The Effects of Two Models of Staff Development on Self-Awareness and Attitudes of Teachers with Internal vs. External Locus of Control

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of two staff development models–role playing and open instruction–on the self-awareness and attitudes of teachers with internal vs. external locus of control. In a 2 x 2 design for analysis of variance, 27 composition teachers were randomly assigned, and subsequently stratified by locus of control scores, to two parallel but contrasting summer workshop programs to test the following hypotheses: teachers in the role-playing group would be more self-aware and have more positive attitudes toward inservice education than would teachers in the open instruction group; teachers of internal locus of control would be more self-aware and have more positive attitudes toward inservice education than would teachers of external locus of control. Significant correlations were found between the instructor in the roleplaying group but not in the open instruction group with regard to self-awareness. No significant differences were found between treatment groups with regard to attitudes toward inservice education; however, significant differences were found with respect to locus of control on all three scales, specifically teachers of internal locus of control showed significantly more positive attitudes toward inservice education than teachers with external locus of control. In addition there was a significant treatment x locus of control interaction.