142


Sodobna pedagogika/Journal of Contemporary Educational Studies


Maja Brust Nemet

Let./Vol. 69 (135)
Št./No. 3/2018
Str./pp. 142–155
ISSN 0038 0474

A Correlation between Teachers’ Social
and Pedagogical Competences and
School Culture
Abstract: Teachers’ social and pedagogical competences and school cultures are the key factors for
lifelong learning and necessary for the successful work of a qualified teacher who takes responsible for
her/his students’ achievement. Through lifelong learning, teachers change themselves, upgrade their
own competences, and create a positive school culture characterised by human relationships, coexistence, collaboration and trust. The aim of this research was to identify and examine whether there
is a correlation between school teachers’ socio-pedagogical competences and the school culture. It also
aimed to learn about the position and role of people who may have an influence on the socio-pedagogical competences and the school culture. This study used a quantitative approach and involved 696
teachers in 30 primary schools in five Slavonian counties in Croatia. The results of the completed survey
questionnaires demonstrate that there is a statistically significant relationship between the teachers’
socio-pedagogical competences and the school culture. Formal education, lifelong learning and family
relations have a great influence on the acquisition of the social and pedagogical competences, whereas the
quality of communication, cooperation and collegiality have a powerful influence on the school culture.
Keywords: social and pedagogical competencies, school culture, teachers, primary schools, Croatia
UDC: 37.015.4
Scientific article

Maja Brust Nemet, PhD, Assistant professor, University of Osijek, Faculty of Education Josip Juraj
Strossmayer, Cara Hadrijana 10, 31000 Osijek, Croatia; e-mail: mbrust@foozos.hr



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Introduction
Theoretical aspects of teachers’ competencies can be divided into four basic
areas: (a) professional-subject, (b) pedagogical, (c) organisational, and (d) communication-reflexive (Brust Nemet and Velki 2016). All of these areas of competencies
are important and require equal attention in education.
Pedagogical competence can be described as a teacher’s ability and will to
regularly apply the attitude, knowledge and skills that promote student learning.
This normally takes place in accordance with the set goals and the existing framework; it presupposes teachers’ continuous development in their own competence
and course design (Giertz 2003, p. 94). Pedagogical competence pursues the goal
of facilitating and enhancing student learning through continuous professional
development (Ryegård 2008, p. 9). In addition to the critical role of pedagogical
competence, personality traits are also necessary for teachers to cultivate critical
thinking about themselves and their practice, leading to change and improvement
in behaviour and school culture. A pedagogically competent teacher is considered to be a successful organiser, leader, mediator, social architect and reflective
practitioner who is able to respond effectively to modern educational challenges
through lifelong professional advancement. Teachers’ pedagogical competencies
are extremely important because only a competent teacher is able to draw on her
competencies to engage with students, colleagues and other partners in education (Brust Nemet 2015). Pedagogical competences enable teachers to apply the
teaching theories, practices, and skills, adopt school procedures, create teaching
content in the form of short- and long-term planning, solve educational problems,
develop classroom management skills, deal with discipline, understand social and
other circumstances that can influence student expression and behaviour, learn
to communicate and collaborate with parents, and deal with international issues.
A teacher who possesses pedagogical competence is expected to have a pedagogical
tact and personality, suitable for working with students, and is able to create a
pleasant atmosphere in the classroom and school. According to Jurčić (2012 p. 16),
for being a successful teacher, pedagogic competence is needed in the following
areas: curriculum design methodology, educational organisation and management,

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classroom design, student achievement, and partnership with parents. Pedagogical
competence presupposes good, broad and deep knowledge of the subject matter.
A pedagogically proficient teacher shall in different contexts demonstrate a good
ability to use their subject knowledge in research-related, practical, pedagogical
actions with student learning in focus (Olsson et al. 2010, p. 123). According to
Previšić (2010), pedagogical competence, among others, consists of professional and
social communication, as essential preconditions for the development of certain behaviours. A teacher’s democratically and socially integrative way of communication
with students will contribute to a more favourable school, classroom and teaching
environment. Social competence implies a variety of emotional, social and cognitive
abilities and behaviours that are necessary for successful social interaction in different societies. Therefore, social competence is often linked to civic competence,
as only teachers with both civic and social competences can successfully contribute
to the development of school and students.
The art of establishing relationships with students, parents, colleagues and
school management is at the centre of the pedagogical dimension of teacher’s social
competence. In order for such an art to be recognised as an established social skill,
it needs to be built upon its own capacity for cooperation and socially responsible
behaviour. These characteristics are normally required by schools, which imply
respect and acceptance of rules and customs (Jurčić 2014, p. 81). Mastering the
profession, scientific foundations, and the pedagogical methodology is necessary
but not sufficient for teachers’ competence. Human qualities, knowledge, abilities
and skills relating to processes and interpersonal relationships are also necessary
both inside and outside the classroom (Gojkov 2012). Vasta et al. (1998) state that
social behaviour is learned, which enables educational institutions to help develop
social behaviour of teachers. Therefore, it is essential to stress the importance of
integration of cognitive abilities, emotions and behaviours to enable the development
and application of socio-emotional skills during formal (higher) education. Brdar
(1993) believes that social competence encompasses effective functioning in a social
context and consists of abilities or groups of abilities that facilitate the creation,
development and maintenance of people’s relationships. Social competence requires
a high level of teacher’s interpersonal intelligence, which is a more specific form of
social intelligence, representing the highest and the most prominent intelligence
that a teacher should have. Teachers with high interpersonal or social intelligence
are skilled in negotiating, mediating, establishing good relationships and making
friends, understanding and contemplating others’ intentions, enjoying the company
of others, efficiently communicating with others, group activities, cooperating,
and perfectly functioning in different social situations—the vital components of a
modern teacher’s competences.
Pedagogical competence is able to create synergy by combining with teachers’
unique competences. Only when combined can social and pedagogical competencies
provide a teacher with the ability to meet the demands of contemporary trends in
education. Teachers’ pedagogical dimension of competence is only evident in the
light of interaction in the learning process, which implies an intense interaction,

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two-way communication and dialogue, collaboration, partnership and fellowship.
Teachers’ competences, expertise and scientific quality, as the basis of their overall
professional activity, are increasingly reflected in the art of effective relationships
and skilful communications with the students. In addition to the classical factors
of successful communication (the motivational process, praise, reward, success as
a factor), the literature also highlights a teacher’s personality as a crucial factor
that can liberate, evoke enthusiasm, stimulate creativity and self-perfection, suppress anxiety, and create an inspiring intellectual atmosphere for students. The
results of research in Slovenia (Razdevšek-Pučko 2005) showed that school principals believe that the most important skills for modern school teachers are the
social pedagogical competences, namely mutual co-operation and teamwork, new
forms and teaching methods, communication skills and organisational knowledge.
Schweiker-Marra’s (1995) study, which examined the relationship between school
culture and change of teachers, found that certain elements strongly influenced
the school culture and had to be improved to make a school culture as positive as
possible. The elements, or what the author chose to call ‘the standards’, include
collegiality, ability to experiment, setting high expectations, establishing trust and
confidence, and material support and knowledge. Elements that encouraged professional cooperation between and among the staff were respect and recognition,
care, a sense of humour, participation in decision making, protection, tradition,
and honest and open communication.
Indicators of school quality and efficiency, which require teachers’ pedagogical
competencies and social skills that can affect the quality of educational processes,
include curriculum, attainment, learning and teaching, student support, school and
classroom culture, teachers’ cooperation with the principal, professional service
and local community (Jurić 2007). School culture, as one of the most important
developmental areas, largely depends on the teachers themselves, as manifested
in their professionalism, collegiality and self-determination. Professionalism
illustrates the extent to which teachers work professionally from planning to organization to teaching. Collegiality informs of the quality of teachers’ relationships
and cooperation. Self-determination determines how teachers feel about being
involved in decision making on school issues; it also gives insights about whether
teachers work in schools because they wish to or are forced to, or whether they like
to develop themselves professionally or are pressured by the school management
(Staničić 2006). A positive school culture is conditioned by a successful climate,
characterised by professional relationship and trust. School culture is therefor
considered to be a crucial factor that can influence teachers’ pedagogical development, the quality of their educational work, the relations between co-workers, the
school working conditions, and the school culture (Brust Nemet and Mlinarević
2016, p. 101). According to Armstrong (2006), in order to create a positive school
culture, an emphasis should be put on the academic achievement and professional
development of teachers who have internalised the importance of learning, advocate a flexible and individualised curriculum, and are interested in the fate of each
educational institution. Such teachers also strive for the happiness of everyone, seek

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a rich intellectual life and foster interpersonal relationships filled with pleasure,
love for home and society. They themselves have a healthy character, practise good
parenting, exercise spirituality and enjoy work.
Culture is a very subtle notion yet it can have a huge impact on school life.
Hinde (2004, p. 11) remarks that many attempts to reform schools tend to ignore
norms, values, beliefs, behaviours, stories, rituals, and symbols that underlie the
foundation of the school and its culture. Only a collaborative school culture is considered to be a culture in which the development of teachers is facilitated through
mutual support, joint work, and agreements on educational values. Such culture
creates the best learning environment for both teachers and students (Hargreaves
1999). It is necessary to identify the culture of each school, to explore the values of
the educational stakeholders, and to consider how the school culture stimulates or
hampers students’ progress, development and achievements. Fullan (1999) states
that the teachers’ professional improvement changes and improves the school
and its culture, and that such a connection must be supported by professional
and institutional organisations, external networks of professional and cultural
organisations, and supervisors. From this perspective, educational institutions
need a professional culture that promotes learning and teachers’ development of
professional competences.
Researching the teachers’ social and pedagogical competences and establishing
correlations with the school culture are important to improve the quality of education in schools and the well-being of its stakeholders.
Methodology
Research problem and questions
The aim of the research was to learn about a possible correlation (and its direction, if any at all) between school teachers’ socio-pedagogical competences and
those of the school culture.
Research hypothesis: There is no statistically significant correlation between
school teachers’ socio-pedagogical competences and those of the school culture.
Research questions: (1) What contributes to the development and strengthening of social and pedagogical competences? (2) From where are most of the sociopedagogical competences acquired? (3) What contributes to the school culture?
(4) What is the position/occupation of the person who influences school culture
the most?
Method
The General Data Questionnaire (Brust Nemet 2015) contained items investigating a) gender, b) years of work experience, c) occupation (which subject
they teach), d) professional development (type of initial education and in-service

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education). The questionnaire also had open type questions about variables that
contribute to the social and pedagogical competences and school culture. The third
set of questions (combined type) referred to the place of acquisition of social and
pedagogical competences, and the professional profile of school employees who have
the most prominent influence on the school culture.
The Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire (UEK-15) (Takšić 2002)
assesses the individual differences in teachers’ emotional competence. Using a
5-degree Likert scale, the participants evaluated the development of their own skills
from the domain of emotional competence. A shortened version of the questionnaire with nine items (UEK-15) was used in the pilot study, and its reliability was
0.73 (Cronbach α). Goleman (2006) has introduced a new notion in education—a
new emotional pedagogy—because emotional intelligence is no longer just a set of
mental abilities; it includes a range of social skills that emphasise knowledge and
management of one’s emotions, self-motivation, emotional recognition in others,
and relationship management.
The Social Strategic Scale (SSS) (Nekić 2008) originally consisted of 36 claims,
grouped in six subscales. The subscales examine various types of cognitive and
behavioural strategies in the domain of teachers’ social interactions. For research
purposes, the scale was adjusted and reduced to 22 claims. The response options
were given on a 5-degree Likert scale. The pilot study with Cronbach α = 0.81
proved to be extremely reliable. It was decided to use this scale, which, in the second
sample in the main study, proved to be slightly less reliable (Cronbach α = 0.56).
Since social strategies are the key components of social competence, this research
used SSS to measure teachers’ social competences.
The Pedagogical Competence Questionnaire (UPK, Brust Nemet 2015) consists
of nine items, constructed in a 5-degree Likert type scale. UPK measures teachers’
competences in curriculum development, educational organisation and management,
students’ achievement, classroom and school environments, and partnerships with
parents. The scale proved to be highly reliable (Cronbach α = 0.88).
The Questionnaire of School Culture (the Centre for Improving School Culture,
2002) consists of 17 Likert-type statements (5-degree), and measures the level of
school culture in areas of professional cooperation, collegiality and teachers’ success.
The questionnaire was divided into three subscales: (a) professional cooperation/
professionalism (k = 5), (b) collegiality (k = 6), and (c) success/self-determination
(k = 6). The scale was highly reliable in this sample, with the overall Cronbach
alpha of 0.93. The professionalism subscale had a Cronbach alpha of 0.76, while
Cronbach alpha for collegiality and self-determination were 0.87 and 0.89.
Sampling
The study used the stratified sampling strategy, meaning that within each of
Slavonia’s five counties of the Republic of Croatia (Osijek-Baranja, Brod-Posavina,
Vukovar-Srijem, Virovitica-Podravina and Požega-Slavonia), three schools in the
urban areas and three schools in the rural areas were selected randomly. The study

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included 696 class and subject teachers, who worked in 30 primary schools. The
sample population comprised 128 male teachers (18.4%) and 568 female teachers
(81.2%). Of these, 279 respondents (40.1%) were class teachers and 381 participants
(55.1%) were subject teachers with 31 teachers (4.5%) having the two roles. Average
years of employment was 15 (64 years on aggregate) (M = 15.64, sd = 12.03).
Procedure
The research was conducted in 30 primary schools from March-April 2014. The
principals and teachers of each school agreed to participate in the research. At a
short meeting, the research was explained and the teachers were asked to complete
the questionnaires, which lasted thirty minutes. Teachers who were not present
in the meeting returned the completed questionnaires afterwards. The survey was
anonymous and participation was voluntary. The researcher explained the nature
of the research and informed the participants that the data would be used for the
research purpose only. SPSS 19.0 was used to process the quantitative data.
Data analysis
Table 1 shows the results of the descriptive statistics, analysed using parametric
statistics. The three subscales of school culture (professionalism, collegiality and
self-determination) show slightly positive asymmetric distributions, leaning towards
a positive school culture, as indicated by a virtually full range of responses. The
pedagogical competences show a full range of responses, whereas the emotional
competences exhibit an almost full range of responses. There are no major deviations
from the normal distribution, although a slightly positive asymmetry of a higher
degree assessment of both competences was observed. Mild positive asymmetry
was expected because it was assumed that participants had these competences
more developed than those in the general population, perhaps because of the type
of job and previous formal education. The social competences have a limited range
of answers and a normal distribution.
Min

Max

M

SD

Coefficient
Coefficient
of
Range
of kurtosis
skewness

Variables

N

Valid N

694

School culture

694

1.41

5.00

School culture-professionalism

694

7.00

25.00 19.22

3.309

-.462

.434

School culture- collegiality

.609
3.7755 .62163 -.473

3.59

694

7.00

30.00 22.38

4.267

-.604

.731

School culture-self-determination 694

7.00

30.00 22.23

4.308

-.566

.791

Pedagogical competences

695

1.00

5.00

4.06

.515

-.797

2.000

Social competences

696

1.53

3.47

2.38

.274

.409

.580

Emotional competences

696

2.22

5.00

4.03

.434

-.177

-.139

Table 1: Basic descriptive data for measured variables

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According to the descriptive statistics, all the arithmetic means of the scales
illustrate a positive direction. Special emphasis is placed on the pedagogical competences that have been assessed to be extremely positive, i.e. shifted in a positive
direction with M = 4.06 (SD = .515). School culture with M = 3.78 (SD = .622)
demonstrates a positive school culture, while both the school culture and the
teachers’ pedagogical competences deviate from the normal distribution. Three
scales were used to assess the teachers’ socio-pedagogical competences: (a) the Scale
of Emotional Skills and Competence, (b) the Scale of Social Strategies, and (c) the
Scale of Pedagogical Competences. With the help of the Scale of Emotional Skills
and Competence, the teachers’ social competences were assessed as extremely high
(M = 4.03; SD = .4344), whereas their social strategies were assessed as average,
M = 2.38 (SD = .274), suggesting that teachers underrated their social strategies. The teachers’ pedagogical competences, though, were estimated to be high,
M = 4.06 (SD = .515), indicating that teachers considered themselves pedagogically highly competent.
The results of the correlation analysis demonstrate a statistically significant
relationship between the teachers’ socio-pedagogical competences and the school
culture. Table 2 shows that both scales of social competences (emotional and social
competences) are significantly related to the school culture. The emotional skills and
competence results are related to the school culture at a medium level (r = 0.32; p
< 0.01). The scale of social competences is slightly negatively related to the school
culture (r = -0.09; p < 0.05). Teachers’ pedagogical competences are significantly
related to school culture (r = 0.24; p < 0.01), dismissing the hypothesis that there
would be no statistically significant correlation between teachers’ socio- pedagogical
competence and school culture.
Emotional
competences

Social
competences

Pedagogical
competences

School
culture

-.136**

.402**

.319**

1

-.101

-.090*

Emotional competences

1

Social competences

-.136

Pedagogical competences

.402**

-.101**

1

.319

-.090

.236

School culture

**

**

*

**

.236**
**

1

** p < 0.01
* p < 0.05
Table 2: Correlation (Pearson’s coefficient of correlation) of socio-pedagogical competences and school
culture (N = 696)

Using the General Data Questionnaire to answer question one—What contributes to the development and strengthening of the teacher’s social pedagogical
competences?—some 29% of teachers believed that the quality of formal education
and continuous lifelong learning was the most important factor to contribute to
teachers’ socio-pedagogical competences. Some 23% of the teachers considered that

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communication skills, empathy and tolerance contributed to the development of
teachers’ socio-pedagogic competences. This was followed by the educational contribution (8%), staff personality (8%), mutual respect (8%), teamwork and collaboration with colleagues (8%), experience (6%), teachers’ motivation, responsibility
and conscientiousness (6%), and love for the job (4%). Similarly, 4% of the teachers
believed that the positive atmosphere in the school and the local community also
contributed to the development of teacher’s socio-pedagogical competences, which
was also confirmed in our correlation research (see Table 1 for details). Some 3% of
the teachers emphasised support and respect for the teacher, while 9% of the answers were categorised as ‘Other’, which includes exchange of experiences through
critical friendship, self-criticism, self-evaluation, cooperation with professional
development services, professional guidance and headteacher’s support. Teachers
emphasised lifelong learning as a factor that contributed the most to the teachers’
socio-pedagogical competences (29%).
With respect to question two—From where are most of the socio-pedagogical
competences acquired?—descriptive statistics show that the teachers estimated
that they were the most successful in their socio-pedagogical competences in their
family (36.3%), in their university (29.8%), during their formal training (14.5%),
during their informal training (12.3%), and on other occasions (6.8%).
As for question three—What contributes to school culture?—some 44% of
the teachers noted that quality staff communication, cooperation, collegiality and
interpersonal relations contributed to the school culture, followed by a personal
culture of the employees (12%), fostering traditions, cultural heritage and school
rituals (7%), cultural activities and manifestations (7%), mutual respect (6%),
positive atmosphere in the school (5%), employees’ conscientious, responsible and
professional work (5%), and community in vision, goals and work (5%). 1
Question four asked: What is the position/occupation of the person influencing
school culture the most? The results demonstrate that the teachers were aware
of their own importance and responsibility, since 68.1% of them answered that
teachers are most responsible for the school culture. Their set of values, beliefs,
rituals, norms, and traditions that nurture and create an educational institution are prerequisites for shaping the school culture. Almost 20% of the teachers
remarked that the school leadership also plays an important role in determining
the school culture, stating that the headteacher should be the initiator of a culture
of collegiality and professional training.
Research results indicate teachers’ high self-evaluation of social and pedagogical competences and a positive perception of the school culture. Teachers rated
themselves as just average regarding social strategies. The correlation between the
social and pedagogical competences and the school culture has also been established,
in the sense that high social and pedagogical competences are associated with a
positive school culture; teachers with average social strategies also evaluated the
school culture as positive. It was established that the teachers gained most of their
social and pedagogical competences during their formal education, lifelong educaThe remaining 9% of the answers were placed in the category ‘other contributions’, such as the
headteacher’s influence, political flows, employees’ competences, etc.
1

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tion and in the family. In addition, the school culture was most influenced by the
teachers themselves as well as their cooperation and collegiality.
Discussion
Research results illustrate the teachers’ high self-evaluation of social and pedagogical competences. This study’s primary goal was to explore teachers’ pedagogical
competencies in the context of school curriculum, teaching and school subsystems;
organization and management of the educational process; designing classroom and
school climate; determining students’ achievement in school; creating a model of
educational partnership with parents (Brust Nemet 2015; Jurčić 2012). Social
competence is the ability to create and harmonise flexible, customised responses to
demands and create and exploit the opportunities in the environment. According
to this definition, a socially competent teacher is one who can use incentives from
the environment, coupled with his/her personal potentials, to achieve good developmental results (Katz and McClellan 1997). Therefore, it is vital to continuously
strengthen teachers’ competences in socio-pedagogical areas to enable teachers
to stimulate students’ social and emotional competences. Buljubašić-Kuzmanović
(2007) emphasises the importance of teachers’ curricular competences. She suggests that teachers’ own pedagogical concepts (i.e. their own curriculum of pedagogical competences, aimed at the student, his/her needs and interests) should be
self-reflective, demanding, abstinent, scientifically focused and unilateral in a way
that would leave sufficient room for the students’ own affinities. The results of
this study demonstrate that there is a need to increase the representation of social
areas in current teaching and study programmes, especially in languages and in
social and artistic subjects, including the ability to link and integrate the common
themes (Baranović 2006). It is necessary to introduce an enriched curriculum of
pedagogical competencies during teachers’ training programmes. This provision
will enable teachers to learn how to transform academic knowledge when teaching
and how to navigate a variety of situations that occur in the classroom. It will also
help teachers to become more sensitised to their chosen profession, instil the habit
of lifelong learning, and develop organisational skills to respond to the demands of
the post-modern society. The provision of an enriched curriculum of pedagogical
competencies will encourage teachers to continuously monitor and implement
new pedagogical knowledge, create opportunities for pedagogical innovation,
and review goals and objectives with a view to building a positive school culture
(Đuranović 2005).
Teachers gave an average rating to the social strategies; these are part of their
social competences and relate to ways of responding to situations involving other
people (Nekić 2008). Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen teachers’ social strategies, via intentional education, by providing them with the opportunity to engage
in as much interaction as possible through roles, debates, public performances,
pedagogical workshops and the like, to enable them to think critically, resolve
conflicts constructively and to defend the school culture.

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The participants assessed the school culture as positive. Schools with a positive culture are characterised by respect and cooperative relationships. Teachers
and headteachers in schools with a positive culture follow a professional model of
responsibility; personal and collegial responsibility is directed towards improving
their own practice and student achievement. Teachers in such schools pay attention
to contextual factors that affect the lives of all the stakeholders, namely those that
affect the lives of students. Similarly, teachers in schools with positive cultures have
high professional, pedagogical, and psychological competences, and they continue
to enhance those competences through lifelong learning and training. A positive
school culture also depends on teachers’ collaboration and teamwork, involving
critical friends, reflective practitioners, sharing information, peer observation, and
embracing feedback from colleagues, parents and students. Based on extensive
studies on school culture, Senge (1990), and Isaacson and Bamburg (1992) identified the following characteristics of schools that have strong professional learning
communities and positive school cultures: (a) staff and students enjoy learning and
respect one another; (b) knowledge and skills of more experienced teachers are
valued and appreciated, and the more experienced teachers provide professional
support to the trainees; (c) teachers and headteachers share a vision of how the
school could and should look like in the future; (d) teachers and headteachers are
constantly reviewing the mental model and assumptions that might hinder progress and change; and (e) teachers and headteachers continuously work together.
Brust Nemet and Mlinarević (2016) also confirmed the positive school culture of
the Slavonian schools, with no noticeable difference regarding the gender, years of
employment, or the location of the school; however, class teachers are the ones who
perceive school culture as more positive. Research results show that all the social
and pedagogical competences are related to all the subscales of school culture. The
highly rated social and pedagogical competences and lower social strategies are related to positive school culture. Professionalism, as a subscale of school, is reflected
in the development of strategies, programmes, work schedules and other activities,
as well as behavioural policies in partnership with professional associates. The subscale of collegiality implies the ability of an individual to encourage communication,
socialisation, exchange of professional ideas and fostering the tradition of rituals,
celebrations, giving acknowledgments and awards for achievements. The subscale
of self-determination includes teacher’s satisfaction with working in a school, the
interrelationship of educational staff, joint problem-solving, and decision-making
competence. The components of all the subscales include teachers’ developed
communication skills, motivation, adaptability and self-management skills, which
are key to teachers’ social competence. Unlike social strategies, pedagogical and
emotional competencies proved to be the best predictors of all aspects of school culture. They predicted the best to be professionalism, followed by self-determination
and collegiality, albeit somewhat weaker (Brust Nemet and Velki 2016). Similarly,
there is evidence that (a) there is a link between a positive organisational school
culture and teacher excellence and motivation for learning and achievement;
(b) a positive organisational culture supports teachers’ training and achievement;
(c) lifelong work experience directly relates to organisational culture, school climate,

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and effective maintenance of school discipline; (d) respect for teachers creates and
maintains a positive school culture; (e) the quality of school management reflects on
the school culture; and (f) the norms and values are an integral part of the school
culture (cf. Van der Westhuizen 2005).
This research shows that social-pedagogical competences are connected to
school culture, which rejects the initial hypothesis raised by the author. To date,
there has not been a research in the Republic of Croatia to establish a connection between teachers’ social and pedagogical competences and school culture.
There have been similar studies in the world; however, they are mostly related to
establishing a correlation between prosocial classes, students’ social competences,
positive climate, and students’ success. Research results would be more relevant
if they employ methods in addition to teachers’ self-assessment. The advantage
of this research, however, is its scientific justification and representative sample.
Previous research showed that emotional and pedagogical competences are important for school culture; this research, however, suggests a statistically significant
correlation among the variables investigated. Therefore, it is necessary to include
in the teacher education programmes topics on social and pedagogical competences and school culture to prepare them to face the challenges of the modern
society.
Conclusion
During teacher preparation courses, it is necessary to enable the teachers to
acquire, strengthen and enrich the social and pedagogical competences. Teachers
who are involved in lifelong education, love their job, and are committed to it can
contribute to the development of their own social and pedagogical competences.
Teachers with high social and pedagogical competences can act to create a positive school culture and positively influence students’ development. In effective
and productive schools with a positive culture, teachers are open, willing to help,
make joint decisions, are collegial, excellent at teaching, share the same goals and
responsibility for the results, and are thus a positive role model for their students
and their parents.
Teachers’ social and pedagogical competences and the school culture are
interconnected and mutually affect one another. The research results prove
a correlation between the variables, which can contribute to our knowledge
about schools. The results of this study helps us better understand the pedagogical science in terms of the relationships between different aspects of the
school culture, and determine the role of socio-pedagogical competences in the
modern school culture. This study demonstrates a statistically significant relationship between the teachers’ socio-pedagogical competences and the school
culture.

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Sodobna pedagogika/Journal of Contemporary Educational Studies

Brust Nemet

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Maja BRUST NEMET (Univerza v Osijeku, Hrvaška)
POVEZANOST MED SOCIALNIMI IN PEDAGOŠKIMI KOMPETENCAMI UČITELJEV TER
ŠOLSKO KULTURO
Povzetek: Socialne in pedagoške kompetence učiteljev so ključnega pomena za vseživljenjsko učenje ter
nujne za uspešno delo usposobljenega in za razvoj učencev odgovornega učitelja. Učitelji se tudi sami spreminjajo skozi vseživljenjsko učenje, izpopolnjujejo svoje kompetence in ustvarjajo pozitivno šolsko kulturo,
ki jo tvorijo medčloveški odnosi, sobivanje, sodelovanje ter medsebojno zaupanje članov kolektiva. V prispevku teoretično in empirično obravnavamo vprašanje, ali obstaja – in če obstaja, kakšna je – povezanost
med socialnimi in pedagoškimi kompetencami učitelja ter šolsko kulturo. Zanima nas tudi položaj in mesto
posameznikov, ki imajo tako na omenjene kompetence učitelja kot tudi na šolsko kulturo največji vpliv.
V ta namen smo opravili kvantitativno in kvalitativno raziskavo med 696 učitelji v 30 osnovnih šolah iz petih
slavonskih pokrajin na Hrvaškem. Rezultati raziskave kažejo, da obstaja statistično pomembna povezava med
socialnimi in pedagoškimi kompetencami učiteljev ter šolsko kulturo. Največji vpliv na doseganje socialnih in
pedagoških kompetenc učiteljev imajo njihova formalna izobrazba, vseživljenjsko učenje in družinski odnosi,
medtem ko na šolsko kulturo najbolj vplivajo kakovost njihove komunikacije, sodelovanje in kolegialnost.
Ključne besede: socialne in pedagoške kompetence, šolska kultura, učitelji, osnovna šola
Elektronski naslov: mbrust@foozos.hr