Principals' Perceptions of Non-Traditional Gender Vocational Teachers

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of secondary school principals toward hiring vocational teachers for positions where the teacher is from the minority gender (e.g. females as vocational agriculture teachers and males as home economics teachers). A simple random sample of high school principals in Louisiana was surveyed by mailed questionnaire. Ten items, incorporated into an existing instrument, were used to assess the principals' perceptions. Overall the findings revealed that the principals were ambivalent toward minority gender teachers. In addition, the principals were found to perceive nontraditional vocational teaching occupations more positively for women than for men. School size and population density were both found to be positively related to the administrators' perceptions such that principals in larger schools and in more densely populated school communities tended to have more positive perceptions toward nontraditional gender vocational teaching occupations for both men and women.