A study of perceived role responsibilities and qualifications for teachers employed in developmental day care centers in the state of Virginia

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify administrative, instructional and classroom management role responsibilities for teachers employed in developmental day care centers. The secondary purpose was to identify appropriate training/work qualifications teachers should posses prior to employment.

The investigator utilized the perceptions of administrators of proprietary day care centers, administrators of non-profit day care centers, principals of public elementary schools and college faculty.

Procedures A survey instrument was designed using a six column Likert scale. In March and April, 1977, 1,305 survey questionnaires were sent out in the state of Virginia to the four identified groups. An overall response of 38% was received.

A one-way analysis of variance was implemented to determine significance at an alpha level of .05. When significance was found a t Test Matrix was used to determine significant differences between group mean scores.

Findings

1. There was no significant difference in the perceptions of the four occupational groups in regards to the administrative role responsibilities of a teacher.
2. There was no significant difference in the perceptions of the four occupational groups in regards to the instructional role responsibilities of a teacher.
3. There was a significant difference in the perceptions of the four occupational groups in regards to the classroom management role responsibilities of a teacher. Principals and college faculty were in strong disagreement with most of those items.
4. There was no significant difference in the perceptions of respondents by educational level regarding the administrative role responsibilities of a teacher.
5. There was a significant difference in the perceptions of respondents by educational level regarding the instructional role responsibilities of a teacher. The higher the educational level of the respondent the more strongly he viewed the teachers instructional role.
6. There was a significant difference in the perceptions of respondents by educational level regarding the classroom management role responsibilities of a teacher. The higher the educational level of the respondent the less strongly he viewed the teacher's classroom management role. 7. There was no significant difference in the perceptions of the four occupational groups in regards to the training/work qualifications for teachers.
7. There was a significant difference in the perceptions of respondents by educational level regarding the training/work qualifications for teachers. Bachelor degree respondents disagreed most strongly with the other educational levels.

Conclusions A pattern of dichotomous responses was apparent in relation to the respondents occupation and educational level. Administrators of all day care centers had similar perceptions of most items. These responses differed in several areas from perceptions of college faculty and elementary principals. Results of the study indicated that respondents made choices which were closely aligned to their own employment model and educational level.