Is Internality an Advantage? Linking Locus of Control to the Self Esteem of Teachers

Self-esteem is now being talked about a lot in relation to learning success and has become a prominent topic on agendas at teachers' conferences. Locus of control is a well-known cognitive-behavioural psychological dimension used to describe a person's characteristic way of perceiving the world. It is seen that both Locus of Control and Self Esteem of the teacher have a direct impact on the well being and performance of the students. Capturing the relationship between Self Esteem and Locus of Control can be used to differentiate between more effective and less
effective school teachers. This research was based on a sample of 75 school teachers in Pathanathitta District, Kerala. Regression analysis was used for predicting the relationship between Self Esteem and Locus of Control. Demographics such as age, gender, work experience, marital status and educational background, were introduced as control variables. We found that there exists a significant relationship between Self Esteem and Locus of Control. This study is useful as it enable the assessment of the teachers’ SE and LC so as to undertake measures to improve the same. The assessment of Self Esteem and Locus of control will help in selection and training of school teachers.