Teachers’ and Principals’ Perceptions of Homeroom versus Subject Teachers

Abstract

In elementary, two instructional models exist: the homeroom teacher model in which teachers are responsible for instruction of all subject matters and the subject-teacher model where teachers are specialists in a particular field, such as math or science and hence teach these subject-matters only. Within the Lebanese context, both instructional models exist at schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of the benefits and limitations of both instructional models. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. The participants consisted of four principals and 63 elementary teachers from private schools in Beirut. Both qualitative and quantitative results were comparable and showed that most of the participants believed that homeroom teachers have better connection with students and better knowledge of their students. They also reported that homeroom teachers have better connections with the students’ parents as well. Moreover, the participants believed that the homeroom teacher is not less knowledgeable than the subject teacher and both share a similar workload. The results also revealed that the participants favored the homeroom instructional model at the elementary level suggesting that the benefits of this model outweigh its limitations. That is, the participants believed that in this model, the homeroom teachers who accompany the students during the entire school year cater better to the emotional and academic needs of students whereas the subject teachers are less in contact with the students and focus mostly on delivering the content of instruction. Further research is needed on larger scales to confirm these results.