The effect of parental expectations on teacher behavior in an oil development environment

White, Dorothy Mae (1984) The effect of parental expectations on teacher behavior in an oil development environment. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This study evolved from a finding by Wiseman (1982) that Newfoundland teachers perceive local parents to be traditional in their educational views but they predict that parents who will move to the Province in the event of oil development will be progressive in their expectations of the teachers and will wish to be more involved in the school system. The purpose of this study was to experimentally examine the effect of parental expectations upon teacher behavior when the parent behaves in a manner which is congruent or incongruent with the teacher's expectancy. -- The teachers were exposed to local parents with traditional and progressive philosophies and oil parents with traditional and progressive philosophies. In each of the four experimental conditions each subject indicated their Expectancy of the parent's behavior and their degree of Stress associated with interacting with the parent, prior to meeting the parent on videotape. Following exposure to the parent, the teachers indicated their decision to keep their behavior as it was at present, to fulfill the parents' expressed expectations or to move in the opposite direction of these expectations. They made this decision and ranked their satisfaction with their decisions in areas of teaching of high and low importance to them. -- Examination of the multivariate analysis of variance and Pearson correlations performed on the results indicated that teachers, in general, would change behavior in a progressive direction. This tendency was reinforced if the teacher encountered an oil behavior in parents, and was further reinforced if this behavior was found in local parents. The progressive movement was greatest in the area of least importance to the teacher. When the behavior encountered by the teacher was incongruent with the expectancy of the teacher, and if the teacher reported higher levels of stress after exposure to the expectancy condition, then teachers tended to move more in the direction of parent demands.

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