An Inservice Education Program: Effects on the Professional Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors of Classroom Teachers.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of experienced classroom teachers which were related to their participation in an inservice education program designed to provide training in effective teaching. The researcher gathered data before and after the seventeen volunteer subjects, representing all grade levels and various subject fields, took part in a locally developed, twelve hour inservice education program called Instructional Skills for Effective Teaching (ISET). The equivalent time series design, action research study was designed to produce data which might lead to conclusions about the degree to which the training resulted in significant change in the subjects' knowlege, attitudes and behavior as measured by pre- and post-knowledge tests, attitude surveys, classroom observations and personal interviews. Paired t-test comparisons were computed for the pre- and post-ISET knowledge tests, attitude surveys, and classroom observation scores. A oneway analysis of variance was computed between selected demographic variables and all the dependent variables measured. The ISET Program had a significant positive effect on the knowledge level of the participants, but little or no overall effect on the attitudes measured (with only three of the thirty items showing a significant increase). Of the 26 instructional variables measured during the pre- and post-classroom observations, seven showed a significant increase, 16 showed a small increase, and three showed a small decrease. This seems to be verified by the literature which suggests that the problem of transfer is probably the most difficult to solve. The analyses of variance between selected demographic characteristics of teachers and the dependent variables of the study showed few significant relationships (11 out of a possible 224). It was concluded that attitudes change very slowly. Knowledge may be acquired with comparative ease. The ability to demonstrate the acquisition of an instructional behavior upon dem and may also be readily achieved. Its consistent, appropriate, effective use in the classroom, however, may be much more difficult to achieve.