The Relationship of Pennsylvania Career and Technical Educators’ Work Engagement to Satisfaction with Cte Teacher Preparation Coursework
Open Access
- Author:
- Park, Steven Edward
- Graduate Program:
- Workforce Education and Development
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 07, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Mark D Threeton, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Judith Ann Kolb, Committee Member
Wesley Edward Donahue, Committee Member
Edgar Paul Yoder, Committee Member - Keywords:
- CTE
Career and Technical Educators
certification coursework
teacher work engagement
teacher satisfaction with coursework - Abstract:
- Career and technical education (CTE) teachers in Pennsylvania typically enter service without teacher certification and little or no pedagogical training. They are usually hired on the basis of their industry experience and technical expertise and receive their teacher certification and pedagogical training while they are employed as teachers. Research has indicated that, because teacher quality matters so much to student achievement, it is essential that Pennsylvania CTE instructors gain the greatest possible benefit from their certification training (Bottoms, Egelson, Sass, & Uhn, 2013; Cramer, 2004; O’Connor, 2012). On the other hand, since they receive this training while they are serving as teachers, it is important to consider how workplace factors may influence how much benefit they receive from this training. The following study investigated the correlation of Pennsylvania CTE teachers’ levels of work engagement and their degree of satisfaction with certification coursework received while in service. It also measured the correlation of school administrative structures with both work engagement and satisfaction with certification coursework. The results demonstrated that there is a modest to moderate correlation of work engagement and satisfaction with certification coursework received while in service, but little or no correlation between administrative structure and either work engagement or satisfaction with in-service certification coursework. Incidentally to these other findings, this study showed that, though administrative structure has little or no correlation, administrators’ leadership behaviors are correlated to both work engagement and satisfaction with certification coursework received while in service.