This investigation was designed to discover the reported patterns of perceptions and behaviors of building principals involved in the 1978 Tucson Unified School District teacher strike. The theoretical framework developed for this study was based on perceptual psychology and included the following areas: (1) perception; (2) empathy; (3) adequacy/self-concept; (4) relationships; (5) stress; and (6) perceptual framework. An interview schedule was developed, based on the theoretical framework, employing a Likert-type attitudinal scale together with an open-ended comment format. Quantitative data were collected based on the principals' responses to the scale items and qualitative data were collected based on the principals' comments on the scale items. Forty principals who were principals during the strike were interviewed in-depth regarding their perceptions and behaviors on the following aspects of the strike: (1) issues and causes; (2) influences; (3) stress; (4) relationships; (5) post-strike views; and (6) attitudes. All the data were collected during the field interviews. The principal sample was a volunteer sample selected from the total population based on their willingness to participate. Among the findings, the following appeared to be the most significant: (1) salary was perceived as the major strike issue and the way the School Board and District Office handled the issues as the primary cause of the strike; (2) the principals perceived themselves and the Tucson Education Association as having the most influence on the teachers' decisions to strike and the teachers' strike behaviors; (3) the principals reported experiencing the most stress during the strike and the least stress before the strike. As a group, the high school principals experienced the most amount of stress and elementary principals experienced the least amount of stress; (4) a break in relationships with significant others, especially teachers, was a major strike concern of the principals; (5) most of the principals perceived the strike as successful in terms of the teachers achieving their goals but costly in terms of relationships; and (6) the majority of the principals were opposed to the act of striking.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/184425 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | COOPER, JAMES SAMUEL. |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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