Empowerment perceptions of teachers in selected senior colleges of the Asia-Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventist

Abstract

The purpose of this survey study was to define the extent of teaehers' empowerment compared to empowerment desired, and to specify relative importance of various sources of empowerment, including demographic descriptors. The results indicate ways administrators may increase levels of faculty empowerment. In this study 191 faculty members in seven colleges in Asia Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists rated their present and desired level of empowerment. The items on the 62 item Likert scale were adapted from several scales and principles. Some of these were, School Participant Empowerment Scale (Short & Rinehart, 1992); Teacher Empowerment Survey (Martin, 1990); Principles of Empowerment (Tracy, 1990) and Integration of Faith and Learning (Eager, 1993). The eight sources of empowerment (subscales) were Self-Concept, Collegial Relations, Feedback, Professional Growth, Decision Making, Autonomy, Self-Efficacy and Spirituality. Face validity by means of an expert jury review and reliability (coefficient alpha of .97) were established on the tool. Seven research questions and 8 hypotheses were posed for the study to ascertain the level and the importance of empowerment and the factors associated with it. Statistical treatment included ANOVA, t test, Wilcoxon signed-ranks test, and chi-square. Probability for all tests was set at 05. Major conclusions were that teachers feel most empowered in the areas of spirituality, self-concept, and self-efficacy. But teachers desire to be more empowered in the areas of spirituality, professional growth and development, and self-concept. Teachers feel that they are not being adequately provided with professional growth; are not getting adequate feedback or participating in decision-making activities. Teachers feel a fairly heigh level of empowerment, but not as high as they desire. Recommendations for college administrators include promoting the teachers' spirituality; professional growth; and self-concept; involving the teachers in decision-making activities, and giving more feedback. Recommendations for further study were that the study be repeated with elementary and high school teachers, and that future teacher empowerment studies include school climate, and the administrators' leadership style as variables.