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Teacher personality styles and behavior referrals

Sara L McInerny, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference existed between the personality preferences, temperament type, gender, degree attainment, years of experience, and the number of behavioral referrals written. A second purpose was to determine if personality preferences were predictive for the number of behavioral referrals written. The population for this study was teachers employed in six middle schools in Lincoln, Nebraska. Of the 240 eligible teachers, 200 participated in the study. A survey research design was used for this study. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Form G (1987), a self-report questionnaire, was used to identify the four bi-polar dimensions of extravert or introvert, sensing or intuitive, thinking or feeling, judging or perceiving that existed within an individual. In addition the four temperament types (Sensing/Judging, Sensing/Perceiving, Intuitive/Feeling, Intuitive/Thinking) identified by Keirsey and Bates (1984) were utilized. Referrals were limited to those that involved teacher/student interactions written during a one month period. The data were analyzed using "Statistical Package for the Social Sciences" (SPSS-X). ANOVA's, t-tests, and a stepwise multiple regression were calculated. Descriptive statistics provided frequencies, means, percentages and standard deviations. Conclusions: (1) Teachers with a Sensing/Judging temperament type prefer orderly quiet classrooms and tolerate less misbehavior from students. (2) Teachers with a Intuitive/Feeling temperament type can tolerate confusion and unpredictability. They have a higher tolerance for misbehavior and will likely write fewer referrals. (3) Gender, degree attainment, years of experience and the personality preferences of extravert and introvert have no effect on the number of referrals written. (4) The largest amount of variance in the number of referrals written was accounted for by teachers with a Thinking/Feeling personality preference. Teachers with a thinking preference wrote more referrals than those with a feeling type. (5) Teachers with a temperament type of Sensing/Perceiving may not stay in education.

Subject Area

School administration|Curricula|Teaching

Recommended Citation

McInerny, Sara L, "Teacher personality styles and behavior referrals" (1995). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9604423.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9604423

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