Title

Teachers' perceptions of their responsibilities: Does ease always come

Date of Award

1997

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Teaching and Leadership

Advisor(s)

Joseph B. Shedd

Keywords

teacher development, career, public education

Subject Categories

Educational Administration and Supervision | Teacher Education and Professional Development

Abstract

This study was designed to gain insight into teachers' development by identifying whether teachers' perceptions of the ease or difficulty of their responsibilities vary by years of experience.

A cross-sectional survey study solicited the perceptions of 447 K-12 public school teachers from 18 randomly selected New York State schools (largely non-urban) to: (1) confirm whether teachers' perceptions of the ease or difficulty of their job responsibilities vary by years of experience, gender, building level and/or instructional contexts, and (2) explore whether teachers' perceptions of various responsibilities vary by years of experience for particular groups of: gender, building level, and/or instructional contexts. The data were analyzed by multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) regarding the confirmatory questions and two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) regarding the exploratory question.

The survey findings confirm that teachers' perceptions regarding the ease or difficulty of their job responsibilities vary by years of experience with respect to Planning Lessons and Improvisation. The survey confirms that teachers' perceptions regarding the ease and difficulty of their job responsibilities also vary by gender. Preliminary findings suggest that males perceive Managing Relationships with Pupils, Improvisation, Managing Relationships with Colleagues, Demonstrating Teacher Leadership, and Balancing Professional with Personal Responsibilities to be easier than females, while females perceive Managing Heterogeneity, Varying Instructional Formats, Planning Lessons, and Managing Relationships with Parents to be easier than males.

Males having the most experience (26+ yrs.) perceive Planning Lessons to be more difficult than females in the same group; females with the least experience (0-5 yrs.) perceive Balancing Professional with Personal Responsibilities to be more difficult than males in the same group. Generally, teachers' perceptions of various responsibilities did not vary by building level or instructional contexts. Elementary teachers appear to perceive Managing Relationships with Parents as easier than secondary teachers. It appears that teachers facing recent significant changes in duties, grade or curriculum, perceive Managing Relationships with Parents and Balancing Professional with Personal Responsibilities to be more difficult than those teachers not facing similar changes.

Understanding perceptual variations may provide meaningful clues for working with and supporting teachers' professional development.

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