Environmental influences on professional behavior: A case of elementary teaching

Traditional models emphasize personal factors as causes of teacher classroom performance. The present study focused on environmental influences on professional behavior. In particular, the proposition tested was that increased colleague interaction and visibility among elementary teachers would affect classroom behavior. Results indicated that teachers in a colleague-dependent structure shared a greater number of common teaching patterns, even though the range of behaviors did not differ from that found in conventional settings. Implications are drawn for teacher training and evaluation and for methods of identifying teaching skills.