Mandated human relations training: an assessment of its effects on Iowa teachers

Abstract

<p>In 1976, the Iowa State Board of Public Instruction adopted a requirement that was added to the Iowa Administrative Code that would require all teachers applying for Iowa teaching certification or renewal after August 31, 1980 to have completed a human relations training course approved by the Iowa Department of Public Instruction. The purpose of this study was to assess what the effects of this mandated training have been on the teachers of Iowa by comparing those teachers who have been trained with teachers who have not been trained. In addition, subgroups of trained teachers were compared to determine if other variables in the training process for Iowa teachers have had differing effects on those teachers. Comparisons were made of teachers trained preservice and those trained postservice, teachers trained for credit at a college or university and those trained in a noncredit workshop, elementary and secondary teachers, male and female teachers, and trained teachers with 1 to 4, 5 to 9, or 10 plus years of teaching experience;The measuring instrument was developed to measure teacher attitudes and knowledge relative to the six criteria that are the basis of the Iowa human relations requirement as spelled out in Chapter 670 of the Iowa Administrative Code. The measuring instrument contained 48 statements to which the respondents gave Likert-type responses indicating their degree of agreement, or disagreement, with the statement. A state-wide sample of 441 teachers was included through the cooperation of the building principal in one elementary and one secondary building in each of the 15 merged area districts throughout the state;The results of the comparisons made showed no significant differences between trained and untrained teachers, no differences between preservice and postservice teachers and no differences between teachers trained for post-secondary credit and those trained in a noncredit workshop. Comparisons also showed no differences between elementary and secondary teachers, found female teachers to be more positively affected than males, and found no differences in trained teachers with various levels of teaching experience.</p>