1. Attitudes of Vocational Educators Toward Change
- Author
-
Thomas, Hollie and Schmidt, Mark
- Abstract
(Purpose) The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a difference between the perceptions of district vocational directors and high school building administrators concerning the willingness of vocational educators to make changes in their programs. (Methodology) A mailed survey was sent to 67 district directors of vocational education and the 431 high school principals in the 67 Florida school districts. The survey instrument was designed in two parts. The first section required ratings of vocational educators' stages of planning, development, and implementation of innovative instructional strategies and innovative program initiatives. The items reflected the seven innovations that members of the Florida Department of Education agreed were those that were being promoted for adoption in Florida high schools. The items for the second part of the instrument were based on the dimensions of the Attitude toward Change conceptual framework. A return rate of 68.8 percent was obtained. Data analysis was accomplished using a t-test to determine whether there was a significant difference between the mean ratings given to the vocational educators by the vocational directors and the principals of the high schools where the programs were housed. (Results) The means for each item on the instrument as well as the means for each scale score was explored to determine the level of the adoption of the innovation or the extent to which the respondent groups reported that vocational educators had positive or negative attitudes toward change. (Conclusions) The data indicate that both administrative groups believe that the vocational educators have a positive attitude toward change and have made substantial progress in implementing changes that have been promoted by the Florida Department of Education. Both of these administrative groups see vocational educators as having a positive attitude toward planning, implementing, and maintaining programs after changes have been made with the Principal group being more positive than the Vocational Director group. This raises the question of whether vocational educators are more critical of other vocational educators than are non-vocational administrators. It follows then that the image that the general public has of vocational educators as being out of date and not wanting to change could be a result of this internal criticism. (Recommendations) It is suggested that a study be done to answer the question as to whether vocational programs are up to date and whether appropriate research is being conducted to determine what changes need to be made in the programs. (Contains 6 tables and 1 figure.)
- Published
- 1999