J. Appl. Environ. Biol. Sci., 8(5)49-55, 2018 | ISSN: 2090-4274 |
© 2018, TextRoad Publication | Journal of Applied Environmental and Biological Sciences |
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Safdar Hussain1, Prof. Dr. R. A. Farooq2, Dr. Ziarab Mahmood3
1PhDScholar Northern UniversityNowshera 2Dean FacultyofEducation Northern UniversityNowshera 3Assistant Professor, MIU, Nerian SharifTrarkhal,AJ & K
Received: December 16, 2017 Accepted: March 3, 2018
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to draw a comparison between male and female teachers working at elementary level in government boys schools of rural area in the province of Punjab-Pakistan. Two groups A and B were formedby usingpair random samplingtechnique. GroupA andB were assignedto male andfemale teachers respectively for the period of sixteen weeks. At completion of prescribed period, post test were conducted and the obtained results were compared. The results of the study indicated that performance of female teachers was better than male teachers in the subjects of English, Urdu, Science while in teaching Mathematics, male teachers performed better. Therefore, it is recommended to appoint female teachers at elementarylevel for teaching all subjects except mathematics. KEY WORDS:teaching, teachers training,performanceof teachers, Punjab-Pakistan
INTRODUCTION
Teachers play crucial role for the progress and prosperity of the society. They are the builders of the nation and a source of knowledge and values for children [1][2]. According to Singh, teachers have important place in a society. They preserve culture, bring positive change and transmit it to the next generation. [3]. Teachers are the life bloodsofanyeducation system[4] .
Teachers are considered the most important stakeholders of any education system as their performance isvital inputin the educationalfield[1][4]. The outputofthe teachers is the main factor which determined the school effectiveness and students learning outcome. Teachers weave a combination of their knowledge, skill and abilities into specific performance competencies that become driver of students learning and achievements [2][5].
Performance of teachers depend on many factors. Some of these factors are pedagogical skills, academic qualification, motivation, experience, interest, training, and aptitude. Teaching learning environment, and leadership styles of the head of institution also affect the performance of teachers. Physical and mentalhealth, salary and status are also some factorswhich affects their performance[4][5].
There are many things which can be taken as parameters for measuring teachers performance. The capabilities, competencies, behavior, hardworking, regularity, devotion, relationship with students, colleagues and heads, personality, classroom management, teaching methodology and students achievements are some major parameters. All these parameters led toward students performance because the major purpose ofteachingisoverallstudentsdevelopments[5][6].
No doubt, students academic achievement is in fact the achievement of their teachers as the ultimate targets of all teaching learning process is pupils learning. This is why, teachers performance is measured through students academic achievement in almost all over the world. Students academic achievement is measured through written test[5][6][7].
It is well known that gender difference is natural phenomenon. They act and react differently at different situation. Therefore, their performance is not same in any profession. In Pakistan, both male and female teachers areworking in boys schoolsrun byGovernment of thePunjab-Pakistan since2009.Now it isneeded to assess theperformance ofboth the genders in teachingdifferent subject at elementarylevel.
*Corresponding Author: Safdar Hussain, PhD ScholarNorthern UniversityNowshera. Email:satti.safdar@gmail.com
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Objective of the Study
The objective of the study was to compare the performance of male and female teachers working in boys schools at elementary level in rural areas in the subjects of Urdu, Mathematics, Science and English.
Significance of the Study
Elementary education is considered as first step for secondary and higher education. An important function of elementary education is to layfoundation for secondaryor higher education. As education is the main importance for the survival of any nation and the beginning of formal education is elementary education. Elementary education sets the direction for further education and the quality and performance at this stage can act as gauge for coming stage of education. Thus it is the most important to assess the performance of teachers of elementary Education. The results of this research would be helpful for teachers, administrators, implementing authorities, policies makers and educational planners as they may come to know the strengths and weaknesses of male and female teachers of elementary level and they may be able to overcome these weaknesses through proper planning. It will help to improve elementary education on firm and solid foundation in Pakistan.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Elementary education occupies the important position in any system of education. According to [8][9], it is the first section of compulsory education that children undergo. In most countries of the world, it consisted on grade I to grade VIII[10]. In Islamic Republic of Pakistan elementary education constituted on first eight years ofschooling andis compulsorytoo[11].
The major purpose of elementary education is to equip the students with skills of reading, writing and basic Mathematics. According to Rashid [12] at this stage students are given basic knowledge, attitude and skills. Besides this, values, culture, discipline and established rules are also taught at this stage of education[13][14[15]].
The second major purpose of elementary education is to provide foundation for secondary education. According to Shakoor et al. [16], higher education depends on secondary education; and secondary education depends on elementary education. Therefore, it is most important stage for child as well as for nationaldevelopment.
Elementary Education in Pakistan
In Pakistan, elementary education is not upto mark. Althoughitisfree and compulsoryfor every boy and girl whose age is between 5 and 15 years[17]. Yet its position is not good. A large number of school age children are out of schools which is alarming situation for future of the state. Besides this, there are lot of problems for enrolled students also such as teachers absenteeism, low quality of instruction, congested classroom, teacher ‘s behavior, lack ofphysical facilities etc. especiallyin rural areas [18].
Gender Differences
Gender difference is a natural phenomenon. There is difference between the thinking, decision making, problem solving, psyche and physique of male and female. Some profession suits for one gender only armed forces and engineering suits for male gender while nursing suits for female gender because of their different way of thinking and behavior. In the same way teaching style, tactics, techniques, way of deliveryoflecture,behaviour and classroommanagementof male and female teachers are different[19].
Results of manyresearches indicate that there is difference between the performance of males and females’ teaching. Male and female teachers were found better for teaching the same gender at elementary level [19][20]. Other studies show that there is no signifying difference between the performance of male and female teachers[19][20]. Male teachers performed better in teaching Mathematics[21] while female teachers performedbetter in other subjects[21][22][23].
Students Performance is Teacher Performance
No doubt, students performance is basically teachers performance. This is why, students performance or results are major parameters for assessing the teacher performance. According to [24][25][26][27] the ultimate end of the teaching is students’ learning. Therefore, the students’ academic
J. Appl. Environ. Biol. Sci., 8(5)49-55, 2018
achievement is considered the performance of the teacher. That is why, teachers performance is measured bythe academic achievement of the students in most ofthe education systems. [5][27][28].
In Pakistan, students results are considered unchallengeable parameter for measuring teachers performance. It is so because the results of internal examination in general and external examination resultsspecially areunbiased[29].
METHOD AND PROCEDURE
The study was aimed at to compare the performance of male and female teachers working at elementary level in rural area of Punjab. The comparison was based on the students’ performance in the subjects ofEnglish, Urdu, Mathematics and science. In this study, pre-test andpost-test were used. Pre test were conducted for the purposeof equating the two groups of students.
Population
131431 teachers working at elementarylevel in rural area and708339 students of elementarylevel were the population of the studyin the provinceofPunjab.
Sample
The sample was taken from Government secondary school Hothla Tehsil Kahuta district Rawalpindi. Thirty four (34) students of grade 4 were selected through pair random sampling and eight (8) teachers (4 male&4female) were selected as sampleof the study.
Delimitation
The study was delimited to students of 4th class studying subjects of English, Urdu, Science and Mathematics.
Formation of Groups
For this purpose two groups (group A & group B) were made. Each group comprises 17 students. Group A was assigned to male teachers and group B was assigned to female teachers. The study continued for four months. After completion ofprescribedperiod post tests were conducted.
Data obtained from both the groups through pre test and post test were arranged in tables and applied t-test (paired test and independent test) by using SPSS Software (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) to find out the performance level of both the genders (male and female teachers) working in the schoolsofrural areas.
ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA
Table 1 Teachers’ Academic and Professional Qualification (Gender Wise) Gender BA BSc B. Ed MA MSc Others Total
Male 2 2 4-
--4
--4
The table 1 shows that the qualification of male and female teachers is same. It also indicates that all the arts and science teachers under investigations have same level of academic as well as professional qualifications.
Table 2: Performance of teachers (Male and Female) in Urdu working in rural areas on pre test
Male 17 24.17 4.18 1.20 0.98 0.342 Female 17 25.35 3.57
Calculated t value (0.98) on pre test in Table 2 depicts that performance of male and female teachers in rural areas in the subject ofUrdu was non-significant at 0.05level. It reveals that there was no
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significant difference between the means of pre test of male and female teachers working in rural areas in the subject ofUrdu.
Table 3. Performance of teachers (Male and Female) in Mathematics working in rural areas on pre-test
Group | N | Mean | SD | SE | t value | P value |
Male | 17 | 16 | 4.76 | 0.95 | 1.41 | 0.177 |
Female | 17 | 17.35 | 3.90 |
Table 3 indicates that the calculated t-value (1.41) of pre-test of male and female teachers in rural areas in the subject of Mathematics was non-significant at 0.05 level. It shows that there was no significant difference between the means of pre test of male and female teachers working in rural areas in the subject ofMathematics.
Table 4. Performance of teachers (Male and Female) in Science working in rural areas on pre -test
Group | N | Mean | SD | SE | t value | P value |
Male Female | 17 17 | 14.52 15.17 | 2.57 3.18 | 0.69 | 0.936 | 0.363 |
Table 4 depicts that the calculated t-value (0.936) ofpre-test of male and female teachers in rural areas in the subject of Science was non-significant at 0.05 level. It shows that there was no significant difference between the means of pre test of male and female teachers working in rural areas in the subject ofScience.
Table 5. Performance of teachers (Male and Female) in English working in rural areas on pre test
Group | N | Mean | SD | SE | t value | P value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male | 17 | 24.17 | 4.18 | |||
Female | 17 | 25.35 | 3.57 | 1.20 | 0.98 | 0.342 |
Table 5 indicates that the calculated t-value (1.62) of pre-test of male and female teachers in rural areas in the subject of English was non-significant at 0.05 level. It shows that there was no significant difference between the means of pre test of male and female teachers working in rural areas in the subject ofEnglish.
Table 6. Performance of teachers (Male and Female) in Urdu working in rural area on post test
Group | N | Mean | SD | SE | t value | P value |
Male Female | 17 17 | 32.17 40.58 | 4.54 2.98 | 1.10 | 6.34 | 0.000 |
Table 6 shows that the calculatedt-value (6.34) ofpost-test of male and female teachers in rural areas in the subject ofUrdu was significant at 0.05 level.. The mean value (40.58) offemale teachers is greater than male teachers. The performance of female teachers in post test was found to be better than the male teachers in rural areas in the subject ofUrdu.
Table 7. Performance of teachers (Male and Female) in Mathematics working in rural areas on post-test
Group | N | Mean | SD | SE | t value | P value |
Male Female | 17 17 | 31.11 26.17 | 5.61 4.24 | 1.36 | 5.06 | 0.000 |
J. Appl. Environ. Biol. Sci., 8(5)49-55, 2018
Table 7 depicts that the calculated t-value (5.06) of post-test of male and female teachers in rural areas in the subject of Mathematics was significant at 0.05 level. The performance of male teachers in posttest was found to bebetter than the female teachers in rural areas in the subject ofMathematics.
Table 8. Performance of teachers (Male and Female) in Science working in rural areas on post-test
Group | N | Mean | SD | SE | t value | P value |
Male Female | 17 17 | 22.70 29.35 | 3.01 3.70 | 0.73 | 9.07 | 0.000 |
Table 8 shows that the calculated t-value (9.07) of post-test of male and female teachers in rural areas in the subject of Science was significant at 0.05 level. The performance of female teachers in post testwas found to bebetter than the male teachers in rural areas in thesubject ofScience.
Table 9. Performance of teachers (Male and Female) in English working in rural areas on post-test
Male 17 32.88 4.83
0.827 6.75 0.000
Female 17 38.47 4.93
Table 9shows that the calculated t-value (6.75) ofpost-test ofmale and female teachers in rural areas in the subject of English was significant at 0.05 level. The performance of female teachers in post testwas found to bebetter than the male teachers in rural areas in thesubject ofEnglish.
DISCUSSION
The study aimed to compare the performance of female and male elementary school teachers working in Punjab. In the subject of Mathematics male teachers performed better than female teacher in rural areas. This result is same as the result of research conducted by Warwick and Jatoi [24]. They concluded that students taughtbymale teachers ofrural area scored significantlyhigher in theMathematics than the students taught by female teachers of rural area. The results of study conducted by Beilock et al
[30] also support the results of the study. Their study shows that female teachers perform low in Mathematics as compare to males.
In the subjects ofUrdu, English and Science female teachers performed better than male teachers. Theresults are in the line with the result of Lame et al. [9],a studyconducted in Hong Kong.The resultsof the study show that both genders performed better when taught by the female teachers than those of taught by male teachers. The study conducted byMartin and Marsh [8], also gives strong support to the results of present study. They concluded that performance of boys found to be better when taught by females. A study conducted by UNESCO [31], in Pakistan also concluded that children under the supervision of female teachers performed better than thoseof male teachers.
CONCLUSIONS
Four subjects were taught by female and male teachers to compare their performance. Male and female teachers performed differentlyin these four subjects at elementary level in rural area of the Punjab-Pakistan. The drawn conclusionsare;
RECOMMENDATIONS
The male teachers performed better than female teachers in Mathematics at elementary level of rural area. Therefore, it is needed to train female teachers in the subject of Mathematics. It is recommended that Government of the Punjab may arranged training for female teacher for teaching Mathematics in summer vacations. Furthermore it is also recommended that professionaldevelopment daybe held after 15 days at cluster school where male teachers exchange their expertise in Mathematics with female teachers.
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The District Teacher Educators also can help female teachers in teaching Mathematics through demonstration oflesson in the classroom.
Female teachers working in rural areas performed better than male teachers in the subjects of English, Urdu and Science. It is therefore suggested that male teachers be appointed for teaching Mathematics whereas for all other subjects female teachers maybe appointed at elementarylevel. This may be donebyreframing existing appointment policy.
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