Turnover and School Management: Effects on the Organizational Climate

This article analyzes the possible effects that continuous head teacher turnover can have on school organizational climate. The article first presents the transformations that the Italian school system has experienced in the last fifteen years since the introduction of the autonomy law, and then provides a brief overview of the main theories regarding the organizational climate making a comparison among them, followed by the presentation of methodologies and tools to study the organizational climate. Finally, it presents a case study illustrating the difficulties faced by leaders and teachers of an Italian school that has experienced management turnover for years. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis has been performed comparing two schools located in the same area. Some diagrams show results obtained by the questionnaire filled in by teachers. Some extracts from head teacher interviews help us to understand the main issues they face when they take up their appointment in a school with a high turnover rate.