TEACHERS VALUE ORIENTATIONS IN URBAN AND RURAL SCHOOL SETTINGS

The purpose of this research was to describe physical educators' value orientations for curricular decision making in urban and rural teachi ng settings. The revised Value Orientation Inventory (Ennis & Chen, 19 93) was used to collect data from 495 physical educators in urban and rural districts. Data were analyzed descriptively using a full-design and a nested MANOVA model. Results indicated that teachers in urban sc hool districts placed a higher priority on self-actualization and soci al responsibility than did teachers in rural school districts. Convers ely, teachers in rural school districts placed a higher priority on di sciplinary mastery and learning process than did their colleagues in u rban schools. The discussion focused on differences in school contexts in urban and rural schools. Teachers appeared to shape their curricul um to reflect the opportunities and constraints within their school se ttings.