Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
A descriptive study of rural teachers' views of inservice education
Abstract
The purpose for conducting this study was to investigate the attitudes of rural educators' current status of inservice training with their attitudes toward the ideal status of inservice training. Analyses were conducted to discover the differences in attitudes based on three independent variables: (1) the educator's years of experience in education, (2) professional assignment, and (3) gender. An instrument was developed and mailed to a random sample of 700 teachers and 87 administrators working in 45 K-12 school districts with student populations of 600 or less in zip code areas beginning with 690, 691, 692, and 693. Three hundred twenty-four teachers and 63 administrators returned surveys. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze the data. Comparisons were made based on the interaction of the three independent variables. Responses to three open-ended questions seeking information on the most and least valuable inservice education activities participated in and activities which would motivate educators about inservice education were compiled and summarized. Years of experience in education related to educators' attitudes toward inservice education. The greater the experience, the less favorable the attitude toward current and ideal inservice education. Professional assignment also related to educators' attitudes toward inservice education. Administrators had the most favorable attitudes toward inservice education, followed by elementary teachers. Secondary teachers had the least favorable attitudes toward inservice education. Gender did not have a significant impact on educators' attitudes toward inservice education. The data from the study lead to the conclusion that teachers want and need to be involved in the planning and implementation of inservice education activities. Inservice education activities must be geared toward the individual teachers, must have immediate and practical applications in rural classrooms, and be ongoing with clear and direct relationships to what teachers do on a day-to-day basis. Inservice education also must be specific in nature, continually offering new information and variety in its presentation.
Subject Area
School administration|Curricula|Teaching|Teacher education
Recommended Citation
Reichert, David Ronald, "A descriptive study of rural teachers' views of inservice education" (1992). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9225492.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9225492