Description

Teacher locus of control: Identifying differences in classroom practices

LORAINE D COOK

School of Education, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica

Abstract

This article demonstrates the utilization of mixed methods research in the exploration of differences in teaching approaches between teachers who are internal or external in their teacher locus of control (TLOC). An explanatory sequential design was used with teachers in Jamaica. A modified version of the Rose and Medway TLOC instrument was administered to 225 teachers to identify those who were internal or external in their TLOC orientation. A subset of 12 teachers was then selected from the top 10% extreme scores for both groups for participation in a qualitative study to ascertain how the two groups of teachers differed in their perceived teaching practices. The paper shows that teacher locus control does influence teaching practices. Implications of the findings are discussed, including those for educators.

Keywords: teacher locus of control, mixed methods, classroom practices