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FORMATIVE EFFECT OF STUDY AT FACULTY OF EDUCATION ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TO WIDER EDUCATIONAL REALITY

Marie Chraskova

Abstract

The paper describes selected results of a longitudinal research study focusing on the changes in the attitudes of the students of the Faculty of Education, Palacky University, Olomouc (referred to as FE PU) to a wider educational reality. The research study was performed on a sample of 809 respondents. The respondents were students of the same fields of study in two consecutive stages in 2006/2007 (grade 1) and 2009/2010/2011/2012 (final grades). The aim of the first research stage was, using a simplified standardized method of a two-factor semantic differential ATER (referred to as SD), to find out about the attitudes of students enrolling in grade 1 of FE towards selected concepts. The research concepts of the educational environment were as follows: fellow students, Faculty of Education, secondary school study, study group, university examinations, education, assessment at university and knowledge of a foreign language. The social environment included the following concepts: health, future, personal computer, parents, friendship, me, money, my future work success. The first research stage of FE PU students also focused on the attitudes to pre-gradual concepts: current teacher training, future teacher job, student at my future school, student education at my future school, my future school, status of a handicapped individual in a society, my attitude to handicapped individuals, care for handicapped individuals in a society. The students were also presented the NEO five-factor personality inventory focusing on the respondents’ personality characteristics (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to experience, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) that can play a significant role in their work success. In the second research stage the students were presented with the same battery of research questions and scales of SD; moreover, the students’ opinions about their pre-gradual teacher training were investigated using a questionnaire. In both research stages the concepts were arranged in semantic spaces. Changes in the attitudes were then analysed using the Student’s t-test. The results of the research revealed that the field of study (natural sciences, social sciences, special education) has a significant effect on the students’ attitudes to almost all concepts. A principal negative finding is that the perception of the research concepts by FE PU students considerably decreased in all research areas between the first and second research stage.

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