Secondary School Teachers and Learning Style Preferences: action or watching in the classroom?

Abstract

The problematic issue in education is in applying learning styles research to classroom settings in schools where a range of teacher and student learning style preferences operate simultaneously. The preferred learning styles of secondary school teachers and managers were investigated using the Honey and Mumford model of learning styles. The Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ) developed by Honey and Mumford (1986) was used in this research. The LSQ identifies four learning style preferences: Activist, Reflector, Theorist, Pragmatist. Data was collected (1989‐1992) from a random sample of 353 Main Professional Grade (MPG) (now known as the Common Pay Spine fCPSJ) teachers and 47 senior managers working in Local Education Authority (LEA) maintained secondary schools. Findings indicated that in the sample: (i) Teachers tended to have similar learning style preferences, namely, Reflector with a back‐up preference for Theorist. Their least preferred style was Pragmatist. (ii) Where learning style preferences differ between teachers, these could be accounted for by differences in subject specialism. Using a two‐way analysis of variance, a highly significant interaction was found between subject taught (12 subject specialism) and teachers’ learning style preference; (iii) Significant differences in learning style preferences were found between MPG teachers and senior managers in schools. The paper finishes with a brief description of the focus of the research into the role of learning style preferences in secondary school teachers’ classroom management. Variables being investigated are teaching style, including teachers’ beliefs and values surrounding learning and teaching (evidenced by their language patterns); observable teacher behaviour; and students’ attitude to learning.