A Comparison of Teachers' Beliefs and Attitudes towards Class Control in terms of Demographic Characteristics

Subject Areas : Education

S.K Alavi ¹ (استادیار گروه علوم تربیتی و روان شناسی دانشگاه یزد)
Z. Soliymani ² (دانشجوی کارشناسی ارشد رشته روان شناسی تربیتی دانشگاه یزد)

Received: 2013-11-16 Accepted : 2013-11-16 Published : 2013-06-22

Keywords: Class control, Attitude, Control styles (interventionist, non-interventionist, interactional), Control dimensions (instruction, Behavior, people),

Abstract :

This study compared teachers' beliefs and attitudes about class control in regard to their demographic characteristics. This survey study included 120 fifth grade elementary teachers sampled randomly from a population of 342 teachers in Yazd. The data collection instrument was a 25-item Likert scale questionnaire on teacher attitudes and beliefs about class control. Its validity was approved by a panel of experts of psychology and education. Its reliability was also estimated to be 0.68 using Cronbach’s Alpha. The data analysis method was independent sample t-test. The findings showed that there was no significant difference between teachers' attitudes and beliefs about classroom control in regard to their gender and teaching experience. As far as their major is concerned, a significant difference was observed between their attitudes and beliefs. In other words, teachers educated in fields related to education, were more interested in interactive style, whereas, teachers educated in other fields were more interested in interventionist style. A significant difference was also observed between the mean scores in regard to their educational degrees. That is, bachelor teachers tended to use more interactive styles than those with lower degrees. Overall, the research findings highlights the significance of teacher training in order to bring about changes in teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about class control.