Chapter 2: Relevant Literature
2.7 Teacher Organizational Commitment (OC) and Commitment to
2.7.2 Teachers’ Commitment to Teaching (CT)
Employees internalize and build their perceptions of the appropriateness of certain behaviors or attitudes through the processes of conditioning (that involves rewards and punishments) and modeling (that involves observation and imitation of others) (Meyer & Allen, 1997). The exchange mechanism includes the development of a subjective psychological contract between the employee and the organization, that may change over time with more obligations to be fulfilled or violated (Meyer & Allen, 1997; Meyer et al., 1998).
inquiries into scientific concepts which lead to students becoming curious about their surrounding environment. Teachers may believe that placing pressure on students to succeed academically is representative of their concern for their students’ cognitive growth, and this pressure may help students to develop as individuals (Tyree, 1996).
The idea of examining multidimensional perspectives is more precise and meaningful to this field of study. Therefore, the following is a detailed discussion of the types of commitment to teaching that were highlighted previously in the study framework.
Teachers’ commitment to teaching profession (CTP): Teaching is a profession that involves internalization of values, norms, and roles. Commitment to teaching profession implies extra involvement in teaching that goes beyond completing their typical, expected workload; preparing lessons and maintaining a good rapport with students in their classes (i.e., to outperform in teaching tasks). It might include spending additional time on instruction beyond what is expected of them, through working with students in non-classroom contexts. Their rewards for their commitment is improved student learning, as they secure high standards and expectations for their students’ achievements (Firestone & Pennell, 1993).
Commitment to teaching profession is conceptualized by Tyree (1996) as the psychological link between teachers and their teaching. It is reflected through their willingness to focus their efforts on providing effective teaching, to show greater enthusiasm in teaching their subject matter, and willingness to devote extra time to teaching (Tyree, 1996). Teachers with strong CTP have more positive feelings toward teaching than others, as they try to develop the skills and relationships to have a
successful career despite their workplace (Colarelli & Bishop, 1990; Thien et al., 2014).
Commitment to teaching profession is related to teachers’ initial commitment that is referred by Billingsley (1993) as CT or the teaching field at the time of entry into the teaching profession (Billingsley, 1993). Firestone and Rosenblum (1988) suggested that CTP leads to strong concerns with the craft aspects of one’s work.
Teachers may still select teaching as a career for themselves as it is their first choice of occupation, which reflects their desire to stay in the teaching profession (Firestone
& Rosenblum, 1988).
Commitment to teaching profession may overlap with other types of CT as common values which are associated, such as with good subject teaching or with handling students as developing individuals. Firestone and Rosenblum (1988) explained that CTP without a related interest in students as individuals could lead to an affectively cold climate that does not motivate students (Firestone & Rosenblum, 1988).
Teachers’ commitment to teaching students (CTS): Commitment to teaching students reflects a genuine empathy for students’ developmental needs through concern for each student as an individual, rather than as groups of instructional recipients. Therefore, teachers with CTS target their students’ strengths and weaknesses in their planning and their approach to delivering lessons. They promote their students’ social integration in the classroom regardless of their backgrounds.
Teachers’ sense of efficacy with their expectations that all students will learn, and leads them to put forth the required effort to facilitate learning (Kushman, 1992).
These teachers may use different methods of evaluating student performance, focusing on individual student development over time while promoting their students’
growth, recognizing each student’s issues and expressing a willingness to deal with them directly. Nir (2002) explained that if students’ achievements are linked with teachers’ professional prestige, and symbolic rewards that teachers receive from children, parents, principals and high ranking officials; teachers are likely to exhibit more commitment to students’ achievements (Nir, 2002).
Firestone and Rosenblum (1988) reported that CTS might lead to teachers forming strong emotional bonds with students. When many teachers share this commitment, the result can be a positive climate where students feel comfortable and valued (Firestone & Rosenblum, 1988). However, according to Firestone and Pennell (1993), this warm, supportive environment that is induced by CTS is likely to reduce students’ dropout rates but may not contribute significantly to students’ academic achievement (Firestone & Pennell, 1993).
Teachers that are committed to teaching students tend to switch roles from that of instructor or evaluator to that of a mentor, sibling, or counselor in meeting their students’ needs. Such teachers are willing to make a difference in their students’ lives (Lortie, 1975). However, schools’ practices can create some constraints on teachers who are committed to students’ teaching. For example, school timetables and the structure of the school day may not allow teachers to spend much time with individual students, which limits teachers’ understanding of their students’ developmental needs.
Furthermore, large classroom capacities reduce teachers’ contact with their students individually. Also, the evaluative roles teachers must perform through reporting of grades several times per academic year, make individualized teacher-student contact
challenging. These teachers seek brief opportunities to meet their students between classes, during lunch, or during preparation periods and create time for that, such as engaging in extracurricular or extra school-student activities that bond them with their students. These activities often require extensive time outside the classroom and generally allow for effective teacher-student involvement (Tyree, 1996).
Firestone and Rosenblum (1988) studied conceptual frameworks for understanding school dynamics that have effects on teacher and student commitment in urban schools. They found that CTS may contribute to a warm, supportive climate that is likely to reduce the dropout rate but may not contribute much to academic achievement. In contrast, a commitment to teaching may have the opposite effect.
They also found that both CTS and CT are mutually reinforcing of each other, so if one is low, it will depress the other (Firestone & Rosenblum, 1988).
Teachers’ commitment to teaching subject (CTSB): Teachers may strongly value subject learning as evidence for their attachment to their academic knowledge, skills, and dispositions. They express strong feelings about the priority of academic goals as opposed to nonacademic goals and objectives. Teachers who are committed to their teaching subject spend more time outside their classes reading and searching for information on their subjects or their subject of teaching instruction because they are more involved in teaching subjects. They prepare for and revise lessons, grade papers and plan for activities that allow students to learn their subject better. Tyree (1996) described them as teachers who may spend more of their own time in meetings about the curriculum, discussing it through sharing ideas, activities and selection of materials while participating voluntarily in local subject organizations (Tyree, 1996).
Furthermore, Tyree (1996) added, they are teachers who have a strong orientation toward their subject matter that is reflected in the way that they evaluate their students’ work. They evaluate their students’ work by focusing on their students’
achievements more than on their effort or improvement. They are more likely to set criteria of excellence and use it to assess students’ work (Tyree, 1996).
Overall, these two dimensions (OC and CT) are important in educational settings. They are necessary to accomplish school objectives, improve teachers’
professionalism, and pursue changes in teachers’ practices. In this study, these two dimensions of teachers’ commitment are used as a foundation to develop a multidimensional measure of commitment of teachers scale to measure these two dimensions in a sample of Al Ain government school-teachers.