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Teacher acceptance of the instructional environment scales (Ties)

University of British Columbia

The Instructional Environment Scale (TIES), a measure designed to assist professionals in systematic analysis of a student's classroom environment, has not been readily accepted by classroom teachers. A review was conducted of the theory and the research upon which TIES was based and the research concerning factors influencing the acceptance of interventions by classroom teachers. From the latter research, it was hypothesized here that improved knowledge about TIES would enhance acceptance on the part of classroom teachers. Two experiments were conducted. In both experiments, subjects were presented with one of two descriptions of TIES. One of these was described as the low information condition, while the other was designated the high information condition. In the first experiment, the information was presented on videotape while in the second a lecture format was used. Information gained from the presentation was measured by a 20 item test of knowledge of TIES devised for the study. Acceptance of TIES was evaluated using a measure adapted from the Behaviour Intervention Rating Scale (BIRS: Von Brock and Elliott, 1987). Coefficients of reliability were found to be .64 and .65 for the knowledge measure and .91 for the acceptability measure. Subjects were student teachers and experienced teachers enrolled in summer session courses in educational psychology and special education. Demographic variables such as teaching experience, special education background, and level of students taught had no significant influence on the results. The null hypothesis that there would be no difference in acceptability ratings of TIES when teachers were given more information about the instrument could not be rejected in either experiment. Subject characteristics and methodological difficulties were discussed as limitations to the generalization of the results.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-02-25

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5067

Special Education

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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