Elementary schools teachers locus of control and theirs locus of controls effects on their students

SUMMARY Some individual, social and professional variables affecting the elementary school teachers' locus of control and whether the teachers' internal or external control characteristics have an impact on their students' choice of locus of control have been studied in this research. The research was conducted on a sample of 586 primary school teachers and 491 students in Izmir and the surrounding towns. The Rotter Internal-External Locus Of Control Scale has been used to gather data about the teachers, and Nowicki-Strickland Locus Of Control Scale for the students. In the second chapter, the terms locus of control, internal and external control have been defined, and related literature has been reviewed through theoretical explanations. In the third chapter, the population and the sample have been introduced, and explanations have been made about the measuring instruments, the methods that have been used and the data analysis techniques. T-test and LSD test, which is a high level significance test, have been used to for data analysis. The findings can be outlined as follows: 1. The teachers' locus of control levels vary greatly depending on their sexes, their marital status, where they have lived for the longest period of time, fathers' occupation, the environments where they lived during the secondary and high school education, evaluations about the job, the values that they want their students to develop, and evaluations about their jobs' future. 2. Depending on the teacher's being extremely internally or externally controlled, the students have a tendency to develop an internal or external locus of control. 3. The students' locus of control levels vary significantly depending on such variables as age, sex, number of sisters and brothers, rank of birth, parents' occupations, and parents' education levels. It has been suggested that the findings be made use of in teacher training, guidance and psychological counselling. in