Tiwari, Arun Kumar. (2010). EXPLORING AND IDENTIFYING THE WORK VALUES AMONG JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. Unpublished. ERIC, Education
Objectives of the study:
Identification of the work values available in curriculum-presently being taught at Jr. High School level.
Study the pattern of preferences and practices of work values prevailing among the students.
Developing a work value scale- valid for students of Jr. High School Level.
Examining the variation in work values in relation to contextual variables (see Tan and Khoo, 2002). To this end gender, ecological and family related variations in wok values and its developmental trend would be analyzed.
Examining the views of the stakeholders (eg. parents, teachers, school administrators) I regard to work values.
Research Questions:
What is the status of work values in the curriculum of grades 6 to 8?
How do the parents, teachers and school administrators think about work values?
How do the school children define work? What are their attitudes towards work?
How can a reliable scale of work value- valid for students of Jr. High School level, be developed?
How do the various aspects of socio-cultural context relate to work values and work attitudes?
Sample of the study:
In phase I, the textbooks of Hindi, English and Social Studies of Grades 6th to 8th were content analyzed to find out the themes related to work.
In phase II, 30 students, 20 teaches, 30 parents and 20 administrative staffs were interviewed.
In phase III, 240 students were taken.
Tools Used:
Semi structured Interview Schedule
Work value scale for Junior High School Students
Statistical
techniques: Mean, Standard Deviation, F-Value, t - value, Factor analysis
Results of the study:
The findings of phase I revealed that there are very few references of relevant work related themes in the text books of Hindi, English and Social studies of 6th, 7th and 8th classes. Even the themes, that were available in these text books, were not presented in some impressive manners so as to be able to affect the children’s feelings about work, or to instill the work values among them.
The information obtained in Phase II suggested that there was consentaneous opinions among students, parents and teachers about the children's feelings about work. According to them, the children not only understand the meaning of work , they know the importance, benefits and other implications of doing works, also. These stakeholders further opined that the present education system is responsible for the poor work values among the students. The results of these two phases supported the findings of several earliest studies conducted in this area. On the basis of important findings of these studies, it has been frequently suggested to make modifications in the present education system. Certainly, while doing so, the textbooks also would require modification.
The phase III was the major part of the project. In this phase, first of all, data were collected from 240 students of class 6th, 7th and 8th. Half number of these students were boys and the rest half were girls. Similarly, half of them were from rural area, while the other half were from urban area. The obtained data were statistically analyzed, first with the objective to develop a reliable and valid scale of work values for Jr. High School Students; and further to examine the roles of some contextual variables on variations in work values among these students.
The work value scale for Jr. High School was developed on the basis of four factors of work values that appeared as the significant factors from the factor analysis of data. The four factors were; domestic work value, knowledge through work, positive feelings with works, and home assignment value. Thus the final scale contained four different sub-scales for the four factors. The scores, obtained on these sub-scales were added to develop a composite score for total work value. The successful development of a work value scale for Jr. High School students on the basis of scientifically investigated four factors of work values provided rationales to the operationalization of work value in the context of elementary education, which was earlier questioned by the experts during the elementary planning of the present project. The nature of four factors, emerged as the significant factors of work values from the data obtained from the children studying in Jr. High School classes, seemed to substantiate the presumption- presented in the beginning of this section of the present report, according to which the work values of the students of elementary level might be operationalized in terms of attributes such as; likelihood to accept and owning the works/assignments, perception of desirability of work, love for the works and enjoyment in doing it, ability to distinguish between work and non work, sharing the feelings of parents about work, and evaluation of instrumentality of works to achieve the desired objectives.
Several work value scale are available in the industrial and organizational academic areas, but only a few scale for measuring work values among children have been developed. The qualification of present developed scale is its applicability in the specific context of students of Jr.High School students.
The examination of variations in work values across the contextual variables (gender, rural-urban habitation, and classes or grades of the students) revealed that among the three variables, gender appeared to be most potent determinant of work value among these students. Gender has been universally found significant determinants of many of the social, educational and psychological processes in most of the studies, conducted in different background of national identities. (In a recent study based on survey of more than five thousand people of U.K. , it was found that in comparison to men, more number of women have a feeling of pleasure in life. Dainik Jagaran, Lucknow, 11th April,2010). Although the activists of feminist movements would hesitate to agree but it is a fact that there are natural differences between males and females on various physiological and psychological grounds. However the systems including the educational system of a civilized society need to work to check the probabilities of gender-based discrimination in the society due to these differences. The findings of the present study of work value can be explored to get relevant cues applicable in this context.
The rural-urban habitation and the classes (6h, 7th and 8th) were found to determine work value up to only limited extents. However, a tendency of stagnation or a little declination in different factors of work values during the development from 6th standard to 8th standard was noticed. It was really a matter of worry.
Implications:
The results of the study seem to have several policy implications, some of which are presented below:
In the curriculum at Junior High School level, the number of work related themes or references are very few. It should be increased.
Sometimes such themes are referred in very superficial manner, having no significant impacts on students. For example, Mahatma Gandhi's biography and his struggle for freedom are available in text books, but his views on 'work', which are quite motivating, are not highlighted anywhere. Similarly, the slogan of 'Aram Haram Hai' is available but its contextual and practical relevance is not discussed. The policy makers should act to fill such gaps.
The parents, teachers and administrative staff concede that the students can not be blamed for not having proper work values. It is failure of entire education system. As the corrective measures, the teachers should be given special training of instilling work values among their students. The parents should be provided suggestions and guidelines- useful in nurturing the work values of their children at guardians meet.
The group of students, teachers, parents and administrative staff, when interviewed, expressed the view that the children in general understand the meaning of work, but the children recognize the instrumental aspect of work only, in which it is believed that the work, when completed, gives some rewards of physical nature, such as money, meal or toy. They have no idea about the intrinsic aspect intrinsic aspects of the work. Therefore, it can be suggested to make children aware about the intrinsic aspects of the work. They should be taught the skill' to work with a sense of non-attachment (Anasakti). They should be acquainted with the difference between non-attachment and detachment.
The new scale can be used to assess the work values among students in order to educate them adequately. The teachers and parents can use the information obtained through this scale in giving direct suggestions to the children in order to instill the adequate work values among them.
If it is true that the development of work values gets stagnated after class 7, the causes should be traced and action should be taken to remove them.
Keyword(s): Work Value, Value, High School