Parental Attitudes to Open and Traditional Education. Unit for Child Studies Selected Papers Number 5.

The major focus of interest in the present research is the question of congruence between parental and school attitudes toward issues of authority and freedom. It was hypothesized that the child's adjustment to his/her particular type of classroom (either open or traditional) would be affected by whether he/she came from a family which shared broadly "open" or "traditional" attitudes toward discipline and control systems and had a similar philosophy about the way in which school learning ideally takes place. Variables relating to the learner and his/her background were also investigated, particularly in regard to I.Q., sex, and some of the attributes comprising adjustment. Several additional hypotheses were developed and explored. The sample consisted of 227 boys and girls, 9 to 12 years of age, who were pupils in three open and five traditional fifth and sixth grade level classrooms from three different primary schools in the Sydney, Australia, suburban area. A parent attitude questionnaire, included in Appendix One, was devised for this study and was used in conjunction with teacher ratings, school records, standardized test data and the Classroom Observation Schedule. Results are discussed. (Author/RH)