A Study on the activities, environmental inhibitors and personal characteristics influential on teachers’ informal learning in Isfahan public schools

Authors

1 Islamic Azad University (Khorasgan Branch)

2 Isfahan University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the activities, environmental inhibitors and personal characteristics influential on teachers’ informal learning in Isfahan public schools. In this study, we used a survey research design.
The sample consisted of 370 public elementary, guidance school and high school teachers. They were selected using a randomized cluster sampling commensurate with Cohen & others (2001) formula from among all the public
elementary, guidance and high school teachers of the five districts of Isfahan, during the academic year 1386-87.
The data was collected using the adjusted lohman (2003) questionnaire.
The reliability of this questionnaire was estimated .95 using Cronbach,s Alpha coefficient. Also, its content and face validity was verified by experts and psychometrics.
The findings revealed that the degree of high school teachers’ use of informal learning activities (M=2.33) was significantly more than the teachers of other stages (p<0.05, F=6/50). Also, the results of one sample t-test showed
that four environmental factors inhibit teachers from using informal learning activities: lack of proximity to colleages’ work areas, lack of recognition, lack of monetary rewards and lower than average access to computer technology. The
other finding was that personal characteristics such as love to learning and higher than average interest in his/her own profession influenced the informal learning of teachers’ at three educational stages (elementary, guidance and high school).

Keywords