The Traits, Characteristics, and Qualities of International Christian School Teachers Valued by Third Culture Kids
type: CreativeWork
description: The Problem. In this qualitative study, 24 participants, ages 18-30, who had previously attended international Christian schools for at least 2 years at the secondary level, or a combination of 4 years at the primary and middle school levels, were interviewed to determine the traits, characteristics, and qualities they valued in their teachers. Methodology. Incorporating principles of Grounded Theory, a series of rigorous steps associated with the validity process of Grounded Theory construction was employed. These steps included the simultaneous involvement of the researcher in the data collection and analysis process. Twenty-four participants were interviewed, and written notes were taken during each interview. An initial coding construction was applied to such notes. All interviews were recorded and transcribed before being uploading to NVivo 9 Software, where 200 categories and subcategories for analysis were created and the development of multiple tree maps was incorporated to explore data connections. Additional coding processes further reduced the number of categories and subcategories for analysis to 51. Combining the practices of continual data comparison, repeated coding processes were employed. From this practice, along with the creation of additional tree maps, graphic representations, and vigorous memo writing, several theoretical categories and a common theme emerged from the data. This resulted in the construction of three primary findings identifying the traits, characteristics, and qualities TCKs valued in international Christian school teachers. These findings were then situated within an extensive literature review. Results. This study provides insight into the traits, characteristics, and qualities of the "ideal" international Christian school teacher desired and valued by Third Culture Kids (TCKs). For the first time, the voice of the TCK has been codified in respect to their preferences and dislikes of teachers they interact with on a daily bas…
abstract: The Problem. In this qualitative study, 24 participants, ages 18-30, who had previously attended international Christian schools for at least 2 years at the secondary level, or a combination of 4 years at the primary and middle school levels, were interviewed to determine the traits, characteristics, and qualities they valued in their teachers. Methodology. Incorporating principles of Grounded Theory, a series of rigorous steps associated with the validity process of Grounded Theory construction was employed. These steps included the simultaneous involvement of the researcher in the data collection and analysis process. Twenty-four participants were interviewed, and written notes were taken during each interview. An initial coding construction was applied to such notes. All interviews were recorded and transcribed before being uploading to NVivo 9 Software, where 200 categories and subcategories for analysis were created and the development of multiple tree maps was incorporated to explore data connections. Additional coding processes further reduced the number of categories and subcategories for analysis to 51. Combining the practices of continual data comparison, repeated coding processes were employed. From this practice, along with the creation of additional tree maps, graphic representations, and vigorous memo writing, several theoretical categories and a common theme emerged from the data. This resulted in the construction of three primary findings identifying the traits, characteristics, and qualities TCKs valued in international Christian school teachers. These findings were then situated within an extensive literature review. Results. This study provides insight into the traits, characteristics, and qualities of the "ideal" international Christian school teacher desired and valued by Third Culture Kids (TCKs). For the first time, the voice of the TCK has been codified in respect to their preferences and dislikes of teachers they interact with on a daily bas…
author: Linton, Dale B.
keywords: Education, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research, International and Comparative Education, Teacher Education and Professional Development
date published: 2013-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:52:58Z
provider: Andrews University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Andrews University