Abstract:

The core of the current technological and information era lies in the quantity and quality of information and knowledge. Teachers, being the carriers of information, therefore significantly affect the success of individual students but also entire scientific disciplines, technological sectors and, ultimately, the prosperity of nations. The value orientation in pre-service teachers can significantly influence the degree and the method of implementation of individual curricula (what will be taught and how) in the teaching process, including their development. The main objective of the paper is to analyse the value orientation in pre-service teachers in relation to the defined independent variables (gender, type and form of study). The sample consisted of 539 university students including 57 men and 482 women. The data were collected using the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ21, Schwartz). The study was conducted in compliance with applicable ethical principles. The results showed significant univariate differences for all study and demographic characteristics with small to moderate effect size. The universalism (p = 0.006, d = 0.37), tradition (p = 0.001, d = 0.48), safety (p = 0.002, d = 0.43), success (p = 0.019, d = .34), and stimulation (p = 0.033, d = 0.27) factors differed between males and females. The conformism (p = 0.013, d = 0.22) and tradition (p = 0.001, d = 0.29) factors differed between teaching and non-teaching courses. Finally, the stimulation (p = 0.025, d = 0.24) factor differed between full-time and part-time students. The subsequent two-way factorial ANOVA with gender and type of course as independent variables showed significant effects of age (p = 0.002) and age-type of course interaction (p = 0.040) on identification with traditions. The analysis of simple main effects demonstrated that male students of teaching identified more with traditions compared with females (p < 0.001, η2 = 0.045). The second factorial ANOVA assessed the effect of gender and form of study on identification with traditions. The multi-variable model showed no significant effects.

Keywords:

Value, value orientation, university students.