Community College Faculty Members' Attitudes Toward Correctional Inmates - An Attempt To Increase Faculty Participation in Off-Campus Instruction at Correctional Institutions

• NCJ Number: 81086
• Author(s): A H Friedman
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 187 pages
• Sale Source: UMI Dissertation Services; Not Available Through National Institute of Justice/NCJRS Document Loan Program
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. College of William and Mary - doctoral dissertation

Annotation

This study examined the attitudes of community college faculty members toward students who are incarcerated in correctional institutions in order to try to increase faculty members' participation in off-campus programs at these institutions.

Abstract

The changes which occur in these attitudes as the result of an orientation program designed to make the faculty members familiar with the environment and types of students they would encounter at a correctional institution were also studied. The subjects were 145 faculty members at community colleges located in Virginia. The subjects represented 62 percent of the 232 faculty members to whom study questionnaires were distributed. Findings indicated that an orientation program designed to familiarize faculty members with inmate students and the correctional environment can produce favorable changes in attitudes toward correctional inmates and toward teaching off-campus courses at correctional institutions. Faculty members hold a wide range of attitudes toward inmates and toward correctional education assignments. The age, sex, and years of teaching experience at the community college and postsecondary levels are not significant determinants of attitudes towared correctional inmates and correctional education assignments. Further research should focus on the effectiveness of the semantic differential test and the attitudinal scale used in the study. Research should also examine alternative methods of favorably modifying attitudes toward teaching correctional inmates and the accuracy of test scores in predicting the success or failure of an instructor's performance in a correctional setting. Tables, a review of related research, a list of 171 references, 4 reference notes, and appendixes presenting the study instruments and related background material are provided.