A Study of Student Teacher Leadership : Comparisons with Inservice Teachers and on the Development of Leadership Traits during Practice Teaching

Abstract

A comparison was made between those leadership traits exhibited by student teachers and those of inservice elementary school teachers. Not only was it possible to investigate the differences between these two groups, the author was also able to discover how leadership abilities change while student teachers are undergoing practice teaching. Results were as follows : 1. There is a great deal of difference between the abilities of inservice and student teachers in directing students towards goal-attaining behaviors ; with the student teachers lagging far behind. However this does not imply that there is a need to immediately insist that student teachers acquire such skills. 2. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding group-maintenance behaviors. This does not imply, however, that the student teachers were particularly high in these skills. 3. Student teachers on the whole showed positive changes in both of the above skills during practice teaching. Separately, however, it was found that although the trend for leadership in goal-attaining behavior is similar to the overall trend, no remarkable changes were noted in regard to leadership related to group-maintenance behaviors. 4. While it was shown that giving student teachers feedback from student evaluations of their goalattaining behaviors was significant, due to differences in initial conditions for measurement of this skill it was not possible to show that this feedback was actually effective. Feedback on evaluation of leadership in group-maintenance behaviors was not found to be effective either. 5. According to open-ended questionnaires received from the student teachers at the end of their practice teaching, many were doubtful of the reliability of the evaluations made by their students. There is a need, however, for teachers to give humble and serious consideration to how they are perceived by their students.