lOMoARcPSD|29749978

Module 2- School as a Social System

The Teacher and the Community, School Culture and Organizational Leadership
(Pangasinan State University)

Scan to open on Studocu

Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university

Downloaded by REGIE PALASI ([email protected])
 lOMoARcPSD|29749978

FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020

Study Guide in ProfEd 104: The Teacher and the Community School Culture and Organizational Leadership

STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. 2

SCHOOL AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM

MODULE OVERVIEW

Philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer, John Dewey was convinced a progressive
education held the power to transform society. His legacy has lived on, as The John Dewey Society, and
peer-reviewed scholarship. K-12 teachers often speak of his influence on their teaching philosophy.
Dewey9s short book, The School and Society, explains the inextricable link between building a successful
school for a prosperous society.

MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this Module, you should be able to:

1. Discuss the basic concepts of school as a social system and how they impact individual learners,
classrooms, schools, and the larger community
2. Describe social interactions and their importance in building harmonious relationship with the wider
school community
3. Seek advice concerning strategies that build relationships with parents/guardians and the wider
community; and
4. Seek opportunities to establish professional links with colleagues in the school community.

A. Social Systems Model

What is a Social System?
In sociology, social system is the patterned network of relationships constituting a coherent whole that
exist between individuals, groups, and institutions. It is the formal structure of role and status that can form in
a small, stable group.
•Social System refers to an orderly arrangement, an inter relationships of parts.
•Social systems are open system.
•Social System consists of interdependent parts, which interact with each other and the environment.
•Social System is goal-oriented, peopled, and political.
•A social system refers to events and dealings of the members of a particular group or group
composed for mutual determination.

Talcott Parsons, more than anyone else in recent years, has given the concept of system currency in
modern sociology. He defined social system thus:
<A social system consists in a plurality of individual actors interacting with each other in a situation which at
least has a physical or environmental aspect, actors who are motivated in terms of a tendency to the
8optimization of gratification9 and whose relation to their situations, including each other, is defined and
mediated in terms of a system of culturally structured and shared symbols=, (The Social System).

Ogbum and Nimkoff have given a simplified version of this definition of Parsons:

<A social system may be defined as a plurality of individuals interacting with each other according to shared
cultural norms and meanings=.

Functions of Social System:

We have seen that a system presupposes not only a structure but also certain functions which its
structure is supposed to perform. What are the functions of the social system? Talcott Parsons has given a
four-function paradigm.
This paradigm posits that every social system must continually confront and solve the four sets of
organisational problems indicated below. In abbreviated form, the four-function paradigm is referred to as
AGIL.
1. Adaptation:

PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 1

Downloaded by REGIE PALASI ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|29749978

FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020

Study Guide in ProfEd 104: The Teacher and the Community School Culture and Organizational Leadership

The problems of adapting the social system to its physical and social environments. The most
important problems in this respect are procuring resources needed for its activities, providing for protection
against physical and social threats, and developing information relating to these.
2. Goal Attainment:
The organisational problem of effecting co-ordination in any collective tasks directed outside the
system itself.
3. Integration:
The internal problem of maintaining satisfying relations among the interacting, members and avoiding
disrupting conflicts. For small groups, this concerns inter-personal relations. For larger organisation, it
concerns inter-group relations.
4. Latent Pattern Maintenance:
The internal organisational problem of ordering activity patterns of the system, and also of adjusting
the role demands on members, so that these are compatible with their other role commitments.

The social institutions are all closely interrelated and they form a complex whole. That is why
institutions are referred to as <a cluster of institutions=, one impinging upon the others.
The social system, the social structure with its interrelated parts, the basic functions of the system
together with corresponding institutions designed to fulfill these functions are set out in diagrammatic form
below:

The Socio-Ecological Development Model

The socio-ecological development model is another specific social work practice theory based on
social systems thinking. This model looks at how multiple social systems and levels of the social environments
(individual, micro, meso, Exo, and macro-systems) impact individuals9 experiences and behavior. For
example, the micro-level is the location of intimate and family relationships, the meso-level is the location of
institutions and organizations, and the macro-level is the location of society-wide factors such as culture or
laws, all of which shape who we are and how we develop.

Social System and School Effectiveness According to Hoy and Miskel (2013) all schools are open
systems that comprise of inputs, transformation process, outputs, feedback and the environment (Aydin,
Sarier, & Uysal, 2013).The open-system portraits organization as not only affected by environments, but also
dependent on them. Open-system9s cyclic process, it starts with inputs, transformation and output.
Organizations take inputs from the environment, transform them and produce outputs (Neal, 2013).

PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 2

Downloaded by REGIE PALASI ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|29749978

FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020

Study Guide in ProfEd 104: The Teacher and the Community School Culture and Organizational Leadership

What are the 8 key elements of the school as a social system?

Schools are social systems with the following key parts:
✓ Structure: roles are expectations of positions that are arranged in a hierarchy.
✓ Individual: the individual is a key unit in any social system; regardless of position, people bring with
them individual needs, beliefs, and a cognitive understandings of the job.
✓ Culture: represents the unwritten feeling part of the organizations: its shared values
✓ Politics: informal power relations that develop spontaneously.
✓ Core: the teaching-learning process is the technical core of schools.
✓ Environment: everything outside the organization; source of inputs.
✓ Outputs: the products of the organizations, e. g. educated students.
✓ Feedback: communication that monitors behavior.
✓ Effectiveness: the congruence between expected and actual outcomes.

LEARNING ACTIVITY

Activity 1
The Why and How of School and Community Partnership

Based on your school experiences, create a concept map by which a community helps a school and ways by
which a school helps a community. Come up with an exhaustive and creative concept map.

School and Community Partnership

School helps community through: Community helps schools through:

Activity 2
Collaborative Activity
Interview teachers, master teachers and school heads/administrators (any of them and your access to
them) with the following questions below and present your output in the class during synchronous schedule.

1. What are the school takes to create linkages and harmonious relationships with parents, guardians, and
other stakeholders?
2. How do teachers establish and promote professional links with their colleagues?
3. How do school learning action cell (SLAC) sessions improve professional relations and development?

PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 3

Downloaded by REGIE PALASI ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|29749978

FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev. 0 10-July-2020

Study Guide in ProfEd 104: The Teacher and the Community School Culture and Organizational Leadership

SUMMARY

Here are some pointers to remember:

• Social system is the patterned network of relationships constituting a coherent whole that exist
between individuals, groups, and institutions. It is the formal structure of role and status that can form
in a small, stable group.
• Talcott Parsons stated that social system is consists of plurality of individual actors interacting with
each other in a situation which at least has a physical or environmental aspect, actors who are
motivated in terms of a tendency to the 8optimization of gratification9 and whose relation to their
situations, including each other, is defined and mediated in terms of a system of culturally structured
and shared symbols=, (The Social System).
• Ogbum and Nimkoff defined social system as plurality of individuals interacting with each other
according to shared cultural norms and meanings=
• This paradigm posits that every social system must continually confront and solve the four sets of
organisational problems indicated below. In abbreviated form, the four-function paradigm is referred to
as AGIL: Adaptation, Goal Attainment, Integration and Latent Pattern Maintenance.
• Social systems and levels of the social environments (individual, micro, meso, Exo, and macro-
systems) impact individuals9 experiences and behavior.
• The key elements of school as a social system are structure, individual, culture , politics, technical
core, teaching and learning, environment, outcomes and feedback loops.

REFERENCES

https://www.socialworkdegreecenter.com/study/social-systems-theory-introduction/
https://hrmars.com/papers_submitted/5004/Modelling_Social_System_for_School_Effectiveness.pdf
https://slideplayer.com/slide/6845185/

PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY 4

Downloaded by REGIE PALASI ([email protected])