The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree to which a need exists in Florida to provide public school teachers at both the preservice and inservice levels with knowledge relative to the legal aspects of their professional roles. In an effort to achieve this purpose, basic statements of educational legal knowledge were identified from the literature, developed into a survey instrument, and validated by a sample of Florida public school teachers, administrators, district school board attorneys and directors of teacher preparation programs. / Of the 933 survey instruments mailed, 450 (48%) containing usable data were returned. The final sample of respondents was composed of 344 teachers, 71 administrators, 22 school board attorneys, and 13 directors of teacher preparation programs. / The survey instrument contained 37 statements of basic educational legal knowledge and utilized a basic discrepancy design in an effort to address the following six research questions: (1) What were the perceptions of the respondents with regard to each identified legal knowledge statement's degree of criticality and the degree to which each statement was perceived to be known by teachers in Florida public schools? (2) What discrepancies existed between the respondents' perceptions of the criticality of each statement and the knowledge status of Florida teachers? (3) What areas of educational legal knowledge were perceived as important by the respondents? (4&5) Are preservice and inservice teacher preparation programs in Florida presently providing educational opportunities in the legal implications of teachers' professional roles? (6) Does a need exist in Florida to provide opportunities for teachers to learn about the legal implications of their professional roles? / The findings of the study seem to indicate the following: (1) The education of teachers in the legal aspects of teaching was considered to be of "more than great" importance by all respondents. (2) A discrepancy exists between the criticality and the knowledge status of Florida teachers relative to educational legal knowledge. (3) Some teacher awareness of educational law does exist but only to an average degree. (4) Teacher preparation programs and inservice education programs are not addressing the need for legal preparation of teachers. (5) All areas of the law presented in this study were considered of great importance by the respondents and 35 of 37 statements were considered validated. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2421. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74518 |
| Contributors | RINGENBERGER, BARBARA KAY., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 393 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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