Omani Teachers' Attitudes Towards Teaching as a Profession

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to ascertain whether relationships existed among the eight dimensions correlated to demographic characteristics such as gender, marital status specialization and school environment. The random sample of this study was 827 teachers- (293 males and 534 females) teaching grades 5 to 12 in Oman. The study scale consisted of 42 items divided equally into 7 dimensions (students, colleagues, job satisfaction, personal characteristics, supervisors, curriculum and extra curriculum activities, and society). Responses were obtained on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The scale was validated by several experts in education and psychology from the College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. For  reliability,  Cronbach's alpha was calculated, and ranged 0.49-0.69. The study found  male teachers' attitudes were negative towards the profession. For the social status factor, the results revealed significant differences in only two subscales: supervisors and curriculum which favored married males. The results showed statistical differences between the rural and urban localities in all subscale attitudes in favor of rural areas. Based on these results several recommendations have been proposed to improve teachers' attitudes towards the profession.