Perceptions of inservice strategies by vocational teachers and administrators in selected public schools of the District of Columbia

Employing a survey method, this study examined the perceptions held by teachers and administrators on inservice strategies in selected schools within the Washington, District of Columbia public schools system. In order to ferret out these perceptions, the following major questions were raised: (a) what are the demographic characteristics of the teachers? (b) what are teachers' reasons for pursuing inservice training? (c) which factors and formats were perceived to be convenient and preferred by teachers? (d) how often did teachers participate in inservice training? (e) what are the similarities and differences of the perceptions of teachers and administrators on the importance of inservice training for teachers? The substantive findings after a survey questionnaire was administered are: (a) The average age of the teachers was 45 years and the percentage for the females was twice greater than that for the males. Over three-quarters of the teachers had a masters' degree and above. Almost 45% of the teachers had taught between ll to 20 years, and about 85% of them were teaching in their area of preparation. (b) The most important reason for teachers' pursuit of inservice training was training toward certification, and their least important reason was training for inservice credit. (c) About 73% of the teachers were willing to travel only shorter distances to take their inservice training courses. A great number of them preferred Spring for their training and about one-third of them preferred afternoon training sessions. Over two-thirds of the teachers preferred group activities as forms of instruction and about 34% of them preferred an intensified format. More than half (52%) of the teachers chose industry training as a method of delivery. (d) Teachers did not participate frequently (on average 1 program per year) in inservice training programs. (e) A significant relationship indicated some differences between teachers and administrators' perceptions on inservice training. However, in general, all were seen as important by over half of the respondents. Discovering needs of students and instructional and student records management were similar between the two groups. Discovering needs of students was clearly the most important, with 88% of the teachers and 100% of the administrators rating this topic as the most important. Although even the least important in the list, fiscal policies of the total institution, was rated as important by 51% of the teachers and 65% of the administrators.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Vocational and Technical Education

Department dc:contributor.department

Vocational and Technical Education

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1988

Author dc:creator

• Lawton, Linwood E.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Hoerner, James

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Hillison, John H.
• Belli, Gabriella
• Yates, Sandra E.
• McKeen, Ronald L.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/53566

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/53566