Actions for A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BELIEFS, JUDGMENT OF TEACHING PRACTICES, AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS WORKING IN RURAL SETTINGS

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A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BELIEFS, JUDGMENT OF TEACHING PRACTICES, AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS WORKING IN RURAL SETTINGS

Author
DE MELO, ANA MARIA PITA
Physical Description
150 pages
Additional Creators
Pennsylvania State University
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Summary
The study was designed to determine whether rural early childhood teachers' judgment of teaching practices and teachers' behavioral intentions were related to: (1) their beliefs about learning and development; and, (2) personal characteristics of age, years of experience, and training in Early Childhood Education.
The sample of the study consisted of early childhood teachers working in nursery schools, day care centers, and in the early grades (K-3) of elementary schools in two rural school districts of central Pennsylvania. A total of 129 teachers were identified in these school districts and sent questionnaires. From the returned 64 questionnaires, just 45 were considered usable. Data for the investigation were provided by teachers who answered these 45 questionnaires.
The instruments used for data collection were: (1) the Teacher Belief Inventory (TBI); and, (2) the Teacher's Behavior Evaluation Scale (TBES). The TBI devised by Verma (1973) provided data related to teachers' agreement/disagreement with Behaviorist and Cognitive-Interactionist beliefs about learning and development. The TBES provided data related to: (1) teachers' approval/disapproval of teaching practices reflecting either Behaviorist or Cognitive-Interactionist principles of learning and development; and, (2) teachers' behavioral intentions.
The obtained data were analyzed by using the following statistical models: (1) Pearson-Product Moment Correlation; and (2) 2 x 2 chi square. The level of significance for testing all the hypotheses was p < .05.
Findings of the study led to the following conclusions. First, rural early childhood teachers holding Behaviorist beliefs tend to approve of teaching practices which are congruent with their professed beliefs. Second, older and more experienced rural early childhood teachers tend to approve more of the Cognitive-Interactionist teaching practices. Third, formal and informal training in Early Childhood Education tends to result in rural early childhood teachers' disapproval of Behaviorist teaching practices. Finally, rural early childhood teachers' behavioral intentions are not influenced by teachers' beliefs about learning and developments, or their personal characteristics of age, amount of teaching experience and training in Early Childhood Education.
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Dissertation Note
D.ED. The Pennsylvania State University 1981.
Note
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4273.
Part Of
Dissertation Abstracts International
42-10A
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