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The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between ratings of desirable teacher competencies and selected personal and professional variables of the trade and industrial (T&I) teachers in Virginia. The variables were correlated and analyzed in order to explain the variance of teacher competencies. The independent variables were years of trade experience, years of teaching experience, levels of professional training, and reasons for teaching. The dependent variables were the total ratings of the 17 competencies, as evaluated by the teacher's immediate supervisor, and three categories of the competencies: teacher preparation, delivery of instruction, and support of appropriate vocational organizations. The sample in the study consisted of 130 randomly selected T&I teachers from 74 comprehensive high schools and vocational centers across the state of Virginia. Data were collected by mailing the evaluation instrument and teacher questionnaire to the teacher's immediate supervisor. Eighty-seven percent (87%) of the mail surveys were returned. The sample was described by the number of years of trade experience, the number of years of teaching experience, the number of college hours with Vocational prefix, other college hours, and reasons for entering the teaching profession. Frequencies, means, and standard deviations were obtained. The reasons for teaching which were ranked as first and second choices were a desire to work with young people and interest in their trade. The data were analyzed by using correlations and multiple regression. Findings revealed that: (1) No significant correlations exist among the independent variables and the dependent variables. (2) Nothing can be gained by partialing out the variance in the dependent variable. Thus, the ratings of the T&I teachers by their immediate supervisors were not dependent upon the variables of years of trade experience, years of teaching experience, or hours of postsecondary professional training. / Ed. D.

The purposes of this study were: (1) to assess the attitude of the vocational teachers of the Area Vocational-Technical Centers in the State of Virginia towards vocational education and college preparation: and (2) to determine to what extent combinations of personal characteristics were predictive of the vocational education and college preparation preference of the vocational teachers. Eight research questions were derived for the purpose of Clarifying the direction of the study. The variables were: (1) the area of subject matter taught; (2) the age; (3) the number of years of work experience outside of teaching; (4) the number of years of teaching experience; and (5) sex (male-female). Data were collected on data processing sheets through a mail survey. The subjects were teachers of 17 Area Vocational-Technical Centers. The 17 centers were randomly selected from a total of 27. A total of 201 or 72.92 percent of the 277 vocational teachers responded to the survey. The survey instruments were fed into a computer and the scores from the respondents were recorded on data processing cards, The SAS (Statistical Analysis System) was utilized in programming the cards. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data pertinent to the research questions. On the basis of the information presented in this study, the following conclusions resulted relative to the vocational teacher's attitude toward vocational education and college preparation: 1. Attitude is not influenced by the combination of the area of subject matter taught and the age of the teachers. 2. Attitude is not influenced by the combination of the area of subject matter taught and the number of years of work experience of the teachers. 3. Attitude is influenced by the combination of the area of subject matter taught and the number of years of teaching experience of the teachers. 4. Attitude is not influenced by the combination of the age and the number of years of work experience of the teachers. 5. Attitude is not influenced by the combination of the age and the number of years of teaching experience of the teachers. 6. Attitude is not influenced by the combinations of the number of years of work experience outside of teaching and the number of years of teaching experience of the teachers. 7. Attitude is not influenced by the sex (male-female) of the teachers. When analyzed, all data was tested at the alpha level of 0.05. The lack of difference in the combinations of the personal characteristics variables tend to indicate that the personal characteristics of the teachers might not serve as a valid indicator of teacher vocational education and college preparation preference. The overall criterion mean scores of 195.787 was a deviation of 14,213 from the arithmetic mean of 210. This implied that the vocational education/college preparation preference of the vocational teachers, as a group, had a tendency to lean toward college preparation as opposed to vocational education. The results of the Study suggested that ape, when viewed in terms of the criterion measures, and the area of subject matter taught and the number of years of teaching experience, in combination, were valid indicators in predicting the preference of vocational teachers of the Area Vocational-Technical Centers in Virginia. However, preference of these vocational teachers did not differ significantly in terms of the remaining variables of this study. The data appeared to suggest that vocational teachers of these centers were biased against vocational education in favor of college preparation. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perceived staff development needs of part-time occupational-technical instructors in the Virginia Community College System and to determine if there was a relationship between these needs and selected independent variables. Also considered were the instructors' attitude toward staff development and under what conditions they would participate in an in-service program. The 308 part-time occupational-technical faculty members who made up the sample were surveyed. A total of 196 or 63.6 percent of the 308 questionnaires used in the survey were returned and coded for use in resolving the four research questions. Absolute frequencies, percentage frequencies, and chi square tests of significance were used. Using the responses on the 196 returned questionnaires, the following conclusions were rendered concerning part-time occupational technical teachers in the Virginia Community College System. l. That a typical part-time occupational-technical teacher wi 11: a. Hold at least a Baccalaureate Degree b. Have more than 200 clock hours of teacher training c. Have from one to ten years experience d. Have more than ten years of occupational experience in the field in which they are teaching e. Be between 26 and 45 years of age 2. There is a need for in-service training for these teachers and that their needs are found in certain areas. 3. There is an inverse relationship between the educational level and certain perceived staff development needs, and that as their education level increases, their staff development needs in the given areas decrease. 4. Staff development is important to these teachers. 5. If a staff development program were offered at a convenient time and if the teachers were paid the same amount as they would receive for teaching, the majority of the teachers would participate in the staff development program. Recommendations rendered concerning staff development for part-time occupational-technical faculty in the Virginia Community College System were as follows: 1. The characteristics of these teachers discovered by this research should be considered when establishing a staff development program for these individuals. 2. When a staff development program is set up the in-service training should be organized so as to give training in the areas in which the instructors indicated having need. 3. Any in-service program should be developed with the idea in mind that as the level of education increases, the level of need decreases in certain areas. 4. A staff development program should be developed and offered to these teachers at a convenient time and that they be paid the teaching rate for the hours they participate in the program. 5. A study should be conducted to find out what specific kinds of staff development programs would best fit the needs of these individuals. / Ed. D.

M.S.

The primary objectives of this study were to identify the professional vocational technical education competencies needed by Swaziland agricultural, commercial (business), home economics, and technical teachers; and to assess the teachers' perceived importance of and the perceived ability to perform these competencies. The study also sought to determine if differences existed as functions of the four teacher specialty groups (areas), levels of education, and years of teaching experience. The professional vocational technical education competencies were developed in two, one-day focus group workshops with Swaziland teacher educators, curriculum development specialists, and school senior inspectors (supervisors) from the four specialty groups (areas) of agricultural, commercial, home economics, and technical studies. The workshop results were a universe of 161 professional vocational technical education competencies needed by Swaziland secondary/high school vocational teachers. Data were collected via a mailed instrument to determine the teachers’ perceptions of the importance and ability to perform the 161 competencies. The respondents surveyed were a stratified, random sample of 191 teachers, composed of agricultural (57), commercial (54), home economics (40), and technical (40) studies. All questionnaires were returned. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and summarize the data. Measurement scales of importance and performance corresponding to the Likert scales utilized in the survey instrument were employed for data analysis purposes. Major findings were that teachers, regardless of specialty groups (areas), educational levels, and years teaching experience, agreed on the high importance of and a good ability to perform the 161 professional vocational technical education competencies needed to fulfill job expectations of secondary/high school vocational technical teachers. From these results, it was concluded that the professional vocational technical education competencies developed are needed by Swaziland teachers of agricultural, commercial, home economics, and technical studies. Hence, it was recommended that the developed competencies be adopted for inclusion in the teacher education programs, and that further study is needed to determine the more critical inservice needs of teachers. / Ph. D.

Employing a survey method, this study examined the perceptions held by teachers and administrators on inservice strategies in selected schools within the Washington, District of Columbia public schools system. In order to ferret out these perceptions, the following major questions were raised: (a) what are the demographic characteristics of the teachers? (b) what are teachers' reasons for pursuing inservice training? (c) which factors and formats were perceived to be convenient and preferred by teachers? (d) how often did teachers participate in inservice training? (e) what are the similarities and differences of the perceptions of teachers and administrators on the importance of inservice training for teachers? The substantive findings after a survey questionnaire was administered are: (a) The average age of the teachers was 45 years and the percentage for the females was twice greater than that for the males. Over three-quarters of the teachers had a masters' degree and above. Almost 45% of the teachers had taught between ll to 20 years, and about 85% of them were teaching in their area of preparation. (b) The most important reason for teachers' pursuit of inservice training was training toward certification, and their least important reason was training for inservice credit. (c) About 73% of the teachers were willing to travel only shorter distances to take their inservice training courses. A great number of them preferred Spring for their training and about one-third of them preferred afternoon training sessions. Over two-thirds of the teachers preferred group activities as forms of instruction and about 34% of them preferred an intensified format. More than half (52%) of the teachers chose industry training as a method of delivery. (d) Teachers did not participate frequently (on average 1 program per year) in inservice training programs. (e) A significant relationship indicated some differences between teachers and administrators' perceptions on inservice training. However, in general, all were seen as important by over half of the respondents. Discovering needs of students and instructional and student records management were similar between the two groups. Discovering needs of students was clearly the most important, with 88% of the teachers and 100% of the administrators rating this topic as the most important. Although even the least important in the list, fiscal policies of the total institution, was rated as important by 51% of the teachers and 65% of the administrators. / Ed. D.

Critical thinking is a chief focal point in all areas of education today. Teachers can create an environment that is conducive to critical thinking through behaviors practiced in the classroom. Knowledge and use of these teacher behaviors by teachers are basic for development and enhancement of critical thinking in students. The purpose of this research was to determine the enabling behaviors used by a selected group of Virginia postsecondary vocational educators that stimulate critical thinking in students. The primary subjects for this study were postsecondary vocational technical educators randomly selected from five community colleges in Virginia. A total of 30 instructors were identified. In addition, 328 community college students participated in the study. Selected conclusions drawn from the findings were: 1. The postsecondary vocational technical instructors of the five community colleges selected for this study are not using the enabling behavior of questioning that"best" stimulates critical thinking or modeling the behaviors found in the literature that will enhance a student's ability to think critically. 2. The amount of pedagogical training (course work) taken by the postsecondary vocational technical instructors, of the five community colleges selected for this study, does not seem to influence the instructor's use of enabling behaviors related to critical thinking. 3. The community college students in this study perceived their instructors to be exhibiting behaviors and possessing characteristics that will stimulate critical thinking. Selected recommendations drawn from the findings and conclusions are: 1. Additional research is needed to determine if the findings of this study are typical of vocational technical community college instructors statewide. 2. Research similar to this study needs to be conducted on faculty other than vocational technical instructors of the community colleges to assess their use of enabling behaviors. 3. Community college instructors need to be exposed to instructors in formal course work or in informal workshops that embody and exhibit enabling behaviors, especially questioning and modeling. / Ed. D.

Ett inkluderande arbetssätt kan sammanfattas i att en skolverksamhet ska möta varje elev utifrån elevens förutsättningar och behov. Teori och forskning visar att inkludering är ett komplext begrepp som kräver kunskap för att som yrkesverksam inom skolverksamheten kunna omsätta teori till praktisk handling.Syftet med denna studie har varit att belysa och skapa en medvetenhet kring ämnet inkludering och dess utmaningar utifrån tre yrkeslärares, en rektors och en specialpedagogs perspektiv på handelsprogrammet. De utmaningar jag har fokuserat på handlar om inkluderingsarbete på handelsprogrammet. Vidare har jag i studien analyserat hur de yrkesverksamma inom skolan arbetar med ett inkluderande arbetssätt. Studiens forskningsfrågor har besvarats genom kvalitativa intervjustudier. Resultatet har analyserats med hjälp av teoretisk bakgrund och forskning med fokus på olika inkluderingsperspektiv enligt de intervjuades utsagor.Studiens resultat visar att inkludering är en utmaning i skolans vardag som handlar om att möta varje elev utifrån deras egna förutsättningar och behov. I studien framkommer även svårigheter inom skolverksamheten i arbetet med inkluderingsperspektivet eftersom skolan tillhandahåller begränsade resurser. Utifrån studiens resultat kan inkludering förstås som ett viktigt begrepp som bör genomsyra skolverksamheten på ett organiserat och strukturerat sätt. Studien visar också att det finns potentiella utvecklingsområden för att på ett bättre sätt i framtiden tillgodose elever i behov av särskilt stöd på gymnasieskolans yrkesprogram. / Keywords: vocational education, vocational students, vocational teachers, inclusion, challenges, business and administration programme An inclusion approach can be summarized as the requirement on schools to meet each student based on that student’s abilities and needs. Theory and research shows that inclusion is a complex concept; this requires professional teachers in schools to have the right knowledge in order to be able to translate theory into practice. The purpose of this study has been to highlight and create awareness of the subject of inclusion and its challenges based on the perspectives of three vocational teachers, one principal and one special education teacher in the Business and administration programme. The challenges I have focused on concern the inclusion work in the Business and administration programme. Furthermore, the study also includes an analysis of how the professionals at the school work with an inclusive approach. The study's research questions have been answered by qualitative interview studies. The results have been analyzed by using theoretical background and research with a focus on different inclusion perspectives based on the interviewees' statements. The results of the study show that inclusion, which is about meeting every student based on that student’s circumstances and needs, presents a challenge for schools in every day life. The study also shows difficulties within the school itself to work with the process of the inclusion perspective as only limited resources are available. Based on the study’s results, inclusion is understood to be an important concept which should be part of all school activities in an organised and structured way. The study also shows that there are potential areas of development in order to better accomodate students in need of special assistance at the secondary school vocational programmes in the future.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2003. / Title from title page screen, viewed October 19, 2005. Dissertation Committee: Rodney P. Riegle, Kenneth H. Strand (co-chairs), George Padavil, Albert T. Azinger. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-165) and abstract. Also available in print.