The purpose of this study was to gather information about the demographic variables and responsibilities of British Columbian itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing, investigate if these teachers experience occupational stress, determine the relationships between these variables and their stress levels, and to determine which manifestations of stress were most prevalent for this population. Two questionnaires were used in this study: the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI), which was a standardized measure of stress, and the Itinerant Teacher Questionnaire (ITQ), which was a self-created questionnaire to gather information about demographics and itinerant responsibilities. The survey packages were mailed during the months of May and June 1998, to 92 itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing in BC, Canada. The response rate was 76% (n=70). The demographic information and responsibilities of the typical BC itinerant teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing were presented and discussed. This was the first project of its kind in BC to examine these variables, and it has created a database of information for further research and comparisons. Using the TSI and its norms, it was determined that BC itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing experience lower levels of stress than American teachers. However, caution should be exercised when comparing BC itinerant teachers to the norms, because the norms were collected from the northeast, mid-Atlantic, and southeastern states of the US. From the questionnaires and a multiple regression analysis, the predominant sources of stress for these teachers were determined to be: work overload, lack of time, high numbers of personnel worked with, poor ability to have rooms assigned in a school, poor quality of rooms worked in, weather interference during travel, and poor communication with school personnel. Using the TSI, emotional (anxious, depressed, etc.) and fatigue (physical exhaustion, weakness, etc.) manifestations of stress were the highest rated symptoms of stress experienced by BC itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing. Results, implications, concerns, and suggestions for further study are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to gather information about the demographic variables and responsibilities of British Columbian itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing, investigate if these teachers experience occupational stress, determine the relationships between these variables and their stress levels, and to determine which manifestations of stress were most prevalent for this population. Two questionnaires were used in this study: the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI), which was a standardized measure of stress, and the Itinerant Teacher Questionnaire (ITQ), which was a self-created questionnaire to gather information about demographics and itinerant responsibilities. The survey packages were mailed during the months of May and June 1998, to 92 itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing in BC, Canada. The response rate was 76% (n=70). The demographic information and responsibilities of the typical BC itinerant teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing were presented and discussed. This was the first project of its kind in BC to examine these variables, and it has created a database of information for further research and comparisons. Using the TSI and its norms, it was determined that BC itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing experience lower levels of stress than American teachers. However, caution should be exercised when comparing BC itinerant teachers to the norms, because the norms were collected from the northeast, mid-Atlantic, and southeastern states of the US. From the questionnaires and a multiple regression analysis, the predominant sources of stress for these teachers were determined to be: work overload, lack of time, high numbers of personnel worked with, poor ability to have rooms assigned in a school, poor quality of rooms worked in, weather interference during travel, and poor communication with school personnel. Using the TSI, emotional (anxious, depressed, etc.) and fatigue (physical exhaustion, weakness, etc.) manifestations of stress were the highest rated symptoms of stress experienced by BC itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing. Results, implications, concerns, and suggestions for further study are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This experimental study grew out of the ideas gleaned from a review of literature which indicated that the attitudinal role of the classroom teacher serves as a model for students. A justification of the need to modify behaviors toward the hearing-impaired became apparent. The significance of effective workshop procedures could result in notable implications for school district planning and implementation of an in-service education plan. An experimental study was conducted to determine if teacher attitudes toward the hearing-impaired can be modified using two types of in-service workshops, passive versus active participation. Three groups of randomly selected regular classroom teachers at the elementary level from a West coast suburban school district were used for this investigation (Ṉ=86). One group served as a control, a second group participated in active involvement workshops regarding the hearing-impaired student, and the third group attended passive involvement workshops regarding the hearing impaired student. Immediately following the workshops, participants were administered two scales designed to measure attitudes toward the hearing-impaired. The research hypothesis for the study was that not all subpopulation means of the scores of teachers for both scales will be equal. (H₁: not all's are equal.) The statistical hypothesis stated that all subpopulation means of the scores of teachers for both scales will be equal. The results, after submitting the data to SPSS Subprogram, ONEWAY (Nie et al., 1975), with alpha set at .05 yielded no statistically significant differences among the groups. The statistical hypothesis was not rejected. The results of this study imply the need for school districts to pre-test teachers' attitudes in determining a need for specific in-service courses. School districts should consider requiring in-service courses for teachers whose pre-test scores indicate negative attitudes. Another implication to consider for effective in-service education is the duration of the workshop. The workshops designed for this study were one hour in length and did not result in effective modification of attitudes toward the hearing-impaired. This investigation suggests that research is needed to establish the relationship between effective in-service training and positive attitude development.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to determine if there were significant differences in the levels of job satisfaction of teachers of the deaf in residential and day school/class programs. Four selected subpopulations of these teachers were also compared.The Purdue Teacher Opinionaire was utilized to obtain teacher perceptions of job satisfaction. A questionnaire was utilized to obtain demographic data. Five major null hypothesis were tested by the multivariate and univariate analysis of variance.Findings1. Day school/class and residential school teachers of the deaf were found to be significantly different in levels of job satisfaction.2. Male and female teachers of the deaf were found to be significantly different in levels of job satisfaction.3. Normal hearing teachers of the deaf and deaf teachers of the deaf were found to be significantly different in levels of job satisfaction.4. Teachers of the deaf in various age groups were found to be significantly different in levels of job satisfaction.5. Teachers of the deaf with daily contact with deaf colleagues and those without daily contact with deaf colleagues were found to be significantly different in levels of job satisfaction.Conclusions1.The type of school (residential or day) does have an influence on job satisfaction levels of teachers of the deaf.2. There are significant differences in levels of job satisfaction between the following subgroups of teachers of the deaf: male and female; hearing and deaf; age ranges 20-25, 26-35, 36-45, and over 45; and teachers with daily contact with deaf colleagues and teachers without daily contact with deaf colleagues.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of the competencies which are needed by teachers of the hearing impaired in 1980. A survey instrument containing 92 competency statements that were originally developed by Romaine Mackie in a study she conducted in 1956, was utilized in this inquiry. Subjective judgments as to the importance of the competency statements were made by current teachers of the hearing impaired and administrators of programs for hearing impaired students. In addition, the teachers rated their self-proficiency in each of the competencies.

Thesis (D. Phil. Communication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Summary in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

This qualitative, exploratory study describes and interprets the perspectives of giftedness of twelve teachers who work with Deaf and hard of hearing students in a variety of educational settings across Canada. Using in-depth interviews, the resulting twenty-five hours of audio tapes were transcribed and analyzed line by line using procedures suggested by Giorgi and Marton. The supporting literature came from four major areas: (a) the construct of giftedness; (b) giftedness among the disabled population; (c) giftedness among the Deaf and hard of hearing population; and (d) theory related to teachers' knowledge and perspectives. Analysis of the data resulted in presentation of the findings from two perspectives: teachers' understandings of the meanings of giftedness and the process through which these teachers appeared to have gained their knowledge. Teachers' practical knowledge was portrayed in detailed stories of forty-three hard of hearing or Deaf students whom they believed to be gifted and in the way they described the students' achieving, learning and behaving in classroom interactions. The teachers' conceptually oriented knowledge was described as they reflected upon the meanings they associated with giftedness. The teachers' knowledge of giftedness was compared to that found in the gifted literature at both the practical and theoretical levels. Through interpretations derived from daily interactions with students and drawing on knowledge gained from personal experience, these teachers constructed perspectives of giftedness. The process that emerged illustrated the teachers' use of comparison groups as ways of gaining insight about the students and teachers' ideas about the use of labeling. The teachers' perspectives suggest that Deaf and hard of hearing students are gifted in ways similar but not identical to hearing students. The abilities of these students appear to be different from others in the "handicapped-gifted" literature and their needs are unique. The teachers' more conceptually oriented ideas also appeared to be similar but not identical to theoretical definitions of giftedness. The findings support collaboration between teachers and researchers to explore ways in which teachers come to recognize and understand gifted students. Future research must also explore the special educational needs of students who are dealing with the effects of having a hearing loss and being gifted.

Recently, in the South African and the international context, teacher identity investigations have dominated the landscape of transformation in education, in an attempt to understand the relationship between teachers’ identities and their practice of teaching. However the dearth of research on deaf education and D/deaf teachers has created a gap in our comprehensive understanding and this study has aimed to address this void and advance existing theory. This project focused individually and collectively on five Deaf teachers and how they experienced their deafness in widely differing circumstances at various stages in their lives from childhood to adulthood. The project explored firstly, how the participants constructed their identities as people living with deafness; how they understood and interpreted their lives in the context of deafness. The second component of the investigation addressed how they negotiated their deafness related identities in their practice as teachers. My purpose was to know through their personal stories how they have come to explain and know themselves as Deaf persons, how deafness gives character to their lives and how this image guides their practice as teachers. The participants, who teach in schools for D/deaf learners in KwaZulu-Natal, were drawn from a larger cohort of Deaf teachers that qualified from a three-year pilot teacher education programme designed to train D/deaf teachers to teach D/deaf learners. At the time of the research, participants were in their eighth year of teaching. Through unstructured interviews, conducted via the medium of South African Sign Language, data was obtained in the form of narratives of participants’ lives which were captured in three seamless phases that included their childhood, schooling and their experiences as teachers. The signed data was transcribed into written English text. The written text which was collaborated by participants, was used for the analysis This study has examined their individual life stories and the construction of their identities as D/deaf persons, against the backdrop of proclaimed Deaf cultural identity, where difference rather than disability is highlighted. In the analysis I argue from a post-structural perspective that the participants’ claim to positioning in either Deaf or deaf or hearing discourses is not fixed and rigid. Instead positioning overlaps fluidly and continuously between the three discourses with participants taking on character and conventions from Deaf, deaf and hearing discourses. They transition consciously or unconsciously between the systems and create multiple and contradictory identities. In addition I argue that cohesiveness and coherence in the conceptualization of a Deaf cultural community and Deaf identity is non-existent, when viewed from a post-structural lens. The institutional resources that shape their teacher identity constructions include colleagues, learners, the parent community, the curriculum, and other micro-interactions. The institutional resources intersect with biographical resources of race, religion, gender, social class, childhood and later experiences, relationships, recollections, role-models and other signifiers. A multitude of intersections and permutations emerge, to create an inexhaustible inventory of teacher positions embedded in the general discourse of teaching and discoursed by teaching. In both instances, that is, as D/deaf person and as D/deaf teacher, the school is the site that instantiated the D/deaf identity and the teacher identity and the cultural discourses that prevail in schools are the sites of resistance, acceptance and negotiation of identities. Here identity emerges in the space where subjectivities intersect with narratives of social, cultural and political discourses. This research which draws from the Deaf educators’ personal and professional experiences and is articulated through the medium of South African Sign Language, hopes to bring the educators’ histories together, and through these reflect on their lives, visualizing new possibilities for understanding deafness in an educational and cultural context. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.