The purpose of this study was to determine whether training had an impact on the information technology attitudes of university faculty. The study was twofold. First, it sought to determine whether training changed attitudes toward information technology among faculty at a small, liberal arts university. Secondly, a group of faculty at a similar university was used to compare the differences in attitudes toward information technology among faculty who had received training and those who had not. The research population consisted of 218 faculty from these two universities. The literature review focused on obstacles to information technology use by faculty, instruments currently available for measuring faculty attitude, methods used in training faculty to use information technology, and integration of information technology by faculty.

The purpose of this study was to compare the self-efficacy of two groups of first year teachers working in a large urban school district in North Texas. Twenty-eight of the participants were certified teachers. Ten participants held college degrees unrelated to teaching and were undergoing an alternative certification process. The Teacher Efficacy Scale was administered at the beginning and the end of the school year. Data from this scale was analyzed to determine if there were differences between the regular certification teachers and the alternative certification teachers at the beginning and the end of the school year, and to determine if their sense of efficacy changed over the course of the school year.

The central purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes of faculty in applied sciences to the attitudes of faculty in liberal arts and other selected fields to determine if they differ significantly from each other in their perceptions of the effects of university-industry alliances on campus governance and operations. Secondary purposes were (a) to appraise the debate on alliances and the effects of alliances on academic values and (b) to contribute to the literature concerning alliances and their potential for improving higher education.

The purpose of the study was to investigate independent piano teachers' view of themselves in the light of selected attributes found in sociological writings on the professions. The research problems were: (a) to determine the attitudes which independent piano teachers held toward selected professional attributes; (b) to determine the relationship between the attitudes toward the professional attributes and selected background variables; and (c) to determine the degree of association between these attributes. The problems were addressed by a questionnaire directed to independent piano teachers active in the area of Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas. Thirty teachers were also interviewed to determine consistency of response and to explore issues which the questionnaire had raised. Reliability and validity were established at acceptable levels. Techniques of statistical analysis included Pearson's product-moment correlation, multiple regression, chi-square in conjunction with Cramer's V_, and factor analysis. The strongest attitudes expressed by the teachers in the study concerned professional self-image, altruism, client orientation, commitment to work, and independence. The most important background variables were age, years of experience, number of students, certification by a professional association, and college degree in music. A multiple regression analysis tested each variable against the dependent variable professional self-image; recognition by others, commitment to work, client orientation, and qualification were found to account for 25% of the common variance. A factor analysis was also conducted to seek out patterns of attitudes among the attributes being studied; seven factors were identified among the subjects' belief systems as Professional Actions, Satisfaction, Quality Control, Professionalism, Compliance, Autonomy, and Focus on Student. These factors accounted for almost half of the total variance in the data. The study concluded that: (a) independent piano teaching was a female-dominated, subsidized occupation, and (b) the piano teachers' professional self-image seemed to be an evaluation of themselves and their work, rather than the use of profession as a definable goal for which to strive.

The purpose of this study was to explore the variables of content knowledge, individual attitude, and span of time from initial training with regard to implementation of selected teaching practices in the elementary classroom. The sample consisted of thirty-two elementary classroom teachers who teach reading or mathematics in a large suburban school district in the Dallas Metropolitan Area. After completion of the second day's training in an inservice program on teaching strategies, the teachers were given a test to measure content knowledge of and attitude toward the teaching strategies. The test results were used in determining four groups for follow-up classroom observations four weeks and eight weeks after the in-service sessions. Using three-way analysis of variance, the data were analyzed. Results indicated that teachers with high content knowledge of the teaching strategies implemented these strategies to a greater degree than did teachers with low content knowledge. No significant relationship with regard to implementation was found for the variables of attitude or span of time. It can be concluded that teachers who know the content of inservice training are able to and do implement the training in their classrooms. Of equal significance is the conclusion that teachers who do not know the content do not demonstrate teaching skills which duplicate the training concepts. It can also be concluded that training of this type is beneficial to teachers regardless of their attitude, and that teachers who implement training will do so with knowledge of the content not affected by the factor of time. It is suggested that additional studies be conducted using these and other variables and combinations of variables which may have a relationship to the teachers' use of inservice training in the classroom.

This investigation was undertaken to compare the degree of job satisfaction of physical education faculty who were employed at community/junior colleges and four-year universities. The relationship of selected demographic variables (sex, age, contract longevity, teaching experience, and highest degree completed) to faculty job satisfaction was also investigated. Faculty (N = 70) who were employed in community/junior colleges and universities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were chosen as subjects for the study. Two instruments were utilized to collect the data. These were the Personal Data Inventory (PDI) and the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire (PTO). Analysis of the data indicated that university faculty and community/junior college faculty differed significantly in their perceptions of job satisfaction in the specific areas of teacher rapport with immediate supervisor, curriculum issues, and school facilities and services. Four demographic variables (sex, age, contract longevity, and teaching experience) were significantly related to ten specific areas of job satisfaction and to the subjects' total job satisfaction.

Hersh (1986) states, "One's conception of what mathematics is affects one's conception of how it should be presented. One's manner of presenting it is an indication of what one believes to be most essential in it." In this research study, three hundred ninety-seven urban early childhood teachers were given a survey that examined their attitudes toward mathematics and mathematics teaching, their views of mathematics, views of teaching mathematics, and views of children learning mathematics. The purpose of this study was to identify the attitudes and beliefs of early childhood teachers in two urban school districts to determine if mathematics reform efforts made a difference in teachers' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and its teaching. Questionnaires were mailed directly to teachers in one school district and principals distributed questionnaires in the other. Summary scores were calculated for parts of the instrument. The researcher performed descriptive statistics, comparative analysis, and conducted frequency distributions, t-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson Correlations. Findings revealed that teachers with 30 or more years of teaching experience had more positive attitudes toward mathematics than teachers with 1-3 years of experience. African American teachers had more positive attitudes toward mathematics and its teaching than other ethnic groups. Teachers who held a minor or major in mathematics had more positive attitudes toward mathematics and its teaching than teachers without a minor or major in mathematics. Teachers in District-A favored constructivist learning while teachers in District-B favored rote learning. Both school districts' teachers favored the problem-solving approach to teaching mathematics. If instruction is to be transformed, reformers need to understand teachers' beliefs about mathematics. Beliefs, which are essential for teachers' development, seldom change without significant intervention (Lappan and Theule-Lubienski, 1994). Therefore, school districts must be informed about the changes necessary for the reform of mathematics teaching and identify and implement through staff developments and other measures what they perceive mathematics to be and how it should be taught.

D.Phil. / The restructuring of the South African Higher Education landscape in postapartheid era has been the scene of vast organisational change as numerous mergers between Higher Education Institutions have typified this transformation. One such a merger is the merger between the Technikon Witwatersrand, the Rand Afrikaans University and two campuses of Vista University (namely the East Rand and Soweto Campuses) into the University of Johannesburg. Announced on 31 May 2002 and intended to be effective as of 1 January 2005, this merger represents the birth of the largest residential university in South Africa and presents the opportunity of studying the effects of all-encompassing change on employees first hand. In terms of organisational change – with mergers representing a specific type of organisational change – it is apparent that the effect of change on staff members is not only a widely overlooked matter in practice, but also in organisational change literature (and in mergers and acquisitions literature in particular). This study explores the merger experiences of academic staff at the University of Johannesburg and also examines the role leadership has played in these experiences. Using an Interpretive, case study design, 40 academic staff members were interviewed. These research subjects were selected on a purposive basis from all faculties across all campuses. Using the Strauss and Corbin application of Grounded Theory, the collected data was analysed to construct the reality of academic staffs’ merger experiences and perceptions of the merger at the University of Johannesburg. In terms of the University of Johannesburg, findings indicate that institutional predisposition is a major contributor to shaping research subjects’ initial attitude toward the pending merger. Furthermore, the interim phase that the University found itself in directly after merger the date, was a cause of great discontent amongst academic staff and was seen as the greatest debilitating factor to the successful roll-out of the merger. The study indicates that academic staff relay their experiences and perceptions of the merger in three discernable time frames, or perspectives, each with its own unique dynamic. Collectively, these three perspectives constitute the Reflective Experience of Mergers (REM) theory, which examines how the merger experiences of academic staff shape their perceptions of and attitudes toward the merger over time. The REM-theory reiterates the temporal nature of change; it is a phenomenon that evolves over time in discernable stages. Furthermore the REM-theory also underscores the effect change has on the emotional and psychological well being of individuals over time. The REM-theory also highlights the important role leadership plays in a merger as, in the case of the University of Johannesburg, research subjects tended to be far more critical of deficiencies in leadership as opposed to deficiencies in management.

M.Ed. / In current times, the increasing demands of principalship and the complex challenges facing schools have led to the emergence of distributive forms of leadership in schools. The dissatisfaction with traditional models of leadership has resulted in a paradigm shift where leadership focus on the position of individuals in the hierarchy has been rejected in favour of collective leadership practices. In an era of democracy, distributive leadership continues to attract attention as a relevant model for the twenty-first century school. This study investigated teacher experiences and perceptions of the practice of distributive leadership in South African public primary schools in the Soweto region. The study was framed within a pragmatic paradigm using a mixed methods research design. An exploratory sequential strategy was used where the qualitative phase of data collection and analysis preceded the quantitative phase. The sample comprised teachers who were not formally appointed as leaders and did not belong to the school management teams. In the qualitative phase focus group interviews were conducted in three schools. Document analysis was conducted to support the interview findings. The quantitative phase tested the findings from the qualitative phase using a standardised questionnaire. Various themes and sub-themes emerged from the qualitative study. The first theme, leadership styles, revealed that principals practiced autocratic rather than participative styles of leadership. The autocratic style restricted principals from redistributing power to teachers and excluded teachers from decision-making processes. The second theme, school climate, indicated that the present leadership style led to a negative school climate which in turn had an adverse impact on staff relationships, teacher morale and motivation, job satisfaction as well as teaching and learning. The third theme that emerged was communication with teachers expressing the need for openness and transparency in decision-making. The fourth theme identified was barriers to teacher leadership. This was supported by sub-themes which pointed to the lack of opportunities for teacher leadership, teacher isolation in lesson planning, a heavy teacher workload, the need for power sharing and the need for the professional development of teacher leaders. Finally, the benefits of distributive leadership were identified as the fifth theme and teachers perceived that distributive leadership would have a positive impact on job satisfaction, encourage delegation and give them a voice in decision-making.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract