In the study of organizational culture, metaphors help insiders bring to the level of conscious thought the assumptions underlying its essence. This study examined the culture of a suburban middle school through metaphors chosen by teachers, administrators, and staff to describe their school. The study focused particularly on how the metaphors held by individuals shaped their beliefs and practices. The results of our study indicate that the metaphorical images used by our participants to represent the culture of their school did reflect, to a great extent, their construction of professional reality. The assumptions underlying their professional worlds became evident as they described their metaphors and the roles they ascribed to themselves, students, and others within each metaphor.
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