Learning styles of managers in the educational profession ( A study with teachers, sectional heads and principals of schools in Sri Lanka)
Date
1998-11-07
Authors
Wickramarachchi, W. A. R.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Peradeniya
Abstract
This study was conducted in order to identify, learning styles of educational
professionals.
A sample of 552 educational professionals was selected for the current study. In the
samples, 248 teachers, 134 sectional heads and 170 principals were included. Two
instruments were used in obtaining the data pertaining to this study. The Learning Styles
Questionnaire (LSQ) which was used to identify learning styles was the first instrument.
Two British Psychologists, Honey and Mumford (1982) constructed the LSQ to
identify learning styles of managers. The second instrument was a short questionnaire made
by the researcher to identify the relationship between learning styles and some of the factors
related to learning styles.
The data obtained, on the basis of responses shown for the above instruments were
analyzed.
From the analysis of data, some important facts were revealed. On the strength of
revealed facts, the researcher could come to following conclusions:
1. By the use of LSQ, which was primarily used to identify the learning styles of managers,
it was possible to differentiate professions in the field of education.
2. Professionals in high managerial positions, ego Principals possessed the pragmatist and
theorist learning styles. However, the learning styles with managerial abilities of high
levels were found to be in the expected direction. Psychological and socio-psychological
factors that could be expected as gaining experience correspondence to those abilities.
3. The revealed Learning Styles of these different educational professional categories
suggest that Training Programmes when conducted should cater differently to these
categories.
4. According to the results of this study, the evidence for the construct validity and
predictive validity of the instrument LSQ were obtained.
5. There was an agreement between results of the two statistical procedures adopted by
Honey and Mumford (1982) and Allinson and Hayes «(1988) from the data obtained from
educational professionals.
Description
Keywords
Learning styles , Education , Social sciences and humanities , Teachers , Principals , Schools
Citation
Proceedings & Abstracts of the Annual Research Sessions,1998,University of Peradeniya, peradeniya, Sri Lanka, pp 65