Parent and teacher beliefs and teacher-pupil interaction : a pilot survey : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education.
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Date
1972
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Massey University
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Abstract
This investigation reports a quasi experimental study of teachers' verbal contacts with pupils during their first year of formal schooling. It was expected that consensus of certain beliefs about teaching priorities held between teacher and parent would be related to the frequency of teacher approval expressed towards pupils – and also that the frequency of teachers' expressed disapproval towards pupils would be related to parent-teacher disensus. The gross propositions directing this study are that: 1. Parents hold a variety of beliefs concerning the activities which will facilitate success at school for their children. 2. These beliefs are transmitted to the children during the socializing process. 3. Teachers also develop a variety of beliefs concerning pupil activities which will facilitate success at school. 4. When parental socialization practices produce in their children behaviours that are in relative agreement with a particular teacher's expectations for the pupil role, teacher approval will be a characteristic feature of teacher-pupil interaction. 5 When parental socialization practices produce in their children behaviours that are in relative disagreement with a particular teacher's expectations for the pupil role, teacher expectations are affronted and teacher disapproval will be the characteristic feature of teacher-pupil interaction. 6. Parent teacher disensus-consensus will be reflected in teacher treatment of pupils and will be expressed through different patterns of verbal contact during classroom interaction. Six statements, paired in all possible combinations, describing the different ways in which pupils might behave in order to succeed in school were presented in a questionnaire to 21 teachers of five year old school pupils. Of these 21 teachers, the six used were those holding the strongest preferences for one of each category of beliefs about school success. Over 80% of parents of children in these six classrooms completed the same questionnaire. Subsequent analysis determined which parents held views most similar to or different from their child's teacher. The 32 pupils whose parents' beliefs were most isomorphic with those of their child's teacher, and the 32 pupils whose parents' beliefs were most contrary to those of their child's teacher, were selected for the study. Of the 64. pupil subjects, half were boys and half were girls. Each of the six teachers was observed for three hours. Two trained observers, using a radio microphone, tape recorder and written records collected data covering all teacher verbal contacts with the selected pupil subjects during the period. Only those teacher verbal contacts categorized as negative and positive sanctions or negative and positive directions, were recorded. Analysis of the data revealed that parent-teacher disensus and consensus of beliefs is significantly related to differences in both quality and quantity of teacher verbal contacts with the children observed during their first year at school. Such differences in teacher contacts with pupils occurred independently of pupil sex status although sex status served to compound the direction of results.
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Teacher-student relationships