| A teacher's attitude toward career education is believed to be highly related to the degree to which the teacher understands career education. It is also believed that many now teaching in our schools do not have a clear idea of what career education really is. The confusion concerning career education among teachers is believed due in part to the absence of opportunity for exposure to the concept.;The sample used in this study was composed of 506 K-12 public school teachers who were teaching in three selected Pennsylvania school districts during the school year of 1981-1982. The data were collected through questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of two major parts. Part I was designed to collect subjects' demographic data. Part II was designed to measure two criterion variables of each subject. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, Chi-square, and Analysis of Variance were employed to analyze the data.;Based on the analysis of data, the following results were found: (1) Teachers' attitudes toward career education had a significant positive correlation with their understanding about career education. (2) Faculty members teaching in school districts close to teacher education institutions had more opportunities for exposure to the concept of career education. (3) Vocational and related subject teachers had more opportunities for exposure to the concept of career education. (4) Teachers who had opportunities for exposure to the concept of career education showed more knowledge about and more support for career education. (5) Female teachers showed more knowledge about career education.;The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between teachers' understanding about career education and teachers' attitudes toward career education, and to examine some factors which might have a significant effect on them. These factors included the location of school district, teaching subject, teaching grade, accessibility to the concept of career education, length of teaching experience, working experience other than teaching, academic degree held, and sex. |
