TEACHER’S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND TEACHING ATTITUDE IN AS-

SALIHEIN INTEGRATED SCHOOL FOUNDATION: ITS EFFECT TO THEIR JOB

PERFORMANCE

An Undergraduate Thesis
Presented to the faculty of the
Department of Elementary Teaching
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
As-Salihein Integrated School Foundation
Maliwanag, Tamparan Lanao del Sur

In Partial Fulfillment of
Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Elementary Education
Major in General Education

Hanifah D. Datumanong
Sahirah D. Saipodin
Noraina A. Macatangcop
Saipodin B. Amer

December 2022
 This chapter includes the Introduction, Research locale, Conceptual framework, Theoretical

framework, Statement of The problem, Hypothesis, Scope and limitation, Significance of the study

and the Definition of terms used.

INTRODUCTION

Teachers’ attitudes toward teaching and teacher professional performance are two important

issues tackled theoretically. Much of the literature provides that the first one to use the term

attitude was the English philosopher Spencer, in his book, the First Principles. Then the concept

has become very common that theorists from different fields began to develop theories about it

in accordance to what they have in their own fields of research. Theoretically, Fishbein and

Ajzen (1975) presented a model that explains the complex relation between attitude and behavior

or performance called "the Reasoned Action Model". This model supposes that the persons’

beliefs about a certain object affect their own attitude towards that object. Moreover, the attitudes

affect behavioral intention, which affects the person’s actual behavior towards the object. In the

teaching matter the relationship between attitudes and teaching practice were summarized by

Smith. As Smith, it can be obviously understood that teachers' attitudes towards the profession

have an effect on their teaching practice.

The school is a place of learning for both the student and adults. Professional development

increases the knowledge and practices of the adults and results in skills transfer between adults

and students. Students come to the classroom with a range of ability and skill levels. Some

students may be high, low, or average achievers when it comes to learning, but there is still a

need to address these multiple learning levels. Access to high-quality and continuous
professional development gives teachers the tools to enhance their teaching and impact students

at all achievement levels.

An attitude is an important concept to understand human behavior. To define what exactly an

attitude is many attempts have been made in the literature. Generally it is defined as a complex

mental state involving beliefs and feelings. Anastasi (1957) defines attitude as a tendency to

react in a certain way towards a designed class of stimuli. People attitudes towards their

professions have an effect on their performance. This case is also valid for the profession of

teaching. Teaching is like planting a tree; one should wait for a long time for the trees to finally

mature. In Gunderson’s paper it was claimed that the longer the delay between an action and its

results, the more challenging the task (Gunderson, 2004). By this standard, teaching is the most

demanding job since teachers need a long time to see the results of their actions on students. It is

perceived as a difficult job among people. Many reasons can be named for this perception such

as teachers, particularly primary teachers with younger students, have responsibility of all their

students . They should make a critical decision about students in classroom everyday, and they

are seen as an authority to maintain the control of the class. Considering all of those reasons, it

can be said that teachers face several difficulties when they start teaching. When this happens,

they start to feel alone and isolated, and they feel that they have to do everything by themselves

without any kind of support. Such cases could cause a burn out and negative attitude towards

the teaching profession. In fact, negative attitudes towards the profession can be met in any

profession, however, especially in teaching, attitudes of teachers play a crucial role, since

negative attitudes can have a negative impact on ones teaching practice.

Duatepe and Oylum (2004) prove that teachers’ attitudes towards their profession have an

effect on their performance, which means that positive and negative attitudes towards the
profession can affect performance in any profession. Nadeem et al. and Akkus (2010) found that

the relationship between teachers attitudes and their performance in teaching is significant.

Harrison, Newman, and Roth (2006) argued that employee attitudes are related to their

behavioral engagement in work roles. So employees with higher levels of satisfaction are more

likely to be engaged in their work, which cause higher levels of performance. Teaching

experience is also studied as a moderator of teachers' professional performance by Dokko, Wilk,

and Rothbart,[6]who found that prior occupational experience has a positive effect on

performance via knowledge and skill but a negative direct effect that diminishes the overall

relationship, and they provide preliminary evidence that the negative effect was driven by

behavioral and cognitive rigidities.

With the foregoing claims, the researchers are very eager to assess how does the

Teachers’ Professional development and teaching attitude affect their job performance. This is in

alignment with other studies like [14,15,16] . The change of attitude is represented by either a

change in its intensity (increasing or decreasing) or a change in its nature (positively or

negatively). Khalifah and Mahmoud (2011) summarize the aspects of attitudes mentioned in

different literature in three basic approaches: a) conversation attraction approach, b) opposing

behavior approach, and c)reconciliation approach. Fishbein and Ajzen(1975) presented the

reconciliation approach in their model. It is considered as the most comprehensive trend of all

theories of attitude change because it is provides explanations for the human behavior by

studying different situations and contexts that relate to the concerned behavior. It also focuses on

the predicted intention issue that determines the behavior. Forwarded years of teaching could be

change the attitudes of teachers towards the profession. Nearly, this fact was argued by

Henderson and Henderson in Lumsden, who found that teachers’ attitudes towards teaching as a
career become weak with expert teachers rather than novices. They presented that 40% of

teachers had weak Attitudes towards teaching and 57% of them were ready to Leave the

profession and 3% of them were undecided about It. The previous review hypnotized that

teachers’ attitudes Towards teaching could be changed year by year toward Their profession.

Consequently, changes in attitudes affect Teachers’ professional performance. This study

contribution Is to undergo a path analysis of the affect teachers’ attitudes Towards teaching

might have on their performance. It also Aims at examining the differences of the estimated

affect According to novices and experts teachers.

RESEARCH LOCALE

The study was conducted at As-Salihein Integrated School Foundation Inc., located at

Maliwanag, Tamparan Lanao del Sur. This place was selected for knowing the study of Impact

of teachers’ professional development and teaching attitude to their students and what might be

the effect it on their job performance. This Study was been implemented to the Elementary

Teachers of As-Salihein Integrated School Foundation Inc. The Research study was implemented

inside the premises of As-Salihein Integrated School Foundation Inc.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

This section aimed to identify the possible variables presented in the study and how they were

connected to the study conducted by the researchers about the professional development and

teaching attitude of the Teachers in As-Salihein Integrated School Foundation on its effect on

their Job Performance.

 INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE
Teacher’s Professional
Development and Teaching
Job Performance
Attitude

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

Figure 1 Presents the conceptual framework of the study. It consist of two variables, Teacher’s

professional development and teaching attitude as an Independent variable and Job Performance

as the dependent variable.

In Figure 1, Professional development as independent variable pertains to an activities that

develop an individual’s skills, knowledge, expertise and other characteristics as a teacher.

Professional development is generally defined locally in the teacher questionnaire. How it is

described varies by questionnaire and includes workshops, seminars, formal qualification

programmes, observation visits, reading professional literature, among others.

Teaching Attitude pertains to the way teachers perceive and think that may lead to the action

they will take related to their teaching practices in the class.

Another Variable, Job performance relates to the act of doing a job. Job performance is a

means to reach a goal or set of goals within a job, role, or organization (Campbell, 1990), but not

the actual consequences of the acts performed within a job.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This study is anchored on professional development of teachers. Fullen (1995) defines

professional development as “continuous learning focused upon the sum total of formal and

informal learning pursued and experienced by the teacher in a compelling learning environment

under conditions of complexity and dynamic change” (p.265). Teacher training and in-service

professional development are key to effective teaching (MOE, 2005; Fraser, 2008).

According to Hummond, Wei, Andree & Richardson (2017) and Rhodes, Stokes, & Hampton,

(2004) effective professional development is intensive, creates learning opportunities, identifying

own learning needs and others; evaluating yourself, observational and peer-review skills;

accessing mentoring; engaging in reflection, professional dialogue and feedback and builds

strong working relationships among teachers.

This theoretical framework can be applied to the study of the researchers, for the reason that it

examined the effect of the teachers professional development and teaching attitude on job

performance. Individual’s perceptions and actions about changing and developing their teaching

are highly influenced by what they believe, as well as by their knowledge (Stroll, 1999).

Hattie (2002) and Ramsden (1992) acknowledged that both surface (information) and deep

(understanding) learning are necessary to learn and build on their prior knowledge. Teachers

learn more effectively from their own practice by living the practical experiments that occur as a

part of professional practice (Schön, 1983; Wilson, Shulman & Richert, 1987) as this involves

teachers discovering their teaching practices and beliefs and changing them for better. As

research states that any time teachers actively engage into learning from their own practice this is

counted as research. Ingersoll (2003) found that teachers overcome great challenges everyday
related to subject content, instructional methods, technology, changed laws and procedures, and

learning needs which helps them to develop their teaching skills and gain knowledge.

Attitudes are defined as the tendency to evaluate a “particular entity with some degree of

favor or disfavor” (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993, p. 1). In their multi-component model, Eagly and

Chaiken (1993) differentiate three different components, which add to the overall attitude. They

define the cognitive component as knowledge and beliefs about the entity, while the affective

component is constituted by the feelings associated with the entity. In case the entity is a social

group, the cognitive component is compromised by stereotypes (Eagly and Mladinic, 1989),

which are defined as generalized knowledge about the traits, attributes, and behaviors the

members of a social group share (Smith, 1998). The last component is the behavioral one and

consolidates two different ideas.

Firstly, according to the self-perception theory formulated by Bem (1972) people may infer

their attitudes from observing their behavior toward objects or persons. However, others argue

that people’s attitudes guide their behavior and in case of negatively evaluated groups, judgment

bias or discrimination is likely to occur (Brewer and Kramer, 1985; Eagly and Chaiken, 1993).

Hence the relationship between attitudes and behavior is considered bi-directional, whereby the

strength of the attitude determines its impact on behavior and susceptibility to self-perception

effects (Holland et al., 2002).

Attitudes are assumed to be the result of life-long experiences with the social group in

question (Rudman, 2004). The same assumption underlies stereotypes as the cognitive

component of attitudes (Taylor and Crocker, 1981). However, some additional factors come into

play. In the early socialization processes, children learn and adopt initial attitudes from their
parents (Aboud and Amato, 2001), but in time, attitudes change according to children’s own

experiences. Mostly, attitudes change in a more positive direction due to intergroup contact

(Pettigrew, 1998). In the school context, the contact with students with SEN or students from

ethnic minorities creates opportunities that might influence attitudes. Research on intergroup

contact theory shows that particularly friendships with members from the negatively evaluated

groups can change attitudes (Pettigrew and Tropp, 2008).

This may be especially relevant for pre-service teachers that may have had opportunities to

interact with students from diverse backgrounds, as in the last 20 years classrooms have become

increasingly heterogeneous. Although such contact cannot be easily established if somebody

chooses to not have contact with the members of such groups (Pettigrew, 2008), teachers may

not have much choice as they usually cannot decide about the composition of their students in

class. Other factors, which also fit the school context, are increasing the knowledge about

different student groups and reducing the anxiety about interacting with members of these groups

(Pettigrew and Tropp, 2008). The two factors are clearly related to teachers’ professional

experience (Berliner, 2001) and to effective teaching (Bransford et al., 2005; Sharma and Sokal,

2015). Hence, teachers’ professional experience can make a difference in attitudes.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The study aims to determine the effects of Teacher’s professional development and teaching

attitude in their Job performance in As-Salihein Integrated School Foundation Inc.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1) How may the profile of the respondents be described in terms of:

1.1 Age; and

1.2 Sex?

2) How may the Job Performance of the respondents be described from the teachers’ professional

development and teaching attitude?

3) What are the effects of Teachers’ Teaching attitude on their Job Performance to the students

in terms of:

3.1 class attendance;

3.2 class participation; and

3.3 grades?

4) Is there a significant relationship between teachers’ teaching attitude and the performance of

the students?

5.) Is there a significant difference on the teaching attitude of the respondents when according to

their personal life?

HYPOTHESIS

H⁰: there is no significant relationship between teacher's teaching attitude and the performance of

the students.

Ha: there is significant relationship between teacher's teaching attitude and the performance of

the students.

H⁰: There is no significant difference on the teaching attitude of the respondents when according

to their personal life.

Ha: There is significant difference on the teaching attitude of the respondents when according to

their personal life.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION

This study will cover the determination of the Effects of Teacher’s Professional Development

and Teaching Attitude in their Job performance in As-Salihein Integrated School Foundation

Inc. The respondents of the study were composed of 50 randomly selected Elementary teachers

which comprise 100% of the total population. The results of this study is applicable only to the

respondents of this study and should not be used as a measure of the effect of Teacher’s

Professional development and teaching attitude in their Job performance of the teachers who do

not belong to the population of this study. The researchers considered working on this study to

find out if there’s an effect on the job performance of selected teachers of As-Salihein Integrated

School Foundation Inc.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study focused on explaining the effect of Teacher’s Professional Development and Teaching

Attitude in their Job performance in As-Salihein Integrated School Foundation Inc. Moreover, the

researchers believes that this study is beneficial to the following:

Teachers/Instructors. The respondents will have an awareness on the importance of the

professional development and teaching attitude and its role on the improvement of their Job

Performance.

Students. The Teachers have a very significant, lifelong impact on all of their students it improve

the students achievement and the environment has excellent effects, enhancing or weakening their

academic performance.

Parents. The result of the study will help the parents of the students to feel secured because the

teachers are aware of how is their teaching attitude affect their job performance.

Future Researchers. The findings of the study will serve as a reference material and a guide for

future researchers who wish to conduct the same experimental study or any study related to

Teacher’s professional development and teaching attitude.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

The following terms are further defined either operationally or conceptually:

Affective Component – refers to the emotions and feelings such as excitement, anxiety, or sorrow

about the attitude object.

Bi-directional - involving, moving, or taking place in two usually opposite directions. (merriam-

webster.com/dictionary)

Cognitive Component - a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of biological

maturation and environmental experience.(Piaget 1930)

Effective Teaching –effective teaching is the ability to provide instructions to different students

of different abilities while incorporating instructional objectives and assessing the effective

learning mode of the learner. (Vogt, 1984)

Job performance – Behaviors or actions that are relevant for the organization’s goals and that can

be measured in terms of the level of contribution to those goals. (Campbell, 1990)

Learning Environment – It’s a space in which students feel safe and supported in their pursuit of

knowledge, as well as inspired by their surroundings.

Mentoring – According to David Clutterbuck, ‘mentoring involves primarily listening with

empathy, shar-ing experience, professional friendship, developing insight through reflection,

being a sounding board, encouraging’.

Methods – a particular form of procedure for accomplishing or approaching something, especially

a systematic or established one.

Negative Attitude – is a disposition, feeling, or manner that is not constructive, cooperative, or

optimistic.

Behavior Approach – brings psychological, social, and contextual explanations of human

behavior to policy design.

Peer-review Skills - refers to the many ways in which students can share their creative work with

peers for constructive feedback and then use this feedback to revise and improve their work.

Professional development – refers to all training, certification and education that a worker needs

to succeed in his or her career.

Professional Dialogue – a discussion between peers that allows the other to explicitly articulate,

appreciate and extend their understanding of practice” (Nsibande 2007, p.)

Reconciliation Approach – is the process of comparing transactions and activity to supporting

documentation.

Teaching Attitude- . The way teachers perceive and think that may lead to the action they will

take related to their teaching practices in the class.