning organizations (Watkins & Marsick, 1993). The development of learning organizations is facilitated by the learning culture. The learning organization culture is characterized by Watkins and Marsick (1996) list seven dimensions of a healthy organizational learning culture. These are essential to understanding a collaborative learning culture of an organization. Most agree that collaborative schools are ideal for students and teachers (Gruenert, 2005). 

The following are the dimensions of an organizational learning culture: team learning, system connections, empowerment, embedded systems and leadership. The first, continuous learning is an effort by the organization provide opportunities to learn for each and every employee. Second, the term “dialogue inquiry “describes an organization's efforts to make a forum for individual dialogue, response, and experimentation. The third element, team learning, describes how a team works to make effective use of resources. In order to develop and promote a shared vision, obtain feedback from its staff, and further improve the implementation of the new philosophy, the organization uses empowerment as a strategy.   The effort to develop employable techniques so that learning can be shared constitutes the embedded system that is the fifth dimension. The organization may build a comprehensive way of seeing things and transform it into actions that are connected to the environment, whether it is internal or external, due to the sixth element, system connection. The seventh is strategic leadership, which is leaders who think strategically about how to reorient the organization (Yang, Watkins, & Marsick, 2004).

According to (Akay & Aypay, 2016) Different scholars have defined "school effectiveness" differently. Mortimore (1991) states a school is excellent if its pupils perform better than expected based on enrollment. Thus, pupils at strong schools do better than those at other schools who started at the same time. Bad schools don't improve pupils' performance (Sammons et al., 1995). An effective school achieves its goals (Cobanoglu &Yurek, 2018). Education's success in helping students achieve their goals is also measured (Akay & Aypay, 2016). Day and Sammons (2013) suggest academic outcomes can indicate a school's performance. Social results matter. School effectiveness is subjective, according to Laila (2015). A good definition should consider student learning and teacher effort. A school's internal and external variables, inputs, procedures, and outputs determine its efficacy (Ali et al., 2016).

Researchers have developed a number of factors and school effectiveness to evaluate schools, similar to how effectiveness in school is defined.  Race and family history affected student performance more than school characteristics, according to the Coleman Report (Coleman et al., 1966). Many studies tried to prove that schools did affect how students studied, regardless of their background or social condition (Mortimore, 1993). These studies sought to link school design to performance. This idea holds that learning culture of school is an integral aspect of excellent schooling (Ali et al, 2016).

There are certain characteristics of a good school, despite the fact that there are no standardized measures of school effectiveness. Ronald Edmonds, one of the founders in studying school effectiveness, stated in 1979 that strong administrative leadership, an emphasis on fundamental skills, high expectations for student success, regular monitoring of student performance and safe, organized classrooms were all characteristics of effective schools. These things inspired "Effective Schools Model." Lezotte (1991) developed the "Correlates of Effective Schools" from this concept Lezotte (1991) claims that successful schools have the above traits. These include a safe and orderly environment, a culture that values academic success, competent instructional leadership, a well-defined goal, enough time to learn and finish assignments, and regular progress checks. Effective schools are made up of interrelated piecesMagulod (2017) many experts use symbols of effective schools to evaluate how well they assist students succeed (Herman, 2017).

After reading the literature about excellent schools, the researcher identified six components of effective school; these factors are school cohesion, administrative efficiency, teacher quality, staff commitment, adaptability, and academic optimism. These indicate how crucial school leaders are in these tasks. School indicators assist students, teachers, and society (Kirk & Jones, 2004).




Organizational Learning Culture and School Effectiveness

People think that the culture of a school is good for students, teachers, and the school system as a whole. Positive learning culture affects how well students do in school, which in turn affects how well the school does its job (Parker, 2015). In fact, learning culture has an effect on how students think and do in school, how well teachers do, and how well the whole school system works (Pervez, Dahar, & Maryam, 2017) .Professional growth and learning organizations are also linked to student performance (Hammond, 2018). Teachers' ideas, attitudes, and actions are shaped by professional development programmes in schools (Dimmock et al., 2021). Finally, excellent school cultures assist children because teachers prefer working together to promote education. School leaders create positive learning environments that are helpful for teaching and learning (Bhengu & Mthembu, 2014). Work changes when employees share values and traditions. Thus, a school's learning culture affects how teachers and administrators collaborate to provide children with learning opportunities (Pearson, 2015).

The literature reviews declare that organizational learning culture is an important part of a school's ability to work well. Studies of how well schools work say that a culture of working together to learn is important for school performance (Liu, Bellibas & Gumus, 2020). So, a survey questionnaire was used in a quantitative study to find out how learning culture affects on school effectiveness. The goal of this study is to find out how learning cultures of organization impact the performance of public schools in the Punjab province of Pakistan. This  study provide some important information on the dimensions of a organizational learning culture that are essential for assessing how effective a school is performing. The purpose of the study was to determine whether there is a relationship between organizational learning culture and how effectively a school works. 

Conceptual Framework



Research Questions

The following research questions are addressed in this study:

1. What is the association between school effectiveness and organizational learning culture?

2. What is the effect of organizational learning culture on school effectiveness?

Methodology

The research design, participants, tools, data collecting, and data analysis are all included in this section. Through a causal-comparative design, this study used a quantitative method to find out how the different factors of organizational learning culture and school effectiveness were related to each other. The study’s population comprised all teachers working in public secondary schools in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Nine districts namely Lahore, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Vehari, Bahawlapur, Lodhran, Muzaffargarh, Khanewal and Multan, were randomly selected from 36 districts of Punjab. Boys' and girls' schools were divided in two strata in each selected district. Total number of secondary school teachers selected as the  sample was N=1037 (Male= 527& Female=510).

In this study, a quantitative method was used to look at the relationship between organizational learning culture (OLC) and school effectiveness (SE). A questionnaire covering all of the study's variables served as the research instrument, and its development was informed by a literature evaluation. In descriptive research, the survey method is one of the most important tools (Azam et al., 2021). When investigating independent variables in their original state without alteration, this method is appropriate (Creswell, 2018).

Research Instruments

In order to gather information on the organizational learning culture and the effectiveness of the school, a survey questionnaire was used in this research.  The tool had three parts: Part A was about demographics, Part B was about organizational learning culture and Part C was about school effectiveness. Watkins and Marsick’s (1996) Dimensions of Learning Organizational Culture Questionnaire (DLOQ) consists of 43 items was used to measure organizational learning culture. The researchers developed a School Effectiveness Questionnaire (SEQ) with 46 items to measure how effective a school is. The reliability test results are displayed in Table 2. The values of Cronbach’s Alpha are higher than the recommended value of 0.70, so they are good (Taber, 2018).




 

Table 1. Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire Reliability Analysis.

S. No	Factors	# Items	Cronbach alpha
1	Learning continuously	6	.732
2	Inquiry and Dialogue	6	.789
3	Team Learning Collaboration	6	.772
4	Embedded Learning	6	.801
5	Empowerment	6	.741
6	System Connection	6	.752
7	Strategic Leadership	7	.761
8	Overall	43	.891

 




According to Table 2, all factors demonstrated higher level of reliability ranging from lowest reliability for the factor of continuous learning (?=.73) with the highest Cronbach alpha for Embedded Learning (?=.801) high reliability with overall (?=.89).




 

Table 2. Reliability Analysis of School Effectiveness Questionnaire.

S. No	Factors	# Items	Cronbach alpha
1	School Cohesion	7	.889
2	Faculty commitment	7	.870
3	Administrative Efficiency	8	.865
4	Teacher Quality	5	.848
5	Adaptability	5	.843
6	Academic optimism	14	.910
7	Overall	46	.944

 




Table 3 shows that all factors of School

Effectiveness Questionnaire was highly reliable with lowest

 reliability for Adaptability and Flexibility (?=.84) and highest reliability for the factor School Cohesiveness (?=.88) with very high overall reliability (?= .96).

 

Data Collection

Before collecting information, the permissions were taken from the schools’ heads and teachers. The information was gathered by going to the schools in person.  Participants were informed of the study's objectives and parameters and assured that their identities would be kept secret. The response rate was 74%. The information was gathered over a period of 90 days.

 

The Data Analysis

The hypothesized connection between l learning culture of organization and school effectiveness was investigated through the use of regression analysis in this particular research project.




 

Table 3. Relationship among the Components of Organizational Learning Culture and School Effectiveness

S. No		1	2	3	4	5	6
		SC	FC	AE	TQ	AF	AO
1	CL	.219**	.205**	.226**	.176**	.198**	.254**
2	DI	.191**	.201**	.195**	.170**	.210**	.276**
3	CTL	.251**	.236**	.242**	.203**	.189**	.262*
4	EL	.181**	.193**	.190**	.173**	.175**	.205**
5	EP	.225**	.188**	.208**	.180**	.256**	.277**
6	SC	.300**	.269**	.261**	.217**	.216**	.287**
7	SL	.177**	.255**	.260**	.227**	.232**	.288**

 




Factors of School Effectiveness:, Faculty Commitment FC), School Cohesiveness (SC Administrative Efficiency (AE), Teacher Quality (TQ), Adaptability (A) and Academic Optimism (AO).

Significant but weak correlations were found between organizational learning cultures dimensions (inquiry and dialogue, learning

continuously, team learning, empowerment, strategic leadership and system connections). The correlation between conversation inquiry and instructor quality was the weakest. In overall, a moderate positive relationship was found between learning culture of organization and school effectiveness (r=.46).




 

Table 4. Impact of Learning Culture of Organization on School Effectiveness.

Model	Unstandardized CoefficientB	Standardized CoefficientsBeta	T	p-value
(Constant)	76.282		13.366	.000
CL	.606	.086	2.552	.011
DI	.626	.094	2.924	.004
CTL	.681	.100	2.991	.003
EL	.095	.015	.434	.664
EP	.693	.095	2.876	.004
SC	1.066	.151	4.541	.000
SL	.455	.074	2.041	.041

R² = .169, Adjusted R² =.163.

 




Factors of Organizational Learning Culture; Continuous Learning (CL), Dialogue and Inquiry (DI), Collaboration Team Learning (CTL), Embedded Learning (EL), Empower People (EP), System Connection (SC), Strategic Learning (SL).

Organizational Learning Culture (CL), Dialogue and Inquiry (DI), Collaboration Team Learning (CTL), Embedded Learning (EL), Empowering People (EP), System Connection (SC), and Strategic Leadership (SL) all have an impact on the success of schools, as shown in Table 6, Continuous Learning, Dialogue, Inquiry, Collaboration, Team Learning, Empowering People, and System Connection were found to be predictors of School Effectiveness. Embedded learning and Strategic Leadership did not play a major role in determining school success. Other factors, combined16.9% of the variance to predict school success that meant organizational learning culture has shown a significant effect on the effectiveness of school.

Discussion

This research investigated how learning culture affects government school performance in Punjab province. The analysis included 1037 teacher data. Descriptive analysis showed the organization's learning culture was high. Thus, all aspect of an organization's learning culture was high. School effectiveness was high, as were all its variables. Manaf and Omar (2017) found that strong learning cultures make schools more productive. Organizational learning and effectiveness of school were linked by Ali et al. (2016). They felt an effective school requires a strong learning culture. Thus, a school's effectiveness increases with an organizational learning culture.

The analysis of the study revealed a significant and positive relationship between organizational learning culture and school effectiveness. The results show that a school is more effective when it has a positive organizational learning culture. The findings show that elements such as “Learning Continuously," "Inquiry and Dialogue  " Team Learning," "Empowerment ," "System Connections," and "Strategic Leadership" in corporate learning cultures affected the effectiveness of schools (Watkins & Marsick,1996).  The results show that when a school has a strong, positive learning culture, the staff is proud and happy to work together, which is good for the students because it means they get a better education. According to the results, organizations with well-built learning cultures have instructional leaders who create and keep staff cohesion, teachers are committed to their jobs, professional development is encouraged, teachers work toward a common goal, and teachers get along with each other. Teachers and administrators have the same goals for how well students do in school. So, when the role of an organizational learning culture is used, the effectiveness of a school goes up. This means that school leaders and people in charge of education should pay attention to the school's learning culture in order to improve schools.

The result of this research, along with the findings of previous investigations, comes to the same conclusion (Ali et al., 2016; Duan et al., 2018). According to Dogan (2017), schools that have a culture that promotes positive learning are more successful at educating students than schools that have cultures that are less positive. The findings of the most recent investigation are consistent with this finding . in a similar element, the research conducted by Yasin et al. (2017) revealed that in order for a school to function effectively, it is essential to have a supportive learning culture. Positive learning cultures in schools have been related to increased levels of student accomplishment, improved levels of teamwork among instructors, and greater levels of commitment on the part of teachers. A study conduct by Ali et al. (2016) demonstrated, among other things, that there is a substantial connection between school culture and administrative efficiency. It is impossible for a school to establish a healthy environment for learning without strong leadership at the school level. The research conducted by Clark (2019) discovered that there is a significant connection between the resultan s of organization and its learning culture. This demonstrates that educational institutions that foster a culture of positive learning achieve higher levels of success for their staff and students than those that do not. Eger and Prasilova (2020) conducted research to determine which aspects of a school's learning culture have the most influence on the outcomes that may be anticipated from teaching and education. They came to the conclusion that one of the most significant aspects in determining the culture of a business was the influence that leadership and management played. According to Duan et al. (2018), organizations with robust learning cultures produce more contented educators and more prosperous educational institutions. According to the findings of their study, school administrators ought to be aware of the significance of learning culture to the process of enhancing academic achievement. Organizational learning culture is a set of shared values that affect how people in an organization work together and communicate with each other (watkin& marsik, 1996).

The results of this study show that a school’s learning teaching and are better when the learning culture is positive and people work together. The study's results show what it means to have a positive school culture that gives everyone the power to work toward a common goal, that make the school better. The culture of learning school makes it easier and more pleasant for the staff to work with their instructional leader. Additionally, it moulds expectations and behaviors of both teachers, students, and makes the school more efficient and effective (Lesinger & Senol, 2018). In schools when people talk and share a lot, it makes the organization a better place to learn (Demerath, 2018). So, when people at school work together, they can solve the problems that come up every day. Teachers and administrators feel at ease in a collaborative learning culture, which leads to better student performance (Dogan, 2017). Changes in the education system have led to changes in how teaching and learning are done. Because of this, all of the schools' stakeholders need to work together (Rasmitadila et al., 2020). Dimmock et al. (2021) say that for educational improvement to work well there needs to be a collaborative learning culture based on shared goals, trust, and a focus on academics when teachers and instructional leaders work as a team to create a culture of learning, It helps learners who share values in performing well. In the same way, the results of this study show school leaders how important it is to create a positive and collaborative learning environment at school.

The effectiveness of structural changes for schools and educational activities are both significantly impacted by organizational learning cultures (Karadag et al., 2014). The results of this study show how important it is to have management strategies that can improve the culture of learning in an organization. People in an organization are guided by their behaviour and culture, so the social and institutional culture can affect a leader's ability to put his or her ideas into action and make necessary changes (Yenipinar & Yildirim, 2021). So, it's essential for instructional leaders to make use of good strategic skills that will help the staff work together and bring everyone in the organization closer together. To improve the learning culture, school leaders need to pay attention to how people talk to each other within the organization. This affects how learning and teaching happen in an organization (Eger & Prasilova, 2020). So, when making decisions about teaching and education, It's an essential to pay attention to what the teachers have to say (Vieira & Brabosa, 2020). Creating a good school culture depends heavily on the role and skills of the school leader. For this reason, it's crucial that teachers and administrators acquire the skills necessary to create collaborative, positive learning environments.

Recommendations

1. School leaders should focus on making learning environments that are based on trust, cooperation, and mutual support. So, it's important for school leaders to include everyone in the process of making and developing strategies for running the school.

2. School improvement initiatives should focus on the organizational learning culture and how well the school is doing. Because of this, the Ministry of Education needs to pay special attention and give schools money to create good learning environments that can make schools better. In this way, good planning and strategies are needed to set up the work environment so that teachers can work together and collaborate well.

3. The teachers at the school should have opportunities to improve their skills. This is very important for making the school a place where people want to learn. The training programs need to take into account how education has changed and how technology and teaching methods need to change. So, professional development programs for teachers should teach them about technology and show them how to get the skills they need for online education. In the same way, there should be meaningful programs for school leaders to attend.

References