ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

Transcription

1 ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Life Skills have been defined by WHO as, Ability for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. Various studies show that value and life skills based training resulted in positive impact on teachers. For example life skills training organized by UNICEFF India in 2006 in collaboration with the education department of the Gujrat government had improved the performance of teachers and students both. Another study to support the influence of life skills training was conducted by Shechtman, Levy; Egozi and Leichtentritt (2001) in Israel. Results indicated that teachers with 2 years of training had significantly higher scores on work environment and self-efficacy measures than did teachers with less training. Studies related to life skills showed its importance in improvement of the performance of people which motivated the researcher to take life skill as her area of study. Researcher tried to investigate important aspects of teachers performance and, in the light of researches, the researcher found work environment and teachers self efficacy as important aspects responsible for performance of the teachers. On the basis of the study of Malakolunth; Idris, Rengasamy (2010) and Pyhalto; Janne; Salmela-Aro (2011) etc., it was observed by the researcher that work environment is one of the major area which highly affect the performance of a teacher. Importance of teachers self efficacy, was proved by the studies of Navidini, Shirazizade (2009) and Guo and INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 1

2 others (2012) etc. All of the studies highlighted the impact of work environment and teachers self efficacy on the performance of teachers and their students. As both the areas are very important and hence the researcher decided to include work environment and teachers self efficacy in her study with life skill. Primary education has been a topic of keen interest of government of India. It has taken several steps to establish various primary schools in rural areas of India. Still today primary education system of India is facing various problems specially related to teachers. Various primary schools do not have teachers in sufficient numbers, appointed teachers are lacking of interest, motivation, accountability etc. which results in lower knowledge and performance level of students. Thus people don t want to send their children in government primary schools. Various efforts have been taken by the government for access, retention and quality maintenance at primary level. Apart from these efforts by the government, a step can also be taken to improve teachers self image through different kinds of trainings like motivational training, content and skill based training, spiritual training, training related to values and life skills etc. Due to the importance of attention towards primary teachers, the researcher took primary teachers as sample in her study. Self awareness, Empathy, Effective leadership, Creative thinking, Effective communication, Problem solving, Motivating people, Work skill, Interpersonal relations, Coping with stress were identified life skills for INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 2

3 primary teachers in the present study. Researcher made a life skills training program for primary teachers and checked its efficacy on perceived work environment and teachers self efficacy of the teachers. First dependent variable of the present study was Teachers Perceived Work Environment which means the conditions and situations that are faced by a teacher in his/her work area. Identified dimensions of work environment were physical environment, work load/pressure, commitment, gender issues, managerial/administrative issues, job satisfaction/clarity, professional development and interpersonal relationship. Teachers Self Efficacy was the second dependent variable of the present study. It is the level of confidence that the teacher has for influencing students functioning and achievements. Areas which were covered in teachers self efficacy are efficacy in student engagement, instructional practices, classroom management, creating a positive school climate and enlisting parental/community involvement. Statement of the Problem- The present study is stated as: - Effect of Life Skills Training on Teachers Perceived Work Environment and Self Efficacy: An Experimental Study Objectives- Objectives of the study were as follows: - 1. To identify most relevant Life Skills for Primary Teachers. 2. To prepare a Life Skills Training Module for Primary Teachers. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 3

4 3. To study the impact of Life Skills Training on Teachers Perceived Work Environment and Self Efficacy after the training. Hypotheses- Two main hypotheses and four sub hypotheses for each, were made for 3 rd objective which are as follows: - H1 There will be no significant difference between mean scores of pretest and posttest of Teachers Perceived Work Environment. Sub Hypotheses H1.1 There will be no significant difference between mean scores of pretest of females and pretest of males of Teachers Perceived Work Environment. H1.2 There will be no significant difference between mean scores of posttest of females and posttest of males of Teachers Perceived Work Environment. H1.3 There will be no significant difference between mean scores of pretest of science stream and pretest of arts stream of Teachers Perceived Work Environment. H1.4 There will be no significant difference between mean scores of posttest of science stream and posttest of arts stream of Teachers Perceived Work Environment. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 4

5 H2 There will be no significant difference between mean scores of pretest and posttest of Teachers Self Efficacy. Sub Hypotheses H2.1 There will be no significant difference between mean scores of pretest of females and pretest of males of Teachers Self Efficacy. H2.2 There will be no significant difference between mean scores of posttest of females and posttest of males of Teachers Self Efficacy. H2.3 There will be no significant difference between mean scores of pretest of science stream and pretest of arts stream of Teachers Self Efficacy. H2.4 There will be no significant difference between mean scores of posttest of science stream and posttest of arts stream of Teachers Self Efficacy. Definition of key terms Life Skills: - Life skills are a set of human skills acquired via teaching or direct experience that are used to handle problems and questions commonly encountered in daily human life. According to WHO Ability for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life As per the tool, Life Skills were ten selected Life Skills which are Self awareness, Empathy, Effective leadership, Creative thinking, Effective INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 5

6 communication, Problem solving, Motivating people, Work skill, Interpersonal relations, Coping with stress. Life Skills Training: - According to Wikipedia Training is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. As per the need of the study researcher prepared a training program based on 10 selected Life Skills included various activities for each life skill with the intention of improvement in the perceived work environment and teachers self efficacy of the sample. Teachers Perceived Work Environment: - Work environment means the conditions and situations that are faced by any person is his/her area of work. As per the research, Teachers Perceived Work Environment means conditions and situations that were perceived by BTC Trainees in primary schools during their intervention program of at least six months. Covered dimensions of Teachers Perceived Work Environment were physical environment, work load/pressure, commitment, gender issues, managerial/administrative issues, job satisfaction/clarity, professional development, interpersonal relationship and competency. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 6

7 Teachers Self Efficacy: - According to Megan Tschannen and Anita Woolfolk Hoy (2001) Teacher Efficacy is the teachers perceptions of their resources and strategies for bringing about student behavioral and instructional outcomes. As per tool teachers self efficacy is the level of confidence that teacher has for influencing students functioning and achievements in the areas of efficacy in student engagement, instructional practices, classroom management, creating a positive school climate and enlisting parental/community involvement. Delimitations- Delimitations of the study were as follows: - The study was confined to Lucknow city. Only ten selected Life Skills were included in this study. Life Skills Training program was applied only on the BTC Trainees who have completed their intervention program of at least six months. METHODOLOGY Nature and Design of the study- The study was experimental in nature. Researcher design was one group pretest posttest design. Population- Population of the present study was BTC trainees of Lucknow City, who have completed their intervention program of at least six months. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 7

8 Sample and Sampling- Incidental sampling was used for selecting the sample. Total 63 BTC trainees were selected as sample, which have completed their intervention program of at least six months. Sample included 28 male and 35 female trainees. On the basis of subject stream total 31 of science and 32 of art trainees were there. Variables- Three types of variables were taken in the study 1. Independent variable- 10 selected life skills. 2. Dependent variable- Teachers Perceived Work Environment and Teachers Self Efficacy 3. Moderator variable- Gender and Subject Stream Tools- Researcher constructed following three tools for study- 1. Teachers Perceived Work Environment Scale constructed by the researcher 2. Teachers Self Efficacy Scale constructed by the researcher 3. Life Skills Training Module constructed by the researcher Procedure- All the tools were constructed by the researcher herself. There were total three tools constructed for the present study. These were Teachers Perceived Work Environment Scale, Teachers Self Efficacy Scale and Life Skills Training Module. For the construction of both the scales, researcher identified the dimensions of work environment and teachers self efficacy from various resources viz books, psychological tools and experts opinion etc. Thereafter items were written for the same and INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 8

9 shown to the experts for their valuable suggestions. On the basis of experts suggestions, the scales were edited and draft one were prepared. For preparation of final draft researcher administered tools two times. Complexities and ambiguities in items and instructions were modified and corrected after first administration of the tools. Second administration was done for item analysis. By item analysis valid and suitable items were selected and rest were eliminated or modified. Reliability was checked by split half method and face validity were established by experts opinion of both the tools. After that researcher prepared Life Skills Training Module and it was edited on the basis of suggestions of experts. After the construction of all tools, researcher administered both the scales on the sample for getting pretest scores and then Life Skills Training was given on the basis of constructed training Module. The posttest was then administered. For the analysis of data, pretest and posttest scores of both the tools, were compared. Comparisons were also made for analyzing the influence of moderator variables i.e. gender and subject stream. Mean, standard deviation, standard error and critical ratio were used as statistical techniques. Value of critical ratio was seen at 0.05 level of significance. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 9

10 RESULTS According to the framed null hypotheses, following results were found- Teachers Perceived Work Environment 1. Significant difference has been found between the mean scores of pretest and posttest of Teachers perceived work environment. 2. No significant difference has been found between mean scores of pretest of females and pretest of males of Teachers perceived work environment. 3. No significant difference has been found between mean scores of posttest of females and posttest of males of Teachers perceived work environment. 4. Significant difference has been found between mean scores of pretest of science stream and pretest of arts stream of Teachers perceived work environment. 5. Significant difference has been found between mean scores of posttest of science stream and posttest of arts stream of Teachers perceived work environment. Teachers Self Efficacy 1. Significant difference has been found between mean scores of pretest and posttest of Teachers self efficacy. 2. No significant difference has been found between mean scores of pretest of females and pretest of males of Teachers self efficacy. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 10

11 3. No significant difference has been found between mean scores of posttest of females and posttest of males of Teachers self efficacy. 4. No significant difference has been found between mean scores of pretest of science stream and pretest of arts stream of Teachers self efficacy. 5. No significant difference has been found between mean scores of posttest of science stream and posttest of arts stream of Teachers self efficacy. FINDINGS On the basis of the results following conclusion may be drawn- Life skills training has been found effective in improving the performance of the trainees. Significant difference between the mean scores of pretest and posttest of teachers perceived work environment scale revealed that the life skills training had positive impact on the trainees and it improved their perceived work environment. The areas which were improved by the training are physical environment, work load/pressure, commitment, gender issues, managerial/administrative issues, job satisfaction/clarity, professional development, interpersonal relationship. Hence Teachers Perceived work environment can be improved by life skills training. Significant difference between the mean scores of pretest and posttest of teachers self efficacy scale has shown that given life skills training was beneficial for improving the self efficacy of trainees in the areas of student engagement, instructional practices, classroom management, creating a positive school climate and enlisting parental/community INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 11

12 involvement. Thus Teachers self efficacy can be improved by life skills training. As per the results of the study, gender has no influence upon teachers perceived work environment. So it can be concluded that male and female teachers may have same level of perception about their work environment. As significant difference has been found between the mean scores of science and art stream trainees for perceived work environment, it can be said that subject stream also plays an important role on the perceived work environment of the teachers. Teachers self efficacy also has not influenced by gender of the trainees in the present study. Thus it can be said that male and female teachers may have same level of self efficacy. It has been found by the present study that subject streams of the trainees also didn t lead any impact on teachers self efficacy. Hence it can be said that teachers self efficacy has not influenced by subject streams. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION Educational implication for Teachers Life skills training program can be used to improve the adjustment related problem of the teachers at their work place, family, society etc. Life skills training program can be useful for making the teachers self aware which make them able to choose best option for themselves according to their strength and weakness. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 12

13 Teachers shall be aware about the feelings of other persons and shall show empathetic behavior by constructed life skills training program. Life skills training program will draw the attention of the teachers towards creative thinking and they shall promote the creative thinking of their students and themselves. Teachers can be made to learn the process of problem solving for their betterment by the life skills training program. Life skills training program will help the teachers to know the importance of motivation for their students and they shall identify the ways from which their students get motivated. The teachers shall get knowledge of different work skills by life skill training program which can improve their performance at work place. Making good interpersonal relations is very important part of a profession. This life skill training program has interpersonal relationship session which will help the teachers in learning the ways of developing good relations with others. Teachers can learn the ways of stress management by this life skills training program. Educational implication for Teacher Trainers The life skills training program can be used to improve teachers perceived work environment and teachers self efficacy. As the life skills training has been proved beneficial for teachers, it can be used for improvement of other areas of teachers behavior. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 13

14 Teacher trainers can include knowledge and practice of life skills in their regular teaching as it provides the knowledge of those skills which help the person in their life. Trainees can be provided the knowledge of class management with the help of life skills. Teacher trainers can also take benefit by life skills so that they can present themselves as a person having effective life skills before there students. During teaching teacher trainers can create some situations in which the trainees can do practice of life skills. Trainees can be trained for solving their problems related to every aspect of the life by life skills. Educational implication for Policy Makers Training of life skills can be made an important part of the syllabus of teacher training courses so that teacher trainees can be given training of life skills for a long time. Special life skills training programs can be organized regularly for teachers. Experienced teachers and principals of primary schools and teacher training institutions can be given opportunity in curriculum development of teacher training courses as they are aware of the circumstances of the primary schools and aware of necessary life skills for this profession. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 14

15 The persons, NGOs and various agencies which are working in the field of life skill can be encouraged by the government and related agencies. SUGGESTIONS Following suggestion may be given by the present study- Suggestions for Life Skills Training Module Life skills training module of the present study was based on only 10 selected life skills which were selected by tally method. There were some other life skills which were selected by the experts but did not get high tallies and were dropped by the researcher. These life skills can also be taken for training purpose so that the teachers may get benefit of the same. Researcher tested the efficacy of the life skills training program by the pretest and posttest score of two scales viz. teachers perceived work environment scale and teachers self efficacy scale. Thus there was no need to make separate test for each life skill. But it is felt that if separate test for each life skill is made, the effectiveness of training of each life skill can be better checked. Audio visual media should also be used for training as these media are proved more effective on the learner. Suggestions for Further Research Trainees of various teacher training program (B.Ed., NTT) and shiksha mitra can also be taken as sample of life skills training program. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 15

16 Present study was delimited to DIET of Lucknow city only. It was felt that such type of research should also be done at other places (like DIET of other places, primary schools etc.) for getting more authentic findings. The life skills training program has been developed on the basis of 10 selected life skills which were found important for primary teachers by the experts. However life skills are needed for all level of teachers that is why it is suggested that such training program should be prepared for other level of teachers also i.e. higher level, secondary etc. Training should also be given to in-service teachers. As whole school environment plays a significant role in the all round development of the child, human resources other than teachers like principal, management, non teaching staff etc. also has a need of such type of training. Effectiveness of life skills training can also be seen on other areas of teachers behavior and perception. Life skills training has been given only for limited time, if the time period is raised the training will be more beneficial. There was no influence of gender found in the present study but various studies have shown difference in between the values and perception of male and female, thus it is suggested that further research is needed in this area. Trainees were categorized on the basis of gender and stream only. It is suggested that, more categories can be taken for further study like socio- INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 16

17 economic level, teachers of government, private, missionaries and minority institution, Hindi and English medium teachers etc. Due to lack of timing follow up was not done, if it is included in the training, clearer picture of the impact of the training can be got. INDU BALA RAWAT, RESEARCH SCHOLER, UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW, LUCKNOW, INDIA (2014) Page 17