Students’ Preference for Field Dependence‐Independence Teacher Characteristics

Abstract

The study explored whether FI students would rank certain FI teachers’ characteristics as more important for success than would FD students. Similarly, it was examined whether FD students would rank certain FD teacher characteristics as more important for successful teaching than would FI students. The subjects consisted of 50 female teachers (25 FD and 25 FI) and their 844 5‐year‐old classroom children (422 females and 422 males) attending an all day early childhood program. The teachers and children were administered the appropriate form of the Embedded Figures Test to characterise them as more FD or FI. Students rated FDI teacher characteristics. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) for the students’ preference for the FDI teacher characteristics was found to be significant by the Wilks’ Lambda Critierion. Significant univariate F ratios are discussed. Significant interactions were found for: (1) the teachers’ cognitive style and sex (p<0.01); (2) the teachers’ cognitive style, sex, and the FDI teacher characteristics (p<0.001); (3) the teachers’ cognitive style and the FDI teacher characteristics (p<0.001).