Social Power of Teacher

European Journal of Social Sciences Volume 21, Number 4 (2011)

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Social Power of Teacher

Jehangir Shah PhD Scholar, Institute of Education and Research, University of Peshawar

E-mail: [email protected]

Hafiz Muhammad Inamullah PhD, Institute of Education and Research, University of Peshawar

Email: [email protected]

Abstract The Study was carried out to investigate the social powers of teacher. French and Raven (1978) have classified social powers into five powers - expert, referent, legitimate, reward, and coercive. The objectives of the proposed study were to know, how the teacher can earn trust of the students to manage class room effectively. The researcher tried his level best to highlight special areas of the teachers power inside the classroom setting to become good manager for his class room. Teacher should be sympathetic, loving and friendly, so that students may not feel any hesitation in unfolding their problems. Students should be rewarded for their motivation towards their studies. Teacher should develop the environment of trust & confidence. Teachers should have to play his/her leadership role by the use of legitimate power. Teachers should not act like a sergeant to punish the students rather they should act like the parents of the children The purpose of the study was to investigate, objectively, attitude of the students about the five social powers of the teachers. To explore how can the teacher become good leader and earn trust. To analyze the attitude of students towards their teacher The target population was students. 100 students from the local school were selected through random sampling technique by percentage method. The collected data was tabulated, analyzed and interpreted as a result of which majority of the students are in favour of the social power of the teacher. According to students a good class room manager would be the one who can use his social power for running the class room on smooth footing. Students need and respect those teachers who are competent, trustworthy, sympathetic, caring and honest. Teachers should be hardworking, flexible and having the sense of humor. They should act like parents of the students.

Introduction Power is that force which able to control the environment around itself as well as the behavior of other entity. Wikipedia gives authority as a term given to power, and it can be legitimized by the social structure as well (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/social power)

Class room is a place where the teacher and the taught are in close contact with one another. Classroom environment imprints an everlasting effect on the minds of the young learners. The more this environment remains congenial and friendly the more learning is expected. How to make classroom an excellent learning place is the duty of the teacher and the taught. Teachers have to exercise their power which French and Raven named as social power of the teacher. By exercising these powers, seriously, the teacher can manage his classroom in well balance order.


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Human beings need some power by nature with the help of which he can pass successful and respectable life in a society. So in class room situation the teacher also exert some powers which are his necessary tools for managing his classroom.

Teacher performs the role of a manager and leader in class room, so he requires power in another form which is known as social power of teacher. It is the power by which he influences the attitude and behavior of his students. According to social Psychologists (French and Raven 1959) Raven (1974) it is very necessary for an effective leader to gain the trust and respect of his students you will have to earn it .But how? They named them five social powers. French and Raven highlighted these social powers.

When the students perceived their teacher has command over his subject, knowledgeable, well prepared and intelligent, then it is said that he has the expert power. It means that the teacher is skillful and possesses considerable knowledge about a particular subject. Teachers with expert power explain things well, shows warmth and excitement about what they teach and appear confident in front of their classes (Raven, 1974)

With the help of referent power teacher commands respect. Most of the students like him. They trust him because he cares them. Soar and Soar (1983) recommended that teacher can both be respected and liked. Glassar (1986) identified that students usually trust warm and competent teachers. They consider such teachers trustworthy, fair and concern about them (Goodlad, 1984).

The nature of some professions compels people to pay regards and respect. Similarly by virtue of its nature, teaching profession compels students to obey, respect, follow the instruction and pay due attention towards their teachers. Legitimate power of the teacher exists by default. It may not be earned like referent and expert powers, Savage, (1991). It is the power which can be given to the teacher by the nature of their job. Every new teacher begins his/her first day of class with legitimate power. Most of the students obey their teachers by virtue of their legitimate power.

Reward Power is an intrinsic resource of motivation. Rewards usually put the students on the right track by influencing their behavior. Rewards include prizes, praise, grade, privileges, etc. which the teacher understands, students need. It is the name of influence the teacher exerts to manage and control his class. Reward power exerts very effective role for the teacher as a guide.

State and local government permits teachers to act like parents of the students. Coercive Power means to force someone to do what they do not want. By the help of this power the leader/ teacher can stop the unwanted behavior of the students. In this connection state and local government have given teacher the permission to put the students on the right path even at the cost of limited punishment. This power includes suspension denial of privileges expulsion, removal from the class room or light corporal punishment. Over dependence on coercive power may develop antagonistic attitude in the students. When the teachers adopt such role we say they are using coercive power. It is used to stop students from crossing the lines and boundaries. The use of this power is much important to draw lines and boundaries. This power gives the sense of safety for those students who are not inclined to cross the lines in boundaries.

In the light of the above discussion the overall purpose of the research was to investigate social powers of the teacher to manage classroom effectively in the school.

Methodology Population and Sampling Students were the overall population of the study. 100 students of Islamia Collegiate School, Islamia College University were selected as random sampling (Farooq 2001)


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Instrumentation The investigator designed a five points likert questionnaire to get students perception about their teachers. The questionnaire consisted of 39 items. These items were arranged properly to investigate social powers of the teacher. The questionnaire was prepared and arranged as; item no 1 to 9 about the Expert power of the teacher, Item no 10 to19 about the Referent power of the teacher, Item no20 to 29 about the legitimate power of the teacher, Item no 30 to 32 about the Reward power of the teacher and Item no33 to 39 about the Coercive power of the teacher.

Data Collection Questionnaire Method (Farooq, 2001) was followed for the collection of data. The researcher also taught in Islamia Collegiate School for a long time so, he administered the questionnaire personally. The random sampling population (the students) was instructed by the investigator personally. To facilitate the students, the questionnaire was translated in the native language of the students along with interpretation for the students

Data Analysis The data was collected from the students sample in February 2011.Data collected was tabulated, analyzed and interpreted by using simple %due to the nature of the data and time constraints.

1 Leaders are those teachers who have command over their subject. 40 35 05 12 05 2 Competent teachers are knowledgeable about particular topics. 55 31 02 07 02 3 Successful teachers have command over their subjects. 58 31 03 04 01 4 Expert teachers explain things very well. 67 22 - 07 01 5 Teachers assure their students about the thing they explain. 39 42 10 05 01 6 Enthusiasm and excitement is one of the characteristics of an expert teacher. 46 25 10 12 04 7 New teachers can become leaders if they have expert power 17 32 22 21 05 8 Body language has great importance for becoming good leaders 44 30 11 07 05 9 Students sense the expertise of their teacher from their body language 31 33 11 19 03 10 Teachers are being accepted as leaders if they are being liked and

respected 38 39 06 10 04

11 Competent trust worthy, honest and who care the students are considered leaders. 69 19 04 02 03 12 Students trust their teachers. 52 27 08 07 03 13 Those teachers are respected whom are liked by the students. 35 27 08 07 03 14 Trust worthy teachers whom are liked. 56 30 06 02 03 15 Those teachers are preferred who are careful about their students. 39 41 04 07 06 16 Those teachers are accepted as leaders and teacher whom are liked. 25 30 09 23 09 17 Students get satisfaction from those teachers whom they like. 38 30 07 17 05 18 Students get more knowledge from those teachers whom they respect. 46 25 06 15 05 19 Students want their teachers should be sympathetic and hard working. 73 20 03 - 01 20 Society obeys teachers, naturally as they obey police officers, judges etc. 39 26 08 13 - 21 Society expects students to give respect and attention to teachers 66 22 05 02 02 22 Parents stress their children to listen to their teachers 54 29 05 07 02 23 Every new teacher begins his / her first day of class with legitimate power (natural influence) over the students 19 27 27 15 09 24 Class can be controlled through legitimate power. 27 42 10 15 13 25 Teacher gets confidence by the use of legitimate power. 22 36 18 10 11 26 Students obey the orders of the new teachers. 21 15 12 38 11 27 By the use of legitimate power teacher become trust worthy. 25 37 10 17 08 28 A teacher can get command over his subject by the use of legitimate power. 10 23 30 15 19 29 Teachers are considered like parents. 65 20 - 09 03


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30 Reward should be given to the students 74 14 03 03 03 31 Class room may be managed through reward power 20 33 14 13 17 32 Students do not care for rewards 14 10 07 24 42 33 Students are motivated with the help of Rewards 35 41 08 04 09 34 Teachers should give corporal punishment to indiscipline students. 28 25 05 24 15 35 Students can be put on the right track by the use of corporal punishment. 13 25 03 26 30 36 Corporal punishment produces resistance in students. 27 40 08 15 07 37 Misbehaviors can be stopped by the use of corporal punishment. 14 29 04 29 21 38 Teachers should act like police constable. 06 05 02 26 58 39 Class can be controlled by withdrawing a privilege from the student. 04 12 11 21 49

Results

0

20

40

60

80

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19

S.A 40 55 58 67 39 46 17 44 31 38 69 52 35 56 3925 38 46 73 39Ag 35 31 31 22 42 25 32 30 33 39 19 27 27 30 4130 30 25 20 26UN 5 2 3 - 10 10 22 11 11 6 4 8 8 6 4 9 7 6 3 8

DA 12 7 4 7 5 12 21 7 19 10 2 7 7 2 7 23 17 15 - 13

SDA 5 2 1 1 1 4 5 5 3 4 3 3 3 3 6 9 5 5 1 -

Discussion The study was about earning trust and becoming a leader to manage classroom effectively. The main focus of the researcher was to investigate the students perception about the powers of their teachers.

The students were inquired and five different powers of the teacher were shown by the students. Majority of the students perception were in favor of those teachers who care them, love them, and pay attention to their problems. Most of the students revealed their trust on those teachers, who are reliable for them. The students showed their trust on the teachers who give lots of academic help to the students. This idea was supported by the article of Douglas Brook with Sean Brook editorial. Monday, 13 October 2008 06:05

Majority of the students revealed that those teachers are trustworthy who show sympathetic, honest and polite attitude towards their students. This idea was also shown in the research of Douglas Brook, etal.


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The more they rely on you for safety, trust and as a caring person, the better. Your face should bring peace to their hearts and they should smile when they see you. Being there for after school sports and activities always helps. This will reduce all other class room conflicts. I love my kids. I love my job Sean Brook (2008)

Many a student said that teachers are respected and liked. The same idea was supported by Soar and Soar (1983) who said that students pay due respect to those teachers who satisfy their students.

Most of the students agreed that their teacher should have expert power which means that they should be competent enough to explain things very well; Glasser (1986) is also of the same opinion that students pay attention to those teachers who are competent. The five powers (expert, referent, legitimate, coercive and reward) powers were recognized by majority of the students, these powers were also revealed by Raven & French.

Large number of the students unfolded that those teachers are preferred and respected who attract the student emotionally by showing sympathy and honesty, Covey (1995) also approved the same idea by calling it emotionally bank account of the students.

Great number of the students agreed that students are motivated by reward. Raven and French (1959-1974) also shared great concern for the reward.

From the collected data it was indicated by majority of the students that teachers have the very right to use their legitimate power. They were of the opinion that parents expect them to obey their teachers and respect them; the same idea was also floated by Savage (1991) by saying that most of the parents want their children to pay respect to their teachers.

Majority of the students agreed that they got more from those teachers who have considerable knowledge and have command over their subjects. This idea was also supported by French and Raven (1968) by stressing that a change in the individuals cognition is substantively impacted by expert power.

Most of the students need rewards. Discipline management of special students needs student by giving rewards. Menges, (1977) also supported the idea of teachers power by saying the teachers authority is not to be questioned. If the teacher does not exercise his power over students, the students will not be able to learn. Similar idea was also presented by Hurt, Scott and McCroskey in (1978). They are of the opinion that in class room setting a certain degree of power is always present (P.125). Further they say The more it is used, the more it will need to be used

Power in the class room 1: Teacher and student perception. C McCroskey and Richmand (1980)

The respondents were from the local schools. It is possible that respondent from other regions may have different ideas. Another thing is related to gender. No female student was investigated. Some of the students did not follow the idea in spite of the fact that the researcher translated the questions to the native language of the students and personally instructed the students. The students from countryside were also ignored; however there is a room for further research as the gender and rural/urban factors largely involved.

Conclusion In the light of the study the following conclusion has been drawn.

Majority of the students are of the opinion that competent teachers are knowledgeable about particular topics, show enthusiasm, excitement and make the use of their body language as the expression of their body is the proof of their competency. Successful teachers have command over their subjects and explain things very well. Most of the students respect trustworthy, honest, caring, sympathetic and those teachers who impart more and comprehensive knowledge to their students. According to students, society and parent expects students to obey, respect, and pay due attention to their teachers. Students consider their teachers as their parents.


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The result of the study revealed that class room can be managed /controlled through rewards and not through corporal punishment however corporal punishment has been suggested by the students to avoid indiscipline activities. Students were of the opinion that teachers should not act like a sergeant. They consider their teachers like their parents.

References [1] Brook.D & Brook. S (2008) Building Student Trust in Your Classroom. Miami University. [2] Cartwright. D. and Zander, (1968) A (Edu) Group dynamics. New York: Harper and Row, [3] Farooq R.A (2001) Understanding Research in Education, Majeed book Depot, RWP. Pakistan

Pp 29-33 [4] French. I.R.P and Raven, J. (1968) The basis for social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed) studies in

social press. [5] Goldner, F.H. (1970) The Division of Labor, Process and power. In M.N. Zald (Ed), Power in

organization, Nashville T.N. Vander Bilt University Press [6] Goodlad, J. (1984). A place Called school. New York; McGraw- hill. [7] Glassar, W (1986). Control theory in The Classroom. [8] Hurt. H.T; Scott, M.D; (1978) and McCroskey J.C Communication in classroom reading, M.A

Addison-Wesley, [9] R.P French, Jr. Bertram Raven (1959) Bases of Social Power, Identifying Power sources; five

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/ Col, [12] Richard V. P; etal (1980) Perceived power as a mediator of management communication style

and employee satisfaction: A preliminary investigation communication quarterly, Fall [13] Moorheads and R.W.griffin.1995.Organizational Behavior Hugoton Mifflin Co, Boston, USA,

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(Ed.), perspective on Social power (Pp.172-198). Chicago: Aldine. [16] Savage. T (1991). Discipline for Self Control, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice. Hall. [17] Soar, R. Soar. R (1983). Context Effect in the learning process. In D.C Smith(Ed) Essential

Knowledge for Beginning Educators (Pp 156-192). Washing, DC: American Association of college of teacher education.

[18] Tolman, E. (1985) Behavior and Psychology of Man. Barkley, University of California, USA, P. 132.

Social Power of Teacher

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