Teachers Professional Growth: Examining the Effect of Teacher Maturity on LOC Orientation
Keywords:
Teacher Characteristics, Comparative Analysis, Jamaica, Israel, USAAbstract
In this research, a modified version of Rose and Medway's Teachers' Locus of Control (TLOC) instrument was used to investigate the relationship between a selected group of high school teachers' age, length of service, and their teachers' locus of control orientation. Several studies have suggested a high correlation (r=0.845) between age and length of service; one from the US showed increasing internality with length of service and the other from Israel showed increasing internality with age. In this study, a sample of 205 high school teachers in Kingston, Jamaica participated in the research. T-test and analysis of variance showed no significant difference between Jamaican high school teachers' length of service, age, and their teachers' locus of control orientation. These results imply that Jamaican teachers are not developing in their perception of personal control and responsibility for students' outcomes in the classroom. It is suggested that in-service development programmes should address these particular shortfalls in the professional growth of Jamaican teachers.Downloads
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).