Teacher perceptions of the ideal high school student in the state religious subsystem in Israel as influenced by teacher profile

Religious Education, Fall 2002 by Maslovaty, Nava

Abstract

This study presents a constructivistic viewpoint of the ranked order of ideal high school student traits as perceived by state religious teachers in Israel, and an explanation of their preferences based on the teachers' profile. The sample consisted of 357 junior high and high school teachers, who responded to a questionnaire containing 40 student traits and 46 indices on their background, teaching context, and belief system. Academic and religious traits were integrated throughout teachers' preferences, indicating their belief in the mutual importance of these educational goals. Teachers' belief systems explained the most variance in ideal high school student traits.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to: (1) present a multifaceted and multivariate definition of the ideal student, which includes both traits and structures and (2) explain the preference of the teachers by the three main areas of personal background, teaching context, and belief system. As such, this study presents research regarding perceptions of the "ideal high school student" traits by teachers in the state religious education subsystem in Israel. The assumption underlying this study is that teachers' belief systems greatly influence the way they function as teachers, and that their image of the "ideal student" is their operational definition of educational aims (Maslovaty and Iram 1997). Through a constructivistic teaching-learning process that takes place in the school and the community, teachers orient their students to develop a definition of learning and to understand contents and competencies in accordance with cultural and historical contexts. Teachers' implicit notions represent their expectations of students, and these notions are believed to be influenced by formal pedagogical standards of ideology. Further, teachers construct an ideal image of the student in accordance with the prevailing educational ideologies (Benyamini and Gilula 1983).

Perceptions of Teachers

The perceptions of teachers are informed by two viewpoints. One approach (Babad 1983; Rosenthal and Babad 1985; Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968) claims that teacher perceptions are often biased, due to their personal background and personality characteristics, but not as a result of an educational ideology. Babad (1983) posits a process in which there is the fulfillment of the teacher's expectations of the student. This phenomenon is related to the Rosenthal and Jacobson theory that the prediction is self fulfilling. According to Babad, not only is there a Pygmalion effect, whereby students blossom to the degree to which the teacher expects, there is also a Golem of Prague effect. In this phenomenon, teachers' beliefs that a student is academically weak because of origin, socioeconomic status, outward appearance, or stereotyping will lead to lower expectations and result in diminished development.

The second approach (Benyamini and Gilula 1983; Benyamini and Limor 1995) maintains that teachers construct an ideal image of students based on educational ideologies prevailing at any given time. In this approach, the concern is with the dimensions and factors of student image in teachers' perceptions. Benyamini and Limor (1995) developed the Implicit Role Theory (IRT), which pertains to the nature of cognitive schemata held by people in certain social roles in regard to those in complementary role categories. IRT stipulates a finite number of traits ordered in terms of relevance and organized in a multifaceted structure. As such, teachers' notions represent their expectations of their students. As noted, these expectations are believed to be influenced by formal pedagogical ideology and defined by standards.

In a number of studies conducted by Benyamini and Gulila (1983) and Benyamini and Limor (1995), students' ideal traits, as perceived by teachers, fell into three categories: cognitive-academic, social, and emotional-personal. Benyamini and colleagues reported differentiation in the teachers' ranking of student traits, by their role at the school as either a subject teacher, homeroom teacher; or counselor. Other past research has found that teachers preferred cognitive traits to social ones, while the least important were personal traits.

In a comparative study, conducted by Miron and Maslovaty (1995), concerning the image of the ideal high school student as perceived by prospective teachers in two universities (religious and secular), considerable similarity was found in the ranking of student traits. However, five traits relating to the social factor were ranked higher by prospective teachers of the religious university, as compared to prospective teachers of the secular university. The researchers related this difference to the significance of the affective domain within the religious teaching context. In research by Maslovaty and Iram (1997), differences by teaching experience also were found to affect the perception of the ideal student traits. These traits resulted in the six factors of study habits, sociability, higher-order thinking, interpersonal relations, independence in learning, and multidirectional thinking.