Secondary School Teachers’ Attitudes to Information Literacy: A Study of A Questionnaire Validity

Author(s):  
Vincas Grigas ◽  
Anna Mierzecka ◽  
Tímea Tomori ◽  
Tibor Koltay
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
David Herron ◽  
Lotta Haglund

A Review of: Williams, D. and C. Wavell. “Secondary School Teachers’ Conceptions of Student Information Literacy.” Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 39.4 (2007): 199-212. Objective – To examine school teachers’ understanding of student information literacy and to look at the implications of the findings for developing information literacy in students. Design – Qualitative research design (group discussions; verbal and written reflections). Setting – Secondary schools in the United Kingdom. Subjects – Secondary school teachers with various subject specializations. Methods – The study initially involved 31 secondary school teachers; 24 from seven schools in Scotland and seven from two schools in England. Participant teachers were self-selecting. The study took a phenomenographic approach. Teachers’ perceptions of their students’ abilities and their experiences and perceptions of their role in developing these abilities were examined through data collection in three stages. During the first stage, group discussions established the teacher’s initial conceptions of information literacy. Participants also filled out an information task grid which, together with focus questions, ensured that discussions were kept in the realm of practice. During the second stage of data collection, teachers observed and reflected on their students’ use of information in classroom activities. This was accompanied by informal site visits during which 26 of the participants were introduced to information literacy frameworks and definitions in order to contextualize reflections and discussions. Field notes were used to record these informal meetings. Six participants provided written feedback on reflections. In the third and final stage, a summary of themes from the first two stages was sent to 23 of the participants prior to a second group discussion in order to try to stimulate further reflection. Discussions were audio recorded and transcribed. The transcribed data were analyzed for the dimensions of variation of teachers’ conceptions of student information literacy and key elements associated with each category of description were determined. Main Results – The data revealed six main conceptions of student information literacy among the teachers: “finding information,” “linguistic understanding,” “making meaning,” “skills,” “critical awareness of sources,” and “independent learning.” There was no particular hierarchy in their conceptualization, although independent learning seemed to be the ultimate goal. Teachers’ conceptions in the beginning of the study focused on the ability to find information, whereas after a period of reflection and further discussions, a broader and more complex understanding of information literacy appeared. Table 1 simplifies some of the data from the table in the article and shows conceptualizations as well as some of the contextual elements. [Table 1] Teachers felt that they had at least some control over the development of student ability to find information, develop skills, and critically appraise sources, even though these were not the highest learning priority outcomes. However, in the three areas of ability which the teachers regarded as of high learning priority (linguistic understanding, making meaning and independent learning), they felt that they had little control over the development of these abilities in the students. Conclusion – The teachers’ conceptions of student information literacy overlapped with the ideas in existing models and frameworks for information literacy. However, some areas of information literacy were not addressed by the teachers, i.e., ethical issues in the use of information. In the categories of description of high learning priority, the main reason for the low sense of control by the teachers seemed to be curricular pressures – “our content is prescribed and time allocated doing each of these things is prescribed so we have got limited room for maneuvering” (206). The teachers tended to regard information literacy as process and skills-orientated, with little connection to learning. The authors note that other research also suggests that school librarians also have difficulty relating information finding to learning in specific subject disciplines. There is a clear gap here as the authors point out that “there is a danger that students will not understand the significance of learning with information for academic achievement or for independent learning” (209). The authors suggest that the way forward for further development of information literacy in the classroom and library is through dialogue and that “librarian-teacher collaborations needs to be founded on shared understanding of the complex inter-relationship between information and learning” (209).


Author(s):  
Yuen Fook Chan ◽  
Nusrah Ahmad Mukhtar ◽  
Norsidah Mohammed Noordin

The chapter aimed to examine the relationship of leadership styles and attitude towards organizational change among 360 secondary school teachers in Selangor. Statistical analysis techniques, namely, mean and standard deviation, Pearson product moment correlation, and multiple regression analysis, were used. Findings indicated that although teachers perceived the leadership styles of their principals were only at the moderate level, teachers showed a high level of positive attitude towards organizational change. There were positive relationships between principals' leadership styles and teachers' attitudes towards organizational change. The results also revealed that 11.8% of the variance of attitude towards organizational change is explained by transformational leadership style. Hence, transformational leadership style has an influence on the teachers' attitudes towards organizational change. The practical implications of these findings were discussed to provide insights for the improvement on leadership practices towards organizational change in the secondary schools in Malaysia.


Author(s):  
Yuen Fook Chan ◽  
Nusrah Ahmad Mukhtar ◽  
Norsidah Mohammed Noordin

The chapter aimed to examine the relationship of leadership styles and attitude towards organizational change among 360 secondary school teachers in Selangor. Statistical analysis techniques, namely, mean and standard deviation, Pearson product moment correlation, and multiple regression analysis, were used. Findings indicated that although teachers perceived the leadership styles of their principals were only at the moderate level, teachers showed a high level of positive attitude towards organizational change. There were positive relationships between principals' leadership styles and teachers' attitudes towards organizational change. The results also revealed that 11.8% of the variance of attitude towards organizational change is explained by transformational leadership style. Hence, transformational leadership style has an influence on the teachers' attitudes towards organizational change. The practical implications of these findings were discussed to provide insights for the improvement on leadership practices towards organizational change in the secondary schools in Malaysia.


Libri ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwole O. Durodolu ◽  
Dennis N. Ocholla

AbstractInformation Literacy (IL) is fundamental for lifelong learning, especially for the teaching profession, where information is critical for imparting knowledge to students who are expected to be creative, critical thinkers and lifelong learners. The study investigates the search strategy, self-concept and metacognitive skills of secondary school teachers in selected cities in Nigeria and South Africa. The study adopted a post-positivist research paradigm combining both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies largely through a multi- case study research design. Data were gathered through questionnaires, interviews, observation and document analysis that included a literature review. The target population was secondary school teachers in Lagos and Durban. The sample for the research was drawn from teachers in government secondary schools in Lagos and Durban. A multi-stage sampling technique was used in the first stage to purposively select samples from the two cities of Lagos and Durban in order to make comparisons. The second stage involved stratified random sampling, and the third stage applied simple random sampling. Literature analysis and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) were used to inform the study. The study revealed the following: (i) teachers in Durban had a higher level of perception of the need for information literacy than their counterparts in Lagos; (ii) electronic information resources were infrequently used by the teachers; (iii) younger teachers tended to possess a higher level of information literacy than their older colleagues, which proves why in-service training is imperative; (iv) female teachers were significantly more information literate than their male counterparts; (v) many of the school libraries seem to have been afterthoughts, and the specifications for library building and planning were not observed as itemized by IFLA library building guidelines; and (vi) interaction and collaboration between teachers and librarians was limited. Recommendations have been made regarding how the issues and challenges could be addressed and solved with IL policy and work shopping of teachers for IL.


1977 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. McAtee ◽  
Keith F. Punch

This paper analyses the pattern of responses of a representative sample of 841 Western Australian secondary school teachers to the Kerlinger Education Scale VII. The analysis shows clearly the two dimensional factor structure commonly postulated, with one factor bringing together the “progressive” educational referents, and the other bringing together the “traditional” educational referents. Interesting bivariate relationships, some of which may challenge conventional stereotypes, occur between scores on these orthogonal factors, and background variables of the teachers and situational variables of the schools. Not surprisingly, however, only a small proportion of the variation between teachers in progressivism and traditionalism can be accounted for by such variables.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (46) ◽  
pp. 11264-11271
Author(s):  
Shalini Johar ◽  
Vinod Kr. Shanwal

Traditionally, teachers used to determine the learning of the students, they only decide about the knowledge and skills that need to be taught to the students but there has been a paradigm shift with the advent of new digital mediums. Now learning has evolved into a learning-centered, self-directed, social, peer-to-peer, inquiry-based and cooperative approach to education. ICT revolutionized learning for students and teachers. It has provided immense opportunities from connecting with people, accessing information, to availability of volumes of open educational resources. Education has transformed from pedagogy to new approaches like open pedagogy, self-education i.e., Peeragogy. No doubt these approaches will prove to be sustainable with the global health crises going on. Thus, this paper aims to recognize secondary school teachers’ technological acceptability and to investigate their preparation for Peeragogy and Open pedagogy. Data was collected through a Google form from 96 secondary school teachers from 22 Indian schools, and descriptive statistics were used to examine the results. The findings revealed that the secondary school teachers are quite enthusiastic about integrating technology in education and employing peeragogy and open pedagogy in their classrooms. This study on secondary school teachers’ attitudes towards technology, their readiness for Peeragogy and Open pedagogy, and the problems they experience is expected to offer educators with relevant information for future research.


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