Development and validation of students’ attitudes towards teacher’s pet phenomenon scale in the higher education setting: Differences by levels of study and Grade-Point-Average

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Highlights

  • Teacher’s pet phenomenon (TPP) is an instance of favoritism in educational contexts.

  • An instrument of students’ attitudes towards TPP was devised.

  • The scale was found to be valid and reliable.

  • This scale contributes further insights into the nature and dimensionality of TPP.

Abstract

An in-depth review of the related literature shows that no scales or questionnaires have yet been designed on students’ attitudes towards Teacher’s Pet Phenomenon (TPP). To address this gap, this research aims to devise an instrument of students’ attitudes towards TPP and examines the role of students’ levels of study and Grade-Point-Average in their scores on the newly-designed scale. To this end, first, 30 graduate- and undergraduate students along with 15 university instructors were interviewed. Then, based on the identified themes, a scale was designed and 476 English language students participated in the quantitative phase. The findings demonstrated that the scale was reliable and valid, and the higher a student’s level of study and GPA, the more pet-prone s/he became, the more negative attitude s/he held, and the less probable it would be for him/her to be influenced by the unpleasant effects of TPP.

Introduction

One of the potent factors contributing to the teacher-student relationship is a teacher’s behavior toward students since it is crucial to satisfying students’ emotional needs (Babad, 2009). Babad (2009) maintains that a teacher’s conduct affects students’ morale and satisfaction, and the students would undermine his/her authority in the classroom if they perceive injustice in the teacher’s behavior. A broad constellation of studies (e.g., Babad, 2009; Chesebro, Matin, & Bulson, 2004; Chory-Assad, 2002, 2007; Chory-Assad & Paulsel, 2004a, 2004b; Frymier & Houser, 2000) attests the significance of maintaining impartiality in teachers’ behavior because teachers’ injustice causes students’ distraction, irritation, unhappiness, and loss of motivation. A teacher’s violation of the principles of fairness also results in being evaluated less favorably, being involved in implicit interpersonal aggression (Chory-Assad, 2002; Chory-Assad & Paulsel, 2004a, 2004b), facing rejection of their requests, and being treated in a hostile way (Chory-Assad & Paulsel, 2004a, 2004b). Thus, it is worthwhile to examine the examples of unfairness in teachers’ behaviors toward students. The Teacher’s Pet Phenomenon (TPP) is a notable instance of extreme favoritism within educational settings (Babad, 2009), and is, therefore, a topic worth exploring.

TPP “is a phenomenon of a special emotional relationship (often a love relationship) between the teacher and a particular student (or two) in the classroom” (Babad, 2009, p. 106). It involves those teachers who exhibit their intense emotions and feelings towards one or more special students without regard for others’ feelings and observing fairness in their manner (Babad, 2009).

The importance of TPP stems from the fact that it affects the social psychology of the classroom, and touches the teacher, pet, and nonpets in the classroom. It also influences students’ morale and gratification, their emotional feedback to their teachers, and the classroom climate (Babad, 1990, 1998, 2009; Tal & Babad, 1989, 1990). It is also a kind of negative teacher-student relationship which is a barrier to students’ social and cognitive learning (Babad, 1990, 1995, 1998; Chiu, Lee, & Liang, 2011; Trusz, 2017). Its special edge lies in the fact that teachers’ behavior is carefully observed by students in a way that they can perceive the slightest signs of injustice in teachers’ behavior (Babad, 2009). Thus, looking at TPP is of utmost importance as it leads to teachers’ awareness of the psychological mechanisms operating in the classroom. Moreover, investigating TPP helps teachers to be conscious of the hidden and implicit aspects of their behavior in the teacher-student interactions. This would mean that teachers need to be sensitive to expressing their personal feelings toward some particular students.

Although TPP is generally acknowledged among teachers and students, limited research has been carried out on TPP (Babad, 1990, 1995, 1998; Chiu et al., 2011; Tal & Babad, 1989, 1990; Vahidnia, Ghonsooly, & Shahriari, 2019a, Vahidnia, Ghonsooly, & Shahriari, 2019b) and it leaves four gaps in our knowledge. First, the foregoing works were limited to school students, and although their findings would be helpful to all students and teachers in any educational context, no investigations, except Vahidnia et al.’s (2019a, 2019b), were conducted in settings other than schools (e.g., universities). In view of evidence, TPP is gradually plaguing the higher education context (Vahidnia et al., 2019a, 2019b); however, it can be redefined by instructors and their pets (Vahidnia et al., 2019a). To be exact, due to the different nature of interpersonal relations at university than at primary or secondary school (e.g., inclusion of the selected students in the work of research teams or labs and close and strongly individualized cooperation during MA or PhD thesis preparation, i.e., personal meetings of a supervisor with PhD or MA students), special treatment of pets may be perceived differently or go unnoticed (Vahidnia et al., 2019a). Furthermore, being more complicated and multi-faceted in older age groups, the issue of interest and a special relationship between instructors and students, and the reactions of adolescent students towards this phenomenon might be more intense compared to those of school students (Babad, 2009; Chiu et al., 2011). Thus, considering the above-cited points, this phenomenon may be more complicated within the higher education setting, and this context may add extra complexities to this phenomenon. Second, one main reason for the paucity of research on TPP would possibly be the challenges in the practical measurement of it. Despite all the studies done on TPP, it seems as if no related scales have yet been devised concerning students’ perceptions about TPP in the higher education context. Hence, this study aims to contribute to this line of research by designing and validating Students’ Attitudes towards Teacher’s Pet Phenomenon Scale (SATPPS). The development of such a scale can be regarded as a reliable measure that can be applied to proceed and enrich a teacher-pet vein of research and respond to the demand of the teacher-pet researchers by providing a well-designed means of enrichment in this literature. Furthermore, it may also help researchers to empirically investigate this phenomenon and to gain more knowledge about the consequences of TPP. In addition, it could be beneficial for collecting data on the concept of TPP in the higher education context. The third gap in our knowledge is related to the role of students’ levels of study. Babad (1995) and Babad, Avni-Babad, and Rosenthal (2003) noted some differences between elementary and high school students regarding their reactions towards teacher’s differential behavior. It was found that high school students showed more adverse reactions to their teacher’s differential behavior as compared with the elementary school students. Moreover, research has shown that as people grow, they can manage their emotions better, especially the negative ones (e.g., Blanchard-Fields, 2007; Blanchard-Fields, Stein, & Watson, 2004; Scheibe & Blanchard-Fields, 2009; Scheibe & Carstenson, 2010). Furthermore, given that students view TPP negatively and have negative feelings about it (Babad, 1995, 2009; Babad et al., 2003; Tal & Babad, 1989, 1990), it does not sound illogical to hypothesize that university students of higher levels might be more capable of managing their negative emotions caused by TPP. Therefore, whether the educational level differences found among school students (Babad, 1995) and age-related differences regarding regulating negative emotions (e.g., Blanchard-Fields, 2007; Blanchard-Fields et al., 2004) exist in the higher education setting has been left somehow untouched and needs to be investigated. The last gap is related to the role of students’ GPA in their pet-proneness, attitude towards TPP, and how much they are influenced by the adverse effects of TPP. The Iranian educational system is GPA-based and having a high GPA is equated with enjoying special privileges such as being granted the talented student’s scholarship. This scholarship can help BA students enter the MA and PhD programs without taking the entrance exam (Vahidnia et al., 2019a). Moreover, there is evidence that students attempt to become pets in pursuit of gaining some advantages, one of which is getting higher grades which count toward their average grade (Vahidnia et al., 2019a). Considering these points, it is still unknown whether TPP can pave the way for students to achieve a better GPA leading to reaping other gains. Furthermore, in light of evidence, low-achievers need the teacher’s support and attention more than high-achievers (Babad, 2009). Hence, building on the idea that TPP addresses those teachers favoring one or more particular students at the expense of disregarding others’ feelings (Babad, 2009), it does not seem illogical to speculate that a student with a lower GPA might be more negatively affected by TPP as a result of receiving insufficient attention and limited support by the teacher which may, in turn, influence his/her attitude toward TPP. Thus, considering the above-cited points, this research attempts to rectify the previously cited problems by answering the following research questions:

Q1. To what extent is the newly designed Students’ Attitudes towards Teacher’s Pet Phenomenon Scale (SATPPS) reliable (internally consistent) and valid?

Q2. Are there any significant differences among the BA, MA, and PhD students’ scores on the three subscales of the SATPP?

Q3. Are there any significant differences among the university students having different GPAs in terms of their scores on the three subscales of SATPP?

Section snippets

Literature review

Many educators and students view TPP negatively and react negatively towards teachers having pets (Babad, 2009). Babad and his colleagues examined TPP in different studies during the mid-1990s (Babad, 1995, 1998; Babad & Ezer, 1993; Tal & Babad, 1989, 1990). Teacher’s pet is “a student who is involved in a special and purpose-built relationship with the teacher usually through doing whatever it takes to gain approval for undue advantages and privileges that seem to defy the principles of

Participants and sample selection

This study had two phases and there were 521 participants. In the qualitative phase, 30 graduate-and undergraduate English language students (13 BAs, 8 MAs, and 9 PhDs) and 15 English language university instructors (2 professors, 5 associate professors, 7 assistants, and 1 instructor) were interviewed. The students (18 females and 12 males) and instructors (9 males and 6 females) were selected from some universities and institutes of higher education in Iran. The students’ age ranged between

Results

Initially, to ensure the construct validity of SATPPS, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to explore the underlying structure of SATPPS.

Discussion

Since the 1990s, 12 studies (Babad, 1990, 1995, 1998; Chiu et al., 2011; Lu, Fung, Farver, Chen, & Chang, 2015; Somersalo et al., 2002; Tal, 1987; Tal & Babad, 1989, 1990; Trusz, 2017; Vahidnia et al., 2019a, 2019b) have been conducted to explore TPP in the area of education. Although TPP is considered as an important phenomenon affecting students’ morale (Babad, 2009), no scale has been devised for the measurement of students’ attitudes toward TPP in educational settings. Hence, it was

Conclusion

Overall, this research attempted to design and validate a scale of SATPP in the higher education context and explore the role of students’ GPA and levels of study in their SATPPS scores. Thus far, university instructors should have relied on knowledge gained by works done within the school settings, instead of focusing on TPP research in the higher education settings. Therefore, the findings of this study would be beneficial for collecting data on the concept of TPP in the higher education

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that there are no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Acknowledgements

This project was financially supported by Ferdowsi University of Mashhad under Grant number 43009.

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