Date of Award

1982

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Program

Higher Education Administration EdD

First Advisor

Edward A. Streeter

Second Advisor

George A. Akers

Third Advisor

Robert Cruise

Abstract

Problem. Nonclassroom teacher-student relationships were studied in the secondary-school setting with regard to their occurrence; their perceived value, adequacy, and effects; their preferred forms or types; and the perceived barriers to teacher-student association.

Method. This was a descriptive study employing survey research. A 53-item questionnaire was completed by 671 senior students, full-time teachers, and principals in the eleven SDA academies and two boarding academies in the Northern and Central California Conferences. The data from the questionnaires were summarized--totaling responses and calculating percentages, means, and standard deviations. Comparisons were made and some differences were evaluated by applying t tests, accepting .05 as the level of significance.

Findings. The data revealed that although students do perceive their teachers as involved in nonclassroom teacher-student activities, teachers saw themselves as more involved outside the classroom than did their students.

Students, teachers, and principals rated nonclassroom contact as important, with teachers placing it higher in value than did students, as did females over males, high GPA students over low, and boarding- over day-school students.

Students were moderately to well-satisfied with the quantity and quality of their nonclass relationships. Teachers were more satisfied than students.

All groups surveyed agreed that students' receptivity to learning opportunities was increased by pleasant nonclassroom teacher-student contact.

Certain types of contact with teachers were valued more highly than others. Ranking high were: Be easily available just to talk even when the student has no special problem; be available to help students with assignments; invite students to their homes; and often smile at or greet students. Some differences between boarding- and day-student preferences appeared.

The main barriers to nonclassroom involvement perceived by students were teacher partiality, busyness, and fear of discipline breakdown.

Conclusions and Recommendations. Teachers disliked outside the classroom are perceived as a deterrent to learning; therefore pleasant nonclassroom teacher-student interaction should be seen as essential at all levels of education; teachers should be expected to have yearly objectives for nonclassroom involvement; and provision should be made in the teacher's schedule for these out-of-class activities.

Subject Area

Teacher-student relationships, Seventh-day Adventist secondary schools--California

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/486/

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