Value Orientation in Pre-service Teachers

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Stojanova Biljana1

Nikoloska Ana2

VALUE ORIENTATION IN PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

Abstract

Value orientations are goals and beliefs with the help of which the individual directshis own activities. They are formed through the process of socialization. Education has animportant role in the socialization process. Teachers, as creators of this process, determineto a large extent which value orientation will show up in the young persons personalities.Hence, it is here the importance of knowing the value orientation of teachers and their preferred life-styles stems from.

This paper contains the result of a value orientation research in pre-service teachersmanifested through the preference of a particular life styles. The primary goal was toexamine which value orientations are preferred by pre-service teachers. The preference of the following life-styles was researched: family, altruistic, cognitive, utilitarian, popular,individualistic, hedonism, religious and power.

Key words: value orientations, life-styles, pre-service teachers.

Introduction

In the psychological literature, there is not a one single all-encompassingdefinition that defines the termvalue orientation . The attempts to define the meaningof value orientation usually bring it in relation tovalues and life-style.

Values are relatively stable general psychological dispositions, created bycombined action of cognitive-emotional development, individual traits and interactionwith the social surrounding, which direct our actions towards goals that we hold asdesirable and towards which we incline with our actions (Cekrljija, Turjacanin &Puhal, 2004).

1 Master student, Faculty of Education- Stip, e-mail:[email protected] 2 Master, e-mail: [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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aspects of the teachers personality is his value system. Thus, knowing the values,value orientations, that is preferred life-styles of future teachers, has importantpedagogical and societal importance.

Thus, the main goal of our research is to examine which value orientations arepreferred by the pre-service teachers. The following value orientations areencompassed in our research: family, altruistic, cognitive, utilitarian, popular,individualistic, Prometheus activity, hedonism, religiousness and power. We believethat those are the basic value orientations that determine the basic directions of value functioning of the individual in the domain of personal life and in the domain of his relation towards other people that are of great importance when the professionalengagement of the teachers is in question.

Bukvi, (,1984) in his research shows that the pre-service teachersmost preferable life styles are: esthetic, then self-realization, utilitarian, cognitive,hedonistic, orientation towards power and respect and activist-revolutionary life style.

Cvetkovi (1990) has researched the value orientations in primary schoolteachers and determined that dominant value orientations in their value system are:utilitarian, hedonistic and esthetic, while least preferred life styles are orientationtowards power and respect, Prometheus activity and hedonistic.

Petrovi-Bjeki (1995) researched the relation of the teacher towards differentlife styles and determined that most preferred life styles for the teachers are: esthetic,active, cognitive and altruistic, while orientation towards power and respect, active-revolutionary and hedonistic style are those that the teacher prefer to a far lesser degree.

Method

The sample in this study consisted of students at all four years of study at thePedagogical Faculty in Skopje and Pedagogical Faculty in Stip. In the researchparticipated 299 students, 85 at the first year of study (59 from Skopje and 26 fromStip), 86 at the second year of study (59 from Skopje and 27 from Stip), 57 at thirdyear of study (25 from Skopje and 31 from Stip, and 71 at the fourth year of study (46from Skopje and 26 from Stip)


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Instrument and procedure. In this research a scale of judgment was used.The scale consists of 10 value orientations operationalized as a description of 10ways of leaving. Each participant is asked to carefully read each question and todetermine the degree to which she would like to live as described. The minimal valuethey could indicate was 1 I wound not like that at all and maximal value 7 I wouldlike that a lot. The scale consists of the following 10 value orientations: family,altruistic, cognitive, utilitarian, popular, individualistic, Prometheus activity, hedonism,religiousness and power.

- Family: to meet a person that I will love and which will love me, together to create afamily and totally to dedicate to my family. To find the purpose of life in the family.

- Altruistic: to do something that is of value to the people. To help to those who are sad

or in danger, even at the cost of personal denial.- Cognitive: to conduct research, to create new things. To gain as much knowledge as

I can. To constantly find out knew things about the world, the nature and the mankind.- Utilitarian: to have a well paid job which will bring me a good pay and complete

material security. To provide myself with reach and comfortable life.- Popularity: to become popular, to be famous, in the sport, music or entertainment. To

show up frequently at TV and in newspapers, to have many fans.- Individuality: to lead my life in such a way as not to depend on others and I would not

care for others problems. To take care of myself and my wellbeing.- Prometheus activity: to fight for better and fairer relations in the society. To fight for

long term goals and ideas, even when I encounter resistance in the environment.- Hedonistic: to live my life with out worries and easily. To have a good fun, to enjoy in

the pleasures that the life offers. To spend the money I earn on fun and enjoymentand not to save them too much.

- Religious: to believe in God and to live as my faith teachers me. To find peace andtruth in religion. To be a good believer, to respect the holidays and the customs.

- Power: To take a leading place in the society. To have great power, so that I do nothave to listen to others, but others to listen to me.

The research was conducted at the beginning of the summer semester (March2010) at the Pedagogical faculty in Skopje and the Pedagogical Faculty in Stip.

Results and analysis. The results for the preference of the value orientationin pre-service teachers are given in the table below.


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Table 1. Results for the value orientations that are preferred by the pre-serviceteachers.

Value orientationsI II III IV SD M SD M SD M SD M SD Rang

Family 6,52 1,23 6,28 1,52 6,74 0,81 6,31 1,34 6,44 1,29 1Altruistic 5,15 2,00 5,16 1,68 4,82 1,72 5,01 1,89 5,06 1,83 5-6Cognitive 4,75 2,10 4,90 1,97 5,40 1,70 5,35 1,86 5,06 1,95 5-6Utilitarian 5,08 2,08 5,79 1,76 5,82 1,56 5,69 1,49 5,57 1,78 3Popularity 3,35 2,24 3,17 2,22 3,70 2,31 2,92 2,18 3,26 2,24 10Individuality 5,13 2,24 5,35 1,98 5,19 2,13 4,92 2,03 5,15 2,09 4Prometheus activity 4,92 2,08 4,93 1,92 5,40 1,75 4,92 1,76 5,01 1,90 7Hedonistic 4,82 2,04 5,20 4,82 2,14 4,86 2,13 4,95 2,08 8Religious 5,78 1,66 5,65 1,84 5,40 2,07 5,52 1,66 5,61 1,79 2Power 3,80 2,18 3,83 2,13 4,16 2,32 3,73 2,06 3,86 2,16 9N 85 86 57 71 299

From the table, one can see the value orientations that are most and leastpreferred by the pre-service teachers at each of the four years of study.

The students at the first year of study prefer the following value orientations:family (= 6,52), religious (= 5,78) and altruistic (= 5,15), while least preferredare the following value orientations popularity (= 3,35), power (= 3,80) and

cognitive (= 4,75). The students at the second year of study most prefer thefollowing value orientations: family (= 6,28), utilitarian (= 5,79), religious (=5,65), while least preferred are the following value orientations : popularity (= 3,17),power (= 3,83) and cognitive (= 4,90). The students at the third year of studyprefer the most the following value orientations : family (= 6,74), utilitarian (=5,82), Prometheus activity (= 5,40) and religious (= 5,40), while least prefer thefollowing value orientations: popularity (= 3,70), power (= 4,16), altruistic (=4,82) and hedonistic (= 4,82). The students at the fourth year of study prefer themost the following value orientations: family (= 6,31), utilitarian (= 5,69) andreligious (= 5,52), while least prefer the following value orientations: popularity (=2,92), power (= 3,73) and hedonistic (= 4,86).

The summed results for all the participants show that most preferred valueorientations in pre-service teachers are: family (= 6,44), religious (= 5,61) andutilitarian (= 5,57), and least preferred value orientations are: popularity (= 3,26),power (= 3,86) and hedonistic (= 4,95).


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From the obtained results one can see that the pre-service teachers areoriented towards finding a person with which they would create family and woulddedicate to the family completely and in which they would find the meaning of life,while living according to the rules of their fate, respecting the religious holidays andcustoms and would like to have a well paid job which would enable them to havecomplete material security. The results by Bukvi (, 1984), and Cvetkovi(1990) also speak of the fact that the utilitarian style is one of the most preferred life-styles in teachers and pre-service teachers. The preference of the family andreligious orientations in pre service teachers might be a consequence of thetraditional upbringing of the young, that is obviously still dominant in our society, andin which a great meaning is given to the family and religion. The high preference of the family and utilitarian orientation is indicator of the need of security, the familyorientations enables emotional security, while the utilitarian orientation enableseconomic security. The domination of the need for security in the participantsprobably stems from the uncertainty which is present in our everyday living as aresult of the transition that our society is going through. It is interesting to mentionthat, according to the results of this research, the cognitive and altruistic orientationsare not among the most preferred orientations of the pre-service teachers. This result

is in contrast with the fact that the basis of the teaching profession is gainingknowledge, finding new things about the world, the nature and the mankind, as wellas transfer of that knowledge to the younger population. Also the teacher should beoriented towards helping and the wellbeing of others should be one of his goals. Itcan be noticed that the cognitive orientation in the participants at the first and secondyear of study are among the three least preferred orientations. This can be aconsequence of the anomie of values, the individual sees that the education and

knowledge are no longer powerful tools to reach his goals. But the question remains:how the future teachers would do one of their basic tasks of their profession, and thatis transfer of knowledge, developing of intrinsic motivation and teaching students newthings, when they themselves do not believe in the value of knowledge and learningabout the world in which they live?

Least preferred life-styles for future teachers, according to this research are:popularity, orientation towards power and hedonism. So, future teachers would least

like to be popular, to have power over others and live careless and fun life. This datais in agreement with the data by Bukvi, (,1984), Cvetkovi (1990) and


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Petrovi-Bjeki (1995). The low acceptance of the orientation towards power mightstem from the very nature of the teaching profession. On the one hand, the teachingprofession does not presuppose popularity, showing up in the media and existence of fans. On the other hand, compared with the past when the teachers had high respectand were given a high value by the society, today teachers are less and less satisfiedwith the respect and the social status they receive.

At the end, as a conclusion we can say that the pre-service teachers arecharacterized with a specific system of value orientations manifested throughparticular life styles. Namely, the future teachers as most preferred life styles chosethe family, religious and utilitarian, while least preferred life styles are the popular,orientation towards power and hedonistic.

The results obtained in this research point towards the need of further research. We suggest research that would continuously track the changes in valueorientations of pre-service teachers in the context of the changes in the society. Aresearch in which the differences between the value orientations in pre-serviceteachers and in-service teachers are examined would be also worthwhile.

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Cekrljija, Dz., Turjacanin, V., Puhalo, S. (2004).Drutvena orijentacija mladih.Banja Luka: Nacionalni institut za borbu protiv narkomanije.

Cvetkovi, S. (1990). Vrednosne orijentacije nastavnika osnovne kole.Inovacije u

nastavi 4/90, 223-230.Joksimovi, S. (1992). Odnos uenika prema pojedinim nainima ivota kao

pokazatelj njihovih vrednosnih orijentacija.Psihologija, 1-2/92, 7-23.Kuzmanovi, B. (1995). Uvodna razmatranja za istraivanje promena

vrednosnih orientacija mladih u SRBIJI. :Psiholoka istrazivanja, 7, 9-19.

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Mladenovi, U., Knebl, J. (2000). Vrednosne orijentacije i preferencije ivotnihstilova adolescenata. Psihologija, 34, 435454.

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Value Orientation in Pre-service Teachers