Personal Effectiveness Programme for Ashram School Students: A Mixed Method Research

DOI: 10.5176/2251-1814_EeL14.40

Authors: Mrs. Sai Subodh Kadu, Dr. Shefali Pandya

Abstract:

This paper describes the use of qualitative and quantitative research approaches to understand the characteristics of tribal (indigenous) students who take education in Ashram schools of Dahanu Taluka of Thane district of Maharashtra in India. The researcher has used exploratory case study method to study Ashram schools in terms of the qualitative approach. The context of the Ashram school under study includes the educational facilities provided to the tribal (indigenous) students by the Government to the school, the quality of facilities provided by the government, students’ interaction with teachers and peers, the extent of parental involvement in their children’s education, the obstacles in the educational development of the tribal (indigenous) students and the effect of the socio – economic status and educational level of parents on some psychological and social factors of students. Data and findings from the qualitative phase of the study found that the researcher needed to enhance the self esteem and interpersonal communications in the students as well as enhance occupational awareness in them. These variables were arrived at through coding of the qualitative data. The findings of the qualitative phase were used to construct personal effectiveness intervention programme for enhancement of self esteem, interpersonal relationship skills and occupational aspiration of tribal (indigenous) students of the ashram school. An experimental study has been conducted to measure the personal effectiveness of the intervention programme which is an activity-based comprehensive programme rooted in the local tribal culture and language developed and implemented on tribal students of two ashram schools using the pre-test-post-test non-equivalent groups design. The statistical analysis showed personal effectiveness intervention programme to be highly effective for all psychological variables included in the present study.

Keywords: Ashram Schools, Personal Effectiveness Programme, Tribal (indigenous), Self – Esteem, Interpersonal Relationship Skills, Occupational Aspiration