Congruency and comparisons of the vision and mission statements across four case study schools

The fundamental role of vision and mission in organisational effectiveness has been well documented. They have been reported to reflect a sense of common purpose and can be a source of inspiration. It has become the norm for schools in Bhutan to develop vision and mission statements to guide them in their daily activities. In 2010, the Royal Government of Bhutan introduced Gross National Happiness (GNH) Education as a new paradigm for education. However, there has been no empirical study to show whether the school vision and mission are congruent with current educational developments and GNH Education in particular. The vision and mission statements of four case study schools were examined to determine if their content was indicative of GNH Education. Two schools were chosen as 'efficacious' and two 'inefficacious', in terms of implementing GNH Education, based on the collective efficacy score of each relative to 155 others that participated in a national survey. The statement analyses generally indicate lack of evidence for up-to-date school vision and mission statements. This paper presents implications in terms of vision and mission statements. The need for a large-scale study related to school vision and mission is also discussed.