Growing teachers' accountability for guidance leads to enhancement of parents' satisfaction and competence of education. Recently, teachers' accountability for guidance has been extended to reporting on educational outcomes and publicizing them. In th...
Growing teachers' accountability for guidance leads to enhancement of parents' satisfaction and competence of education. Recently, teachers' accountability for guidance has been extended to reporting on educational outcomes and publicizing them. In this respect, this study empirically investigates the impact of assessment of teachers' job performance and training duties at institutional level, as well as teachers’ commitment to the job and their understanding of autonomy on accountability for guidance at individual level.
Several specific research questions were set to adequately approach to this inquiry. First, how do training duties (e. g., attitudes toward training and needs for training) and the assessment of the job performance (e. g., the personnel administration and the enhancement of expertise) impact on teachers' accountability for guidance (e. g., knowledge and behavior accountability for customers, professional accountability)? Second, what is the influence of teachers' understanding of autonomy and teachers’ commitment (e. g., commitment to classes and commitment to students) upon teachers’ accountability for guidance? Third, how do variables at both institutional and individual levels impact teachers' accountability for guidance under the condition of controlling individual variables (e. g., sex, teaching experience, and position) and institution variables (e. g., school class and school size)?
In order to delve into aforementioned research questions, five hundred ninety one answers based on a survey of primary and middle school teachers in Seoul were used for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistic analysis and factor analysis were employed, aiming at calculating basic statistics and validity among major variables. Moreover, multiple regression analysis and multi-layered regression analysis were chosen to inform the influence of those variables on teachers' accountability for guidance.
The results are as follows. First, as a result of analyzing institutional variables such as teachers’ job training and the assessment of job performance, customer-oriented accountability, professional accountability, guidance accountability, personnel administration, attitude for the job training, and needs for job training show meaningfulness as predicting variables, and the personnel administration reveals the biggest correlation among them. Second, as a result of scrutinizing how teachers’ understanding of their autonomy and of their commitment to the job influence customer-oriented accountability, professional accountability, and guidance accountability the understanding of autonomy among related variables appears to have the highest explaining capacity. Third, since both individual and institutional variables impact accountability, these should be appropriately controlled. When inputting only controlled variables in order to investigate the impact on both institutional and teachers’levels while controlling those variables, the predicable explanation capacity was about 7.0%. By inserting personnel administration, training attitude, training needs (i. e., three variables on institutional level), commitment to classes, commitment to students, and understandings of autonomy (i. e., three variables on teachers' level) into the regression equation by phases, exponible capacity of accountability for guidance increased 17.7%(R =.247) and 20.8%(R =.455) respectively.
Practical and theoretical implications for the enhancement of teachers' accountability for guidance can be discussed as follows.
First, it is in need of empirical studies that will identify the influence of education policy and broad demographic variables (i. e., professional or stakeholder such as professionals at the local office of education, scholars in education, parents, and policy makers). Second, relevant follow-up studies are necessary to explore variables concerning students and parents’understandings of accountability for guidance. Third, studies investigating how teacher assessment impacts on teachers' accountability for guidance and how positive and negative relations in teachers' behavior changes are called for. Forth, it is imperative to create an advocating atmosphere for teachers to concentrate on their job by structuring a policy for the purpose of boosting morale of teachers. For example, extensively drawing upon sabbatical system for teachers, activating chief teacher system, and supporting finance for teachers' learning organizations would be desirable. Fifth, it is also recommendable to establish evaluation and remuneration system by means of assisting schools in settling autonomous curriculum management system and increasing teachers' autonomy. Sixth, the stable teacher-supplying policy should be continuously operated and teacher training should be connected to the assessment of teachers' job performance, distinguishing training for instruction/learning from for the emotional development. Seventh, it is necessary to put more efforts into fragmentation and objectification of items in the current assessment of teachers' job performance and growing and balancing teachers' expertise. In addition, the mutual evaluation among teachers those who are in charge of the same grade and vice-principal and principal's weight in the stricter evaluation should be reinforced. Eighth, in order to improve class guidance and student guidance as one of core jobs for teachers, it is advisable: 1) to provide simulation performed by experienced teachers such as vice-principals, principals, and chief teachers, 2) to apply best practices to training duties for every subject, 3) to establish a system available for teachers to share a variety of knowledge obtained through research, 4) to provide concrete and first-handed training duties, and 5) to draw out the regulation of student guidance at school in practice.
※ Key terms: teachers' accountability for guidance, customer-oriented accountability, professional accountability, assessment of teachers' job performance, understanding of teachers' autonomy, commitment to teaching, commitment to classes, commitment to students, teachers' job training