Home economics teaching competencies as identified and rated by teachers, teacher educators and subject matter specialists in Virginia

Abstract

The central problem of this study was to identify competencies which are important for success as a Consumer and Homemaking Teacher in Virginia. The objectives of the study were to identify the philosophy held by Consumer and Homemaking teachers·in Virginia; to determine the tasks which are needed to implement\the philosophy; to determine the consensus among various groups of home economists as to which competencies are important for effective teaching. The approach to meeting these objectives was to have a number of home economics teachers create lists of basic beliefs, tasks, and competencies which they felt were important for successful teaching of home economics; to have professionals in the field of home economics review and react to these lists and; to construct refined lists of the philosophy, tasks, and competencies needed for successful teaching of home economics. The initial lists were prepared by sixty-eight home economics teachers who were taking classes on competency based education. The participants in these classes also reviewed and revised the philosophy and task lists. The competency statements were assembled in a Likert-Scale questionnaire and were rated as Very Important, Important, Neither Impor- tant or Unimportant, Unimportant, or Very Unimportant by three Reactor Groups. The competency statements which were rated important or very important by all groups who evaluated them were considered to be necessary for successful teaching of home economics. Refined philosophy, task, and competency lists were developed which can be used in evaluating and redesigning teacher education programs and by teachers and supervisors for self-improvement.