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Abstract
The domain of educational ideology is usually investigated in a hermeneutic way. This article presents results of an empirical approach to the problem. In a pilot study, a comprehensive questionnaire of ideological catchwords was completed by 100 Polish teachers. Principal component analysis of their responses yielded three components interpreted as three educational ideologies: bureaucratic, liberal, and romantic. The pattern appeared quite similar in another sample of Polish teachers, and two ideological components (bureaucratism and liberalism) were found in the responses of 56 German teachers. In four separate studies with 75, 61, 100, and 100 teachers, respectively, some antecedents and consequences of teachers' ideological identifications have been shown.
Stored in the professional culture of teachers, educational ideologies are selectively adopted by individuals during their accommodation to the profession. Once adopted, an ideology helps teachers interpret their professional activity and bring it into line with their value orientations and personal problems (study 1 on the social background and early experience of teachers), general attitudes to life (study 2 on gender identity), and personal resources (study 3 on social intelligence). Ideology may also influence a teacher's daily practice and its educational effects (study 4 on teachers' attributions of students' successes and failures). The results attest to the validity of the notion of ideology and its usefulness in educational research.