Search results
1 – 10 of over 31000The Pupil Control Ideology (PCI) concept has been used extensively to describe the school organization. Teachers hate been described as either “custodial” or “humanistic” in their…
Abstract
The Pupil Control Ideology (PCI) concept has been used extensively to describe the school organization. Teachers hate been described as either “custodial” or “humanistic” in their belief orientation to control of pupils. But clarification of the nature of pupil control and the teacher attitudes which lie at the base of control, has not been investigated adequately. The first section of the present investigation indicates the attitudes of teachers which are associated with high levels of custodialism. These attitudes include emphasis on, content to be taught, teacher direction, rigid classroom procedures and social disengagement from pupils. The second part of the study shows that while operational measures of control may be similar, attitudes underlying control may differ. In schools serving higher socio‐economic communities, teachers exhibit an “emotional disengagement—non‐teacher direction” form of ideology. The conclusion is drawn that unless future investigations both identify attitudes and explain the interactions of attitudes of teachers in each school system, Pupil Control Ideology may be an inadequate descriptor of the school as a social system.
Umesh Sharma and Hasheem Mannan
This chapter discusses Icek Ajzen’s contribution of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to understandings of teacher attitudes and actions in relation to inclusive practices. The…
Abstract
This chapter discusses Icek Ajzen’s contribution of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to understandings of teacher attitudes and actions in relation to inclusive practices. The discussion explores why some educators are successful in including students with disabilities in regular classrooms and others are not and considers the role of educators’ attitudes in determining their actions when they teach. The chapter proceeds to discuss the role of TPB in teacher education that supports inclusive practices and also identifies some of the drawbacks of the existing research on attitudes within the field of inclusive education. The chapter highlights how TPB theory continues to have significant relevance in a range of areas related to teacher and inclusive education.
Details
Keywords
Studies which hate examined relations between the organizational orientations of professionals, who work in bureaucracies, and measures of professionalism hate produced…
Abstract
Studies which hate examined relations between the organizational orientations of professionals, who work in bureaucracies, and measures of professionalism hate produced inconsistent and inconclusive findings. The results remain equivocal partly because restricted statistical techniques have been used and because studies have failed to differentiate between the structural and attitudinal components of professionalism. In the present study regression surface analysis was used to investigate relations between the bureaucratic orientations of 230 secondary school teachers and their professional attitudes at different levels of autonomy. The Jackknife technique was used to adjust the significance levels in the analysis. Bureaucratic orientations and autonomy had significant linear and curvilinear relations with attitude measures of ideal of service and dedication to teaching. Although the regression surfaces differed between female and male teachers, they showed that at each level of bureaucratic orientation increases in professional attitudes were associated with increases in the amount of autonomy allowed teachers. That is, bureaucratic orientations and the professional attitudes of teachers need not be in conflict if schools increase the autonomy allowed teachers.
Joseph Njiku, Védaste Mutarutinya and Jean François Maniraho
This study aims to investigate the development of Mathematics teachers' attitudes towards technology integration through collaborative lesson design activities as part of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the development of Mathematics teachers' attitudes towards technology integration through collaborative lesson design activities as part of professional development.
Design/methodology/approach
The pre-and post-test for non-equivalent comparison groups quasi-experiment was adopted as the study design where 125 participants were distributed into three groups in Dar es Salaam – Tanzania. Data analysis was done using gain in scores, t-test, split-plot analysis of variance, and eta-squared.
Findings
Comparison across groups and between pre-intervention and post-intervention showed that collaborative lesson design activities have more potential to develop Mathematics teachers' attitudes than the isolated implementation of such activities. Relevant recommendations are provided.
Practical implications
The study offers valuable insights for teacher education especially in-service training focussing on effective ways of developing teachers' competencies especially attitudes towards technology integration.
Originality/value
Although lesson design studies are prevalent, majority have investigated the development of teachers' knowledge rather than attitude for integrating technology. Additionally, the study sheds light on attitude as a multidimensional construct thereby providing more insight into the subject.
Details
Keywords
This study aims to examine the effect of critical multicultural education on the multicultural attitudes of preservice teachers in a teacher education program.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of critical multicultural education on the multicultural attitudes of preservice teachers in a teacher education program.
Design/methodology/approach
The study sample consisted of 76 preservice teachers enrolled in a teacher preparation program. This study used a pretest–posttest quasi-experimental research design with pretest-posttest. The multicultural content integration was implemented in an experimental group for one semester, and data were collected using the teacher multicultural attitude survey.
Findings
Analyses indicated that preservice teachers who were exposed to the critical multicultural education program showed significantly greater progress in their multicultural attitudes compared with teachers in the control group. The results of this study indicate that the integrating critical multicultural education content into teacher education program has a positive effect on fostering preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes.
Practical implications
Teacher education program planners should integrate multicultural content, materials and activities into teaching methods courses to promote change in preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the multicultural studies on teacher education.
Details
Keywords
Orly Shapira‐Lishchinsky and Gamal Ishan
This study aims to develop and validate a measure of a specific attitude toward teachers’ absenteeism that predicts this behavior more accurately than other general measures of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop and validate a measure of a specific attitude toward teachers’ absenteeism that predicts this behavior more accurately than other general measures of job attitudes.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants were 443 teachers from 21 secondary schools in Israel. In the first phase, the teachers answered anonymous questionnaires related to their general attitudes and their specific attitude through “absenteeism acceptance”. In the second phase, each teacher submitted copies of his half‐year absenteeism records six months after the end of the first phase.
Findings
The authors used CFA to cross‐validate the different job attitudes measures. They confirmed the construct validity of “absenteeism acceptance” through convergent and discriminant validity, finding relatively weak negative relationships between “absenteeism acceptance” and the general job attitudes. The criterion validity and predictive validity of the new measure was confirmed by intercorrelations that were found to be relatively stronger between “absenteeism acceptance” and the two measures of absenteeism (frequency, duration) than between the general job attitudes and these two measures. Quasi‐Possion regressions indicated that “absenteeism acceptance” emerges as a better predictor for both of the absenteeism measures than other general job attitudes.
Practical implications
This new measure will benefit schools and principals by allowing them to identify potential absenteeism antecedents and enable early intervention.
Originality/value
Whereas past research on work absence focused primarily on general attitude antecedents, the present study addresses a specific “absenteeism acceptance” measure. This measure can be advantageous in both understanding and predicting voluntary absenteeism more accurately than general attitude measures.
Details
Keywords
Richard Wiesenthal, Bruce S. Cooper, Ruth Greenblatt and Sheldon Marcus
Research on homework has typically focused on students’ beliefs, commitment to, and benefits of doing homework, but what about the influence of school policies and teachers’…
Abstract
Research on homework has typically focused on students’ beliefs, commitment to, and benefits of doing homework, but what about the influence of school policies and teachers’ beliefs and attitudes on the topic? Do schools with stricter rules and a clearer focus have teachers giving more homework? Are teachers who believe in the virtues of homework as a learning device and a convenient means for communicating with the home more likely to give, collect, mark, and return homework to students than teachers who see no benefits? This study developed a valid, reliable instrument, the homework attitude and behaviour inventory for teachers (HABIT), and administered it to 120 teachers in two schools with a clear, focused homework policy, and two without. Findings were that schools with a well‐defined homework policy had teachers who: gave, collected, marked, and returned homework significantly more often; and believed in the usefulness of these assignments. Multiple regressions showed a significant relationship between beliefs about homework, the homework behaviours, and the types of assignments made (repeat classwork, introduce new materials, explore new ideas, pursue imaginative topics at home). Regressing homework attitudes and school policies against teacher homework behaviours produced an adjusted R‐square of 49.5 (p < 0.001).
Details
Keywords
Shahar Gindi and Rakefet Erlich Ron
Attitudes toward minority employees are hard to predict, and there is no enough information about the variables that are associated with increased and decreased prejudice toward…
Abstract
Purpose
Attitudes toward minority employees are hard to predict, and there is no enough information about the variables that are associated with increased and decreased prejudice toward them. The Jewish and Arab education systems in Israel are, for the most part, segregated, which may potentially contribute to prejudice and alienation between the two populations. The integration of Israeli–Arab teachers in Jewish schools has been suggested to reduce prejudice. The current study sought to examine Israeli teachers' attitudes toward the inclusion of Arab teachers in Jewish schools (AJ) and its relation to degree of religiosity, minority status and demographic variables.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 1,644 teachers completed an online 22-item questionnaire that surveyed background variables such as gender, mother tongue, seniority and degree of religiosity, the two independent variables, religiosity and minority status, and the dependent variable, attitude toward the inclusion of AJ.
Findings
Overall, teachers exhibited positive attitudes toward the integration of AJ. Multiple linear regression indicated that among Jewish teachers, the degree of religiosity was the strongest predictor of the teachers' attitudes toward inclusion but was a poor predictor among Arabs. Conversely, minority status was the strongest predictor among Arab teachers but was a poor predictor among Israeli Jews. Not only did religiosity differ in its prediction of attitudes among Arabs and Jews but also the patterns of religiosity were quite different among these two groups.
Research limitations/implications
While the overall sample was wide, the specific minority groups that were examined were small and did not allow deep exploration of minority nuances. The study's generalizability is hampered by the given exceptionality of the Israeli context, where “Church” and State are not separated. Religiosity was examined in a unidimensional way and failed to explore other related factors that may be relevant, such as political inclination.
Practical implications
The study further refutes the notion of commonality among minorities. It proposes to place more emphasis on religion's role in attitudes toward minority employees. Further research into the role of religiosity in Israeli Jews' attitudes toward Arabs is needed.
Social implications
The findings suggest that the degree of religiosity might be a central factor in Israeli Jews' attitudes toward the Arab minority in general.
Originality/value
The research calls attention to the association of Judaism and nationalism as well as segregation, contributing to negative attitudes and prejudice toward the Arab minority. Unlike previous research using contact theory, the authors call attention to the importance of examining willingness to make contact prior to examining the impact of contact itself.
Details
Keywords
Po Tsai and Panayiotis Antoniou
This paper aims to describe the findings of a study investigating the relationships between teacher attitudes to teaching mathematics, teacher self-efficacy, student achievement…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe the findings of a study investigating the relationships between teacher attitudes to teaching mathematics, teacher self-efficacy, student achievement and teacher job satisfaction in Taiwan.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 110 fifth grade primary school teachers and their students (n = 2,334) between 10 and 10 years old. A teacher questionnaire and a criterion-reference test in mathematics were distributed during the academic year 2016–2017. The data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and stepwise linear regression.
Findings
The results revealed that teacher attitudes to teaching mathematics, efficacy in classroom environment and student achievement in mathematics could, to some extent, explain variations in teacher job satisfaction. Of all the variables, teacher attitudes to teaching mathematics explained the largest portion of the variance in teacher job satisfaction.
Originality/value
These findings support the proposition that teacher attitudes to teaching mathematics affect teacher job satisfaction, which is in turn, translatable into enhanced teacher effectiveness. It is important to note that this study explores the impact of student achievement on teacher job satisfaction (and not the other way round), which is a relationship that remains under-researched and needs further investigation. Implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions for further studies are provided.
Details
Keywords
Maria Vrikki and Elena C. Papanastasiou
The study assesses pre-service teachers' attitudes, confidence in research and intentions to use research by comparing the effectiveness of practical versus theoretical training…
Abstract
Purpose
The study assesses pre-service teachers' attitudes, confidence in research and intentions to use research by comparing the effectiveness of practical versus theoretical training in research methods courses.
Design/methodology/approach
This natural experiment examines the impact of the adaptations made to a research methods course for 848 pre-service teachers, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were naturally divided into two cohorts, each attending either the applied version, which required the completion of a whole research study, or the theoretical version, which did not require data collection and analyses. The data were collected through three questionnaires measuring attitudes, confidence and intentions toward research.
Findings
Inferential statistics revealed that pre-service teachers in the theoretical course (1) had more positive attitudes toward research and less anxiety, (2) had more intentions to integrate research in their daily practice and (3) had more confidence in engaging in educational research, compared to the pre-service teachers who completed the applied version of the course.
Originality/value
This study uniquely capitalizes on course adaptations, imposed due to the pandemic, to compare attitudes toward research. This is an ideal comparison because comparing attitudes of participants from different contexts involves many confounding variables. The study’s significance is amplified as, it not only elucidates the variances in attitudes, but also underscores the intricate relationship these attitudes share with the design of research courses. The insights yielded by this study offer substantial potential for reshaping pedagogical strategies in research methods instruction, thereby serving as a cornerstone for future educational innovations.
Details