The effectiveness of a rational-emotive intervention on teachers’ unconditional self-acceptance, perfectionism, and pupil control ideology

Abstract

IntroductionThe present research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) intervention on in-service teachers.MethodsA quasi-experimental 2-group (intervention vs. control) × 3-time (pre, post-test, follow-up) design was applied to explore to what extent the REBT interventions help teachers increase their level of unconditional self-acceptance as the primary outcome and decrease their perfectionism tendencies and pupil control ideology as secondary outcomes. The sample consisted of 100 in-service teachers assigned to either the intervention group (n = 50) or the control group (n = 50). The experimental group received a 6-week intervention program. Every session was held weekly and lasted 90–120 min. The Unconditional Self-Acceptance Questionnaire (USAQ), Pupil Control Ideology Scale (PCI), and Perfectionism Inventory Scale (PI) were used to collect data. This study used a mixed model ANOVA 2 × 3 for data analysis.ResultsThe results indicated that in the experimental group, there was a statistically significant increase in unconditional self-acceptance level from pre-test to post-test, which remains significant at the 6-month follow-up. Likewise, there were no statistically significant differences in unconditional self-acceptance levels between the post-test and 6-month follow-up in the intervention group.DiscussionThese findings prove that REBT interventions are effective in increasing teachers’ unconditional self-acceptance.

Epistemological beliefs and classroom practices of experienced physics teachers: are they related?

“…Physics classrooms should promote sense-making and explanation to learn by doing and talking rather than direct transfer of information (Berland et al, 2016;Alzen et al, 2023). This study made suggestions for further research to examine the consistencies and inconsistencies between beliefs and practices focusing on teacher control ideologies (Ding and Wang, 2018;Samfira and Sava, 2023). Further research could be conducted through quantitative methods with several 100 physics teachers to establish the generalizability of findings and help teachers replace their dysfunctional beliefs with functional ones to enhance the relationship between epistemological beliefs and classroom practices.…”

“…The sample size was relatively small size for a large-scale study even though the results presented the common patterns among participants. There was inconsistency between experienced physics teachers' epistemological beliefs and classroom practices that might be related to teachers' dysfunctional or irrational beliefs than their humanistic views (Samfira and Sava, 2021) since they prioritized the needs and expectations for exam preparation in teaching and referred to teacher perfectionism to decrease students' anxiety for testing (Samfira and Sava, 2023). Physics classrooms should promote sense-making and explanation to learn by doing and talking rather than direct transfer of information (Berland et al, 2016;Alzen et al, 2023).…”