No description available.

No description available.

This study investigated the attitudes toward disability on the part of children with special needs, average-achieving children, and high-achieving children as well as the latter two groups' experiences in inclusive elementary school classes. According to the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Questionnaire (ATDP), attitudes toward disability did not differ according to achievement level (p = .099). However, females were significantly more accepting than males (p = .008). In classes where the most severe disability was a mental handicap, children held significantly more positive attitudes toward disability than those who had classmates with learning, behavioral, or severe developmental disorders (p = .026). Based on interview data, average- and high-achieving children shared similar perceptions about their experiences in inclusive classes. Both groups frequently noted that classmates with disabilities enjoyed similar activities as nondisabled classmates yet exhibited more frequent inappropriate behavior. Interviewees most often acknowledged as their first response that making new friends was a benefit for children with special needs and that dealing with their disability was difficult. Learning about disabilities was viewed as a benefit for nondisabled children while feeling comfortable with their classmate with disabilities was seen as challenging. When questioned about the ramifications of inclusion on their academics, high-achievers were significantly more likely to report that they learned less (p = .01). Results are discussed in light of sensitivity theories that would predict high-achievers to be more accepting of disability because they are attuned to their classmates with disabilities' needs, and theories suggesting that high-achieving children whose academic needs are unmet may develop negative attitudes toward children with disabilities.

This study investigated attitudes of students, parents and teachers towards the use of corporal punishment in three senior secondary schools. The sample consisted of 360 students, 175 parents and 60 teachers (n = 595 respondents). Parents' and teachers' ages ranged between 23 and 79 years, whereas students' ages ranged between 13 and 29 years. Three researcher-designed questionnaires and an interview schedule were used to collect data aimed at measuring attitudes of respondents through the Likert Scale as well as open-ended items requiring opinion. Having been granted permission by the Education Department to administer questionnaires in schools, a pilot study was carried out on a relatively small scale, with respondents roughly similar to those of the final study. This was followed by the administration of questionnaires to each school in turns. Parents' meetings created an opportunity of administering questionnaires for parents and an audiotape was used for recording interviews. This study presents the first step in the development of a measuring scale, the validity of which will only become apparent after extensive use by subsequent researchers, subjecting their data to meta-analysis. The collected data were analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The crosstabulation of raw data was used to investigate differences among subjects that fall into different categories. To find the significance of differences, the chi-squared test was used. Only items reflecting significant differences were discussed, with the level of significance set between 0.01 and 0.05. This findings of the study suggest support for the view that corporal punishment should be retained as it is believed to instil good discipline which produces good results: provided there is proper supervision, which was lacking with the past education department. Some teachers, and even principals, have been found guilty of sexually abusing schoolgirls. Teachers, when on strike, pledge solidarity with students. Some students assault teachers and hold them hostage. All this points to the collapse of authority and morals for both students and teachers, and thus some respondents feel that even if caning is retained, for as long as teachers' behaviour is not monitored and scrutinized by the Department of Education, it would be dangerous to allow students to be caned by such irresponsible people (teachers), hiding under the protective cover of the unions. The study recommends that, now that corporal punishment in schools has been banned, there should be an in-built mechanism in schools to monitor caning to protect children from victimization. History has warned that even if 'official' caning ceases, but 'unofficial' caning will never stop. The code of conduct for both teachers and students should be in place, and strictly adhered to, in order to restore sound morals and mutual respect. Rigorous in-service training and work shopping to empower teachers with alternative management skills which could render corporal punishment unnecessary, should be conducted. Caution should be taken as alternatives have their limitations and shortcomings, more especially in the South African context, with its multi-cultural characteristics and diversification. It is not sufficient to conclude that respondents in this study seem to be satisfied with the retention of the cane as these results may not reflect the general view of the students, teachers and parents country-wide. An urgent country-wide research on caning should be embarked upon to get the general and different views, as the decision to ban corporal punishment seemingly does not reflect any prior nationwide research which, in turn, should inform practice and benefit changes. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.

The present research examined how daily experiences of intergroup contact through social interaction (direct contact) and exposure to outgroups in media (media contact) facilitate improvements in intergroup attitudes. A longitudinal diary study was conducted whereby participants indicated the amount of direct contact and media contact they had each day, as well as their intergroup attitudes. Results indicated that direct contact and media contact both independently predicted improvements in intergroup attitudes. For direct contact, but not media contact, this relationship was moderated by the perceived negativity of the contact. Time-lagged analyses indicated that direct contact on a given day predicted improved intergroup attitudes on a subsequent day above and beyond direct contact on that day, but that media contact has little or no residual impact. This suggests that although media contact and direct contact may both be effective at promoting more positive intergroup attitudes, direct contact may have a more lasting impact.

The present research examined how daily experiences of intergroup contact through social interaction (direct contact) and exposure to outgroups in media (media contact) facilitate improvements in intergroup attitudes. A longitudinal diary study was conducted whereby participants indicated the amount of direct contact and media contact they had each day, as well as their intergroup attitudes. Results indicated that direct contact and media contact both independently predicted improvements in intergroup attitudes. For direct contact, but not media contact, this relationship was moderated by the perceived negativity of the contact. Time-lagged analyses indicated that direct contact on a given day predicted improved intergroup attitudes on a subsequent day above and beyond direct contact on that day, but that media contact has little or no residual impact. This suggests that although media contact and direct contact may both be effective at promoting more positive intergroup attitudes, direct contact may have a more lasting impact.

No description available.

This study examined instructional strategies and their impacts on preservice teachers' attitude toward multicultural issues and learners. A qualitative phenomenological approach is used for this study because of my philosophical belief in multiple realities. / The research site was a classroom of the Multi-Cultured/Multi-Racial course offered by the Faculty of Education in an English University located in the Montreal area. The studied course was a compulsory preservice teacher training course implemented for the first time in response to the requirement of the Ministry of Education in Quebec. / The data were gathered through classroom observation, questionnaires distributed to preservice teachers in the classroom, interviews with five preservice teachers enrolled in the studied course, and an interview with the course director. / Sessions of cooperative learning and discussions following videos seemed to be effective to deepen preservice teachers' understandings of multicultural issues and teaching. The effects that the studied course had on preservice teachers differed among respondents depending on their previous experience. Preservice teachers with minimal multicultural experience felt that they learned a lot from the course, whereas preservice teachers with more multicultural experience felt that the course fell short of their expectations.

This study was conducted using the Leadership Scale for Sports research instrument on 61 high school, 62 CEGEP, 86 university, and 34 professional football players to determine if these players' preferences for five leadership behaviours differed with respect to level of play, unit of play (offensive and defensive), and team success. The leadership behaviours investigated in this study are training and instruction, autocratic, democratic, social support, and positive feedback. In addition, the data collected was analysed to determine if differences were present between football players' preferences for and perceptions of their unit co-ordinator coach's leadership behaviours taking into consideration level of play, unit of play, and team success. Multivariate and Doubly Multivariate Analyses of Variance Tests were used to interpret the data. / No differences were found among the football players' preferences for coaching leadership behaviours at the various levels of play, units of play, and team success. Differences were however found between players' preferences for and perceptions of their unit co-ordinators in training and instruction, social support, and positive feedback coaching leadership behaviours.

Due to the ageing population, an increasing number of older workers form the labour force. Unfortunately discriminatory practices against older workers are well documented and the antecedents of such discrimination are assumed to be negative attitudes towards older workers. No previous research has investigated implicit attitudes towards older workers or their behavioural consequences. Accordingly, the present research aimed to investigate both implicit and explicit attitudes towards older workers, and their predictive utility in an employment-related context. In addition, attitude malleability and the role it may play in the attitude-behaviour relationship was investigated. This thesis reports findings from 5 studies, a pilot study and 4 main studies. The pilot study determined that the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A.G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) was to be used in the main studies. The 4 main studies investigated implicit attitudes, and the malleability of such attitudes towards older, relative to younger, workers. The malleability of attitudes was investigated with a mental imagery intervention where the experimental group participants were asked to imagine and describe respected and valued older workers in their surroundings. The control group participants were asked to imagine holiday destinations they would like to visit. In general, it was expected that negative implicit and explicit attitudes would be found towards older workers but that such bias could be alleviated with a mental imagery intervention. In all studies, negative implicit attitudes against older workers were found and such attitudes were relatively uninfluenced by the mental imagery manipulation. Three studies included explicit measures of attitudes. Although some variation was found between the studies and the measures used, overall positive attitudes towards older and younger workers were found. The mental imagery manipulation was also found to influence the explicit attitudes to a greater degree than implicit attitudes. The final study investigated the relationship between attitudes and behaviour. Specifically, both implicit and explicit attitudes’ relationships with spontaneous and controlled-type behaviours towards an older and a younger target were examined. Overall, some evidence for youth-bias in the participants’ behaviour was found, as well as evidence for the relationship between explicit attitudes and spontaneous behaviours. Implicit attitudes were largely unrelated to behaviour. In general, the mental imagery intervention did not impact the attitude-behaviour relationship. Implications for older workers are discussed, as well as educational methods for reducing discrimination older workers face in employment.