Attitudinal perceptions of professionalization in home economics teaching

Two-hundred and eighty-seven home economics teachers from upper New York State completed a Professionalization Inventory for Home Economics Teaching (PI-HET) as well as a demographics questionnaire. Over 80% of the sample were between 24 and 54 years old, and 71.0% were married; 48.1% had a Master's Degree and 52.5% had taught between 3 and 12 years. Most of the sample believed that teaching home economics is a profession, but they also felt it is an isolated occupation. The sample endorsed home economics teaching as a vehicle for serving families. Regarding multiple regression analyses, six of the eight independent variables were statistically significant on one or more of the subscales: Autonomy Training, Support in Choice, First Choice, Work Experience, Member (of professional association), and Professional Journal Reading.