STAVOVI SREDNJOŠKOLACA O OSOBINAMA NASTAVNIKA U UVJETIMA OTOČKE ŠKOLE
Physical separation of an island from the mainland has numerous implications on different aspects of society, especially on the school system. In this paper, related to the reviewed literature on schools in rural and remote areas, the island is viewed as partially rural entity that is physically remote from the mainland. Various international research studies indicate that one of the problems schools in rural and remote areas are facing is the employment and retention of teachers. Furthermore, when evaluating the quality of schools in remote and rural areas, quality of teachers is considered as an important aspect. In the context of the education system in the Republic of Croatia it is important to emphasize that teacher salaries are fully covered from the central budget. This approaches a tendency to ensure uniform quality of teachers in schools in different parts of Croatia. The paper presents the validation of the Scale of students’ assessment of teachers’ characteristics, within the research conducted on a representative sample of high school students from the island Brač, as well as differences in students’ assessment regarding gender, grade and place in which students are attending school. The results indicate statistically significant difference in students’ assessment of teachers’ characteristics regarding gender, where male students recorded higher mean scores than female students. Student assessment of teachers’ characteristics also differs by the grade students are attending, where students in the first grade assess teachers with higher mean scores, and scores are decreasing with each further grade. Also, the assessment of teacher characteristics differs by the place in which students are attending school. The specificity of the island Brač is in the strong connections of some places with the mainland. Hence, the observed differences in the students’ assessment of teachers’ characteristics should be observed in the context of the island itself.
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