Secondary school teachers' attitudes toward economic education in the central and western regions of Saudi Arabia.

摘要

This study focused on the following purposes: (1) To identify the attitudes of selected teachers of economics and of economics-related subjects toward economic education and their understanding of selected economic concepts in the secondary school curriculum in the central and western regions of Saudi Arabia. (2) To determine if there are significant main and interaction effects among some selected variables, which have impact upon economic education in the central and western regions of Saudi Arabia. (3) To find out if there is a correlation between the dependent variables of attitudes toward economic education and understanding of selected economic concepts among teachers in the secondary schools involved in the study.;The quasi-experimental design using a questionnaire survey was chosen. The survey consisted of three parts: (1) Demographic Data; (2) Economic Attitude Instrument; and (3) Economic Understanding Instrument. Random samples of 128 teachers from 50 secondary schools were selected to study the effects of level of education and length of teaching experience as independent variables.;The date analysis revealed the following: (1) Teachers' degree/diploma did not seem to affect significantly their attitudes toward economic education; (2) Teachers' experiences seemed to affect significantly teachers' attitudes toward economic education; (3) Two-way ANOVA results did not show significant interaction between teachers' degree/diploma and their years of experience; (4) Teachers' degree/diploma did not affect significantly their understanding of the selected economic concepts; (5) Teachers' experience affected significantly their understanding of the selected economic concepts; and (6) Two-way ANOVA results indicate that the interaction between teachers' degree/diploma and their years of experience is significant.;There are four major recommendations: (1) Teachers' attitude toward economic education is not enough indication for their understanding. Therefore, it is not a sufficient factor in the process of the selection of teachers of economic education in Saudi schools. (2) Teachers whose academic majors relate directly to the field of economics should have priority to get positions as economic education teachers in Saudi schools because they have better understanding of economic concepts. (3) The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia should arrange training workshops for economic education teachers whose majors are not related directly to economics to enhance their knowledge in the field of economics. (4) Teachers with experience in the field of economics have more positive attitude and better understanding towards economic education. Therefore, it is recommended to give them the opportunity to share their experiences with new teachers in economic education.