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The role of community education coordinators in community schools in the lower mainland and Victoria, British Columbia

University of British Columbia

The purpose of this study was to describe community education and to identify roles of community education coordinators. A literature review formed the basis of a research instrument which was devised and used to discover actual and ideal roles of coordinators in community schools in the Lower Mainland and Victoria, British Columbia. Five pilot studies were executed to establish exclusive role descriptors. The role descriptors established were: instructor, public relations person, community developer, administrator, learner and counselor. A token distribution procedure was employed to determine the amount of time 21 coordinators 'actually' spent and 'would like' to spend at each role during an average week. A questionnaire was developed to gather personal data; the Eysenck Personality Inventory was selected to measure two personality characteristics - extraversion and neuroticism. For reliability purposes the token distribution instrument was administered to a random sample of coordinators two months after the initial survey. The study described the personal characteristics of the coordinators, determined the mean percentage of time they actually spent and would like to spend at each role and determined the relationships among the roles and between the roles and personal characteristics. Community education is spreading rapidly in British Columbia and is in a constant state of change. The research instrument used in this study permits the jobs of the coordinators to be described and may be used as a basis for determining their role expectation, as a guide for dividing their work time, and to compare their activities with the average of other coordinators. The behaviours of the coordinators will inevitably depend, however, on the circumstances surrounding their job, their preparation for the job, and the attitudes of those involved in the programs that they provide.

Text

2010-01-29

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/19418

Education

University of British Columbia

Graduate