Time Management Applied In Education

Abstract

Traditionally, time is seen as the action of measuring the distance between events. It is composed of past, present and future. This article investigates the future teachers attitude on the usefulness of training skills or time management of their own, or for students. Are taken into account two direction of investigation, considering that one decisive influence the other in terms of efficiency of the teaching and learning process. The results and interpretation are based on the intention to analyse the degree of understanding complementary concepts, such as prioritization, delegation of tasks, communication skills, setting goals, organizing space, etc. It was made an analysis about how the causes that lead to inefficient management of time are perceived, because, as a pedagogical resource, time have to be discovered during school years and considered as a supporting factor, when judiciously used or, on the contrary as a major disruptive element when it is not used properly. The data obtained were used in order to describe the construction of a conceptual framework for the management of time efficiently applied in education, an framework of components thereof, in respondents view. In the future we want to investigate the practical effectiveness of this framework and to test its level of practical applicability in school life.

Keywords: Timemanagementprioritiesperformancelearning process

Introduction

Nowadays, the proper use of time is a fundamental aspect in terms of performance in so diverse areas. Both at the personal and organizational level, time management idea go beyond its control, moving towards improved quality of life. 

The scientific literature (Britton, 1991; Claessens, Van Eerde, & Roe, 2007 etc.) records the benefits of the correct use of time. Some of them are mentioned below:

• Decreasing the stress levels in relation to professional and personal activities

• Increasing productivity

• A better selection procedures for establishing goals

• Maintaining a balance between work and rest, between professional and personal life

• High quality of life

• Increasing the ability to prioritize

• Increasing organizational skills

Time management issues, even though are from other areas, perfectly fit the educational field, because here, decisions such as those related to prioritization, setting goals and strategies must be taken every time. The temporal dimension of work has become a growing concern since the beginning of this millennium, backed by the permanent feeling that there is not enough time to complete everything they propose.

As a concept, time management was introduced in the 50s and is considered an effective way to cope with professional challenges. At first was an action plan that included:

• techniques for establishing goals, on short and long term; 

• ways of linking these goals with consistent actions; 

• planning and prioritization action; 

• ways to avoid syncope and interruptions; 

• ways to increase efficiency at work.

Problem Statement

The problem that we intend to examine is based on the low number of research that examines how teachers address issues of time management in their area of ​​interest: the education. Therefore, according to this idea, we aimed to investigate the perception of time management of primary schools teachers, aspects such as:

• time planning

• personal attitude towards time

• perception on time consumers

• identifying ways to improve personal time management skills

Research Questions

Research that will be presented below is based on a fundamental question designed to clarify aspects of the importance of time management in education. This formulation was preceded by literature review and informal discussions with specialists in time management, in or outside the education system. As a result of these efforts, the following fundamentals questions emerged:

What is the perception of primary school teachers on time management in education? 

In order to obtain accurate answers, we considered useful detailing general question and thus formulated a few additional questions:

1. What is the attitude of primary school teachers on the concept of time in relation to the educational environment? 

2. What is the perception of primary school teachers related with time consumers? 

3. What type of action planning and prioritization teachers are familiar with? 

4. What is the attitude of primary school teachers on the idea of ​​improving their time management skills? 

Specific questions were designed to guide further our research into finding ways to develop time management skills, for both, teachers and pupils.

Purpose of the Study

The study was a conjunction: on the one hand, we intend to identify teachers' opinions on issues of time management, such as: time perception, perception of times consumers, planning and prioritization actions carried out by teachers, identifying their training needs in this area and carry out clarification on training students in these skills accurate time management. So we decided to build in depth interviews for a number of 11 teachers from Cluj and Sălaj County, all having teaching experience of at least 15 years in primary education, highest didactic degree and they are consecrated specialists. 

Interviews were conducted individually during second school semester, from 2017 to 2018 and were based on an interview guide with support questions, according with each research question. This guide has been made available to teachers, together with any clarifications whereon the interviewees were deemed necessary.

Research Methods

This article is based on a research methodology based on qualitative analysis of the results collected, being designed for understanding the effectiveness of the educational process as a whole (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). In this research study were interviewed teachers that could contribute to understanding the role of time management in education. Teachers who have been choose have significant teaching experience, which allowed them a broader perspective on the influences of time management and a significant contribution to understanding the subject. 

The primary means of data collection was the in depth interview, considered as a suitable method to investigate such issues. In depth interview allows respondents to express their perceptions and is one of the most common ways in which people's behaviour can be understood.

 "The interview is a middle weight, which helps people to do things that were open to them, hidden. - to express their perceptions, thoughts and their implicit understandings" (Arksey & Knight, 1999, p. 32). The interview allows the creation of empathy, connection, allowing flexibility and coverage researched phenomenon (Fontana & Frey, 2005). As a result of this decision, the interview guide was constructed to capture faithfully our research intentions and report rigorously teachers opinions..

Findings

Conclusion

Analysis of the results leads us towards drawing conclusions in our research intended user. We seem helpful to show that teachers interviewed think that time management is more than a simple time management, being, in fact, an action that requires time control, manage their own behaviour, defining priorities, responsibilities, replacing old habits with new ones more productive etc. Since the educational resources is limited in time, we believe that efficiency is the key and know how to organize our schedule. Based on the data obtained, we consider it appropriate that in a future research programs to propose structuring a course time management, personal and professional development for teachers. Also stress the importance of individual learning these skills in training, knowing that in adulthood, it is one of the specific strategies (Jucan, 2009).

References

1. Arksey, H. Knight, P. (1999) Interviewing for Social Scientists [Interviul în Științele sociale]. London: Sage. 
2. Britton, B. K., & Tesser, A. (1991). Effects of time-management practices on collegegrades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83, 405 410. DOI:
3. Claessens, B. J. C., Van Eerde, W., Rutte, C. G., & Roe, R. A. (2007). A review of the time management literature. Personnel Review, 36, 255 – 276 DOI:
4. Fontana, A., & Frey, J. H. (2005). The Interview: From Neutral Stance to Political Involvement. In N. K. Retrieved from https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-07735-027
5. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2000). Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln, (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research [Cartea Sage pentru cercetare calitativă]. (2nd ed., pp. 1-28). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
6. Jucan, D (2009). Strategii de activitate intelectuală, [Intellectual activity strategies],Cluj-Napoca: Casa Cărții de Știință.