The attitudes of teachers and students toward student rights in selected integrated high schools in eastern Newfoundland

Templeman, Harry R. (1988) The attitudes of teachers and students toward student rights in selected integrated high schools in eastern Newfoundland. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to examine teacher and student attitudes toward student rights in selected integrated high schools in Eastern Newfoundland. These attitudes were analyzed for both teachers and students by computing and comparing the means for each item, area, and for the total questionnaire. T-tests were used to make these comparisons. The study's secondary purpose was to analyze teacher attitudes in relation to various demographic variables such as sex, age, teaching certificate, school size, and the completion or non-completion of a university course in school law. The attitudes of students enrolled in Levels I, II, and III were also analyzed in relation to demographic variables such as sex, age, career aspirations, school size, and the completion or non-completion of Canadian Law 2104. Data for this secondary purpose were analyzed by multiple regression, using the SPSS package. -- Information was collected through a self-designed questionnaire administered to two hundred and twenty teachers and nine hundred Levels I, II, and III students in regional and central high schools during October, 1987. The questionnaire was designed specifically for teachers and students and focused on specific aspects of student rights. Of particular concern in this study were teacher and student attitudes toward academic freedom, free speech and expression, personal appearance and behaviour, privacy, and reasonable punishment. -- The analysis of these data revealed that in the area of academic freedom there was a difference between the attitudes of teacher and student respondents. A large majority of the students claimed they should be entitled to these rights, but only a small percentage of the teachers felt that way. Actually, teachers showed least support for this particular area. Only slightly more than half of the students and an even smaller number of teachers indicated that students should have the rights of free speech and expression. The students themselves were least supportive of these rights. Students, more so than teachers, asserted that they should have the rights to personal appearance and behavior. It was apparent in the study that a large percentage of both teachers and students believed that students should, indeed, have the rights to privacy. It is interesting to note that both groups were most supportive of this area. Similarly, the majority of each group supported the view that students should be entitled to due process. In the area of reasonable punishment, there was little difference between the attitudes of teachers and students with both groups endorsing these rights. It should be pointed out that this was the closest area of agreement between the two groups. An analysis of the total attitude score revealed that the majority of both teacher and student respondents agreed or strongly agreed with granting students their rights. -- When the data tor teachers were also analyzed by multiple regression, the only factor to statistically register as significant, with respect to privacy, reasonable punishment, and the total attitude score, was sex. Age was the strongest factor in explaining differences in teacher attitudes for the area of personal appearance and behavior. There was a correlation between the age of the teacher respondents and their attitudes toward personal appearance and behaviour. As age increased, teachers tended to be less supportive of giving students rights in this particular area. The study also showed that females were more in favour of student rights than males. -- For students, sex was the only statistically significant contributor to student attitudes for the areas of academic freedom and due process. School size was the major contributor to the variance for the area of free speech and expression, and for the total attitude score. When considering the area of personal appearance and behaviour, the strongest factor in explaining differences was sex. It should be noted that school size also entered the regression equation for this particular area. - Male students were slightly more supportive of student rights than female students for the areas of academic freedom, free speech and expression, personal appearance and behaviour, and due process, as well as for the total attitude score. For the other two areas, privacy and reasonable punishment, the difference between the means was not statistically significant. For students, there was an inverse relationship between school size and the areas of free speech and expression, personal appearance and behaviour, and privacy, as well as for the total attitude score. Students in larger schools tended to more strongly agree that they should be entitled to greater freedom in these particular areas.

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