The publication of PISA results in 2022 revealed that students in Kosovo scored below a baseline level of performance. These results came despite the fact that Kosovo education has gone through several changes in the last two decades. Given that most of these changes were second-order or deep changes, they require an exploration of the underlying values, norms, assumptions, structures, process and culture of its institutions. Cultural theories suggest that understanding organizational culture is essential to identifying the relevant approaches when initiating, shaping and implementing changes in education. In this regard, school leaders play the key role in supporting the organisation to shape its culture and adapt it to its planned change. Therefore, the objective of this research is to identify the dominant organisational culture types in schools and understand how they are they aligned with the planned changes. The two main research questions that will guide the study are what are the dominant organizational culture types in schools and how do the school leaders align dominant organizational culture with the planned changes.  

The research will be conducted in a seven main primary and lower secondary public schools in capital of Prishtina (Kosovo) and will select in cooperation with the Municipality Education Department based on the criteria as best performing schools. The study will adapt a mixed methodology. For the quantitative data, the sample will consist of 300 teachers. The data will be collected using a standardized instrument (The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument – OCAI) to assess the dominant organisational culture based on four organisational culture types: clan, hierarchy, adhocracy and market. For the qualitative data, semi-structured interviews with seven school directors, document analysis will be used as a technique for collecting data. The quantitative gathered data will be analyzed using SPSS program. The mean and standard deviation will be used to calculate descriptive data. While for analyzing the inferential data, parametric tests will be used: T-test and One-Way Anova. The qualitative data gathered through seven interviews were fully transcribed and coded accordingly. The interview data will be analyzed and compared with the documents analysis as well as with the quantitative data collected through the OCAI questionnaire.

The research will identify and assess cultures in the primary and lower secondary schools and also find the difference between existing and desired culture. In addition, it will explore the role of the school director in aligning the organisational culture with the planned changes. It will promote awareness of the school organisational culture and stimulate further discussion that will make school leaders think about it and use it to improve the implementation of changes. Given the fact that the same OCAI instrument for assessing school cultures was also used in other countries, the research will be able to compare the obtained results and find out the discrepancies and challenges that were faced in other contexts. In addition, given the difficulties that Kosovo is facing to improve the school results, this research will also be useful for scholars, policy makers and practitioners in Kosovo and will encourage the discussion about the impact of the organizational culture to the change processes since there are no similar research published so far in Kosovo.

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