Jain, Sunita. (2016). A Study of Perceived Influence of Ecological System in Inculcating Values amongst Higher Secondary Schools. Unpublished. Ph.D., Education. University of Mumbai.
The objectives of the study were: 1.To find out the relation of amount of exposure to Ecological system and the Values inculcated among students of higher secondary schools. 2. To find out the exposure of students to Ecological system (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem) at the higher secondary level in relation to Socioeconomic Status. 3.To find out the exposure of students to Ecological system (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem) at the higher secondary level in relation to Gender. 4.To find out the exposure of students to Ecological system (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem) at the higher secondary level in relation to Faculty of Study 5.To find out the values inculcated among the students of higher secondary level in relation to Socioeconomic Status. 6.To find out the values inculcated among the students of higher secondary level in relation to Gender 7. To find out the values inculcated among the students of higher secondary level in relation to Faculty of Study.
The hypothesis of the study were: 1. There is no relation between the mean scores of the amount of exposure to Ecological system and the values inculcated of higher secondary school students. 2. There is no significant difference between the mean scores of the amount of exposure to Ecological system (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem) and the Socioeconomic Status of higher secondary school students. 3. There is no significant difference between the mean scores of the amount of exposure to Ecological system (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem) and the Gender of higher secondary school students.
4. There is no significant difference between the mean scores of the amount of exposure to Ecological system (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem) and the Faculty of Study of higher secondary level students. 5. There is no significant difference between the mean scores of values inculcated and the Socioeconomic Status of higher secondary level students. 6. There is no significant difference between the mean scores of values inculcated and Gender of higher secondary level students. 7. There is no significant difference between the mean scores of values inculcated and Faculty of Study of higher secondary level students.
Sample of the study is true representation of the population by which inference is made to the whole. The researcher had to be carefully selecting sample because it should give true picture and should have similar characteristics as that of the population. It should be adequate in number. For the present study sample size was 928. The schools/ colleges affiliated to H.S.C boards in Mumbai is the population of the study. The researcher has used Incidental sampling because the researcher could collect data from only those schools/ colleges which were available and free at that time. Care was taken to see that the sample characteristics represent the population from which it was drawn and show a true proportion of Gender, Faculty of Study and Socioeconomic Status of the students.
The researcher constructed the following tools for the data collection: a)The Personal Data Sheet of students b)Questionnaire on Ecological System of students (Jain,2013) c)Questionnaire on Value System of students (Jain,2013) The researcher also used the following readymade tool for measuring Socioeconomic Status: a)Kuppuswamy’s Socioeconomic Status Scale. Kuppuswamy’s Socioeconomic Status Scale: Kuppuswamy’s Socioeconomic Status Scale is an important tool in researches to find out the socioeconomic status of the sample. It was originally proposed in 1976. Realizing the utility and value of the tool, it has been revised in the year 1998 and 2013 recently to keep it updated with the changing economic conditions. Ecological System Questionnaire (Jain,2013) : In this study the researcher included Microsystem, Mesosystem and Exosystem to define the Ecological system. The items in the questionnaire on Ecological system are made keeping the operational definition in mind. The exposure to different systems is quantified by finding whether the environment is conducive to their growth or not. Favorable and democratic environment helps in building up positive nature amongst the students. Value System Questionnaire (Jain,2013) : The researcher operationally defined Value system as a coherent set of adopted and/or evolved behaviour, or code of conduct by an individual or society as a standard or preferences in all situations. Content Validity was coomputed.Reliability: Reliability was done on 60 students of Michael High school, Kurla. The Internal Consistency Reliability was ascertained using split half method. For this purpose the test was divided into 2 equivalent halves and the correlation found between these half tests. The coefficient of correlation for the half tests was found. The value of the Reliability was 0.608589 for Ecological System Tool and 0.744349 for Value System Tool.
The present study was a descriptive type where it attempted to describe, explain and interpret conditions of the present. The purpose of a descriptive research is to examine a phenomenon that is occurring at a specific place(s) and time. A descriptive research is concerned with conditions, practices, structures, differences or relationships that exist, opinions held processes that are going on or trends that are evident.
The present study used Correlational research which describes what exists at the moment (conditions, practices, processes, structures etc.) and is therefore, classified as a type of descriptive method. It finds out the relationship between the exposures to Ecological system with the value system of the child. The researcher has quantified exposure to Ecological system and Value system to explore the relationship between these two variables. The degree of relationship was then expressed in terms of coefficient of correlation which was 0.76. The exploration of the relationship between variables provided insight into the nature of the variables themselves as well as an understanding of their relationship. The relationship was significant and so enabled the researcher to make predictions about the variables.
Findings for Objective 1:
There is a significant relationship of the amount of exposure to Ecological system and the values inculcated among students of higher secondary schools.
Discussions: The amount of exposure to ecological system plays a very significant role in transferring values among children. The researcher has taken Microsystem, Mesosystem and Exosystem as part of Ecological System. Microsystem consists of home environment, school environment and neighbourhood environment. Mesosystem consists of interrelation between home and school environment, school and neighbourhood environment and home and neighbourhood environment. Exosystem consists of all the factors where the children are not actively involved but have an impact on them. All these systems have a cumulative role in developing the value system of the children.
OBJECTIVE 2 was to find out whether there was any significant difference between the amount of exposure to Ecological system (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem) and socioeconomic status of higher secondary school students.
Findings for Objective 2:
· There is a significant difference between the exposure to Microsystem and socioeconomic status of higher secondary school students.
· There is a significant difference between the exposure to Mesosystem and socioeconomic status of higher secondary school students.
· There is a significant difference between the exposure to Exosystem and socioeconomic status of higher secondary school students.
· There is a significant difference between the exposure to Ecological system and socioeconomic status of higher secondary school students.
Discussions: Socioeconomic Status is a measure of an individual’s or family’s economic or social position based on education, income and occupation. It is a strong predictor of a child’s growth and development. The environment of low SES children is characterized by less interaction with the parents, few instances of joint attention, still thriving to fulfil the basic necessities of the life when compared to the environment of high SES children. It results in a behaviour which is submissive, inactive, exhibits cold or extreme violent behaviour at times. The result of the study too confirms that students’ belonging to low socioeconomic status do not show a good exposure to ecological system.
OBJECTIVE 3 was to find out whether there was any significant difference of the amount of exposure of students to Ecological system (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem) at the higher secondary level in relation to gender.
Findings for Objective 3:
· There is no significant difference between the exposure to Microsystem and gender of higher secondary school students.
· There is no significant difference between the exposure to Mesosystem and gender of higher secondary school students.
· There is no significant difference between the exposure to Exosystem and gender of higher secondary school students.
· There is no significant difference between the exposure to Ecological system and gender of higher secondary school students.
Discussions: Discrimination against girls and women in the developing world is a devastating reality. But there is little sigh of relief when the researcher found that there is no difference between the exposures to Ecological system with respect to gender of students in urban areas. It is a healthy sign that the social stigma of differentiating children gender wise is reducing. Boys and girls of especially urban areas are getting equal exposure and opportunity in all fields. Girls are no more considered as a liability instead they are an asset to the family and the society. The new generations of girls represent the most promising source of change for women. The society has become quite emancipated, each section of the society wants to walk shoulder to shoulder and this is quite evident in the result of this present research. The research finding gives a clear indication that students irrespective of their gender have equal exposure to Microsystem, Mesosystem and Exosystem.
OBJECTIVE 4 was to find out whether there was any significant difference of the amount of exposure to Ecological system (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem) in relation to the faculty of study of higher secondary level students.
Findings for Objective 4:
· There is a significant difference between the exposure to Microsystem with the Faculty of study of higher secondary school students.
· There is no significant difference between the exposure to Mesosystem with the Faculty of study of higher secondary school students
· There is a significant difference between the exposure to Exosystem with the Faculty of study of higher secondary school students
· There is a significant difference between the exposure to Ecological system with the Faculty of study of higher secondary school students
Discussions:
Learning and education is thus a complex, dynamic and a continuous process. Education is life and life is education. It is not the giving of facts and details alone, but it is man making process. So it is very important to see whether students studying from different streams have different attitude towards life. The students considered in this study belonged to the Science, Arts and Commerce faculty of study. Each faculty entrusts on the student’s different challenges and opportunities in varying degrees. These differences reflect on their exposures to Ecological system and the impressions are witnessed in the Microsystem, Mesosytem and Exosystem. The challenges and opportunities experienced by different faculty of study in this research are explained as follows:
Science: Science is an exhaustive stream and involves a lot of rational experiences that a student has to undergo. This takes a lot of time from the students resulting in less exposure towards Ecological system.
Arts: Arts stream is woven with a humanistic aspect and provides opportunities to build up interpersonal and intrapersonal relationship thus encouraging more exposure towards Ecological system.
Commerce: Commerce stream is a very practical stream giving a lot of freedom to the students. Since the time involved in the teaching learning is less as compared to the above faculty, the students engage themselves in part time job or other prospects which give them opportunities to interact with wider group thereby strengthening the exposure to the Ecological system.
OBJECTIVE 5 was to find out whether there was any significant difference between the inculcation of value system and the socioeconomic status of higher secondary level students.
Findings for Objective 5:
· There is a significant difference between the inculcation of Ethical Values in relation to Socioeconomic Status of higher secondary level students.
· There is a significant difference between the inculcation of Cultural Values in relation to Socioeconomic Status of higher secondary level students.
· There is a significant difference between the inculcation of Social Values in relation to Socioeconomic Status of higher secondary level students.
· There is a significant difference between the inculcation of National Values in relation to Socioeconomic Status of higher secondary level students.
Discussions: Socioeconomic status plays a significant role in value inculcation among the students. Children who get opportunity of interacting with educated parents and whose basic necessities of life are fulfilled are contended in their life. Whereas children who are first generation learners and have an economic crunch in the family are unhappy are discontented in their life always. So the privileged children who enjoy adequate resources pick up better value system compared to the less privileged ones.
OBJECTIVE 6 was to find out whether there was any significant difference between the inculcation of value system and genderof higher secondary level students.
Findings for Objective 6:
· There is no significant difference of the inculcation of Ethical values in relation to Gender of the students
· There is no significant difference of the inculcation of Cultural values in relation to Gender of the students
· There is no significant difference of the inculcation of Social values in relation to gender of the students
· There is no significant difference of the inculcation of National values in relation to gender of the students
· There is no significant difference of the inculcation of Value system in relation to gender of the students
Discussions:
According to research findings gender does not have any impact on the value inculcation among the students. The finding of Objective 3 coincides with the findings of Objective 6 i.e. irrespective of children belonging to different genders they are exposed to good ecological system. This gives a clear indication that there is a strong correlation among Ecological system and Value system. Gone are the days where girls were expected to be epitome of values and boys given freedom to be more lenient than girls. The new generation boys equally feel the importance of having a good value system and serving their bit to the family, society and nation at large.
OBJECTIVE 7 was to find out whether there was any significant difference between the inculcation of value system and faculty of study (science, arts, commerce) of higher secondary level students.
Findings for Objective 7:
· There is a significant difference between the inculcation of Ethical Values in relation to Faculty of study of higher secondary level students.
· There is a significant difference between the inculcation of Cultural Values in relation to Faculty of study of higher secondary level students.
· There is no significant difference between the inculcation of Social Values in relation to Faculty of study of higher secondary level students.
· There is no significant difference between the inculcation of National Values in relation to Faculty of study of higher secondary level students.
Discussions:
The students opt for different faculty of studies at higher secondary level. This also becomes a
dominant factor in inculcating right values. Different subjects give different kinds of exposures
to the students. Thus the curriculum plays an important role in deciding the value inculcation
among the students.
In the words of Bronfenbrenner, in order to develop — intellectually, emotionally, socially and morally — a child requires participation in progressively more complex reciprocal activity on a regular basis over an extended period in the child’s life, with one or more persons with whom the child develops a strong, mutual, irrational, emotional attachment and who is committed to the child’s well-being and development, preferably for life.
Brendtro Larry K (2010) mentions Bronfenbrenner’s life work as summarized in Making Human Beings Human which would shape research, policy and practice. He describes how the necessary supports to rearing healthy children break down amidst the chaos and hectic pace of modern society. Youth show the signs of this break-down in alienation, apathy, rebellion, delinquency, and violence. Without a sense of belonging rooted in a secure caring bond, children cannot thrive and reach their full potential.
Bronfenbrenner proposed a two-part solution to problems of alienation and anti-social behaviour specially in youth:
· Involve adults directly in the life space of children, rather than warehousing students in stockade schools or letting peer groups dominate youth development.
· Involve youth in finding solutions to problems, rather than having them grow up disengaged from the community without ever making contributions to others.
The research findings too indicate how influential the Ecological systems are in the social and value development of the children. Parents, teachers and the society in unison should shoulder the responsibility of nurturing the child by providing them with congenial environment to develop knowledgeable, competent, virtuous and responsible citizens. It depends on each individual to provide the right kind of ecology to our blooming buds.
Technology has made an indelible mark on history and today s generation students. Technology has transcended space and time. If not always physically , children are exposed to a virtual world in a click of the mouse. There has been a revolutionary change in the kind of collaboration we experience today. Social networking sites add up to bring the world closer and connected. But again it is a infallible truth that there is a persistent friction between technological development and the preservation of values. The influence of technology upon the course of social and cultural changes have been a great source of controversy.
To conclude it is very important to understand the importance of a healthy environment for the development of the child. Parents, relatives, peers, teachers each one has a very important role to be played for the overall development of the child. Adapted from Kohlberg’s theory of Moral development the researcher has presented a simple model of the process of value development of each child. The primary process is inculcation of values which the child picks up by emulating people in the surroundings. As age progresses values needs to be nurtured and developed. To attain a higher set of values it needs to be constantly reinforced and better reasoning patterns has to be developed. In this process the real thrust of each value is constantly changing with the continuous interactions with different social environments. So the challenge is being ecologically exposed and still be able to maintain a strong value system which is possible only when the child is able to conceptualize the values.
The model presented below has a very good educational implication. The curriculum, teaching methodology, various innovative curricular as well as co-curricular activities can be centered on the model to reinforce good values among children. Value development takes time to accomplish and should not be rushed as our child goes through their life development. But a conscious effort should be made to build up their inner strength.
The following table gives a detail view of IMA approach adapted from Kohlberg’s theory of Moral development.
IMA Approach
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Approach |
Purpose |
Methods |
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Inculcation |
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Moral Development |
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Analysis |
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Keyword(s): Sociology of Education, Ecological System