Academic counseling: a positive analysis for investigating the role of teacher-student interaction at business schools

Abstract

The study investigates the relationship between cognitive and affective outcomes of the quality of teacher-student interaction at different business schools in Pakistan. As early as 1936, Kurt Lewin recognized that the environment was a determinant of human behaviour and performance. Following Lewin s work, Murray proposed a Needs-Press model in which situational variables found in the environment account for a degree of behavioural variance. Attempts were also made to study situational variables found in the environment that affect the learning process, on the one hand, and students professional performance, on the other. A multistage stratified random sampling plan was used to select a sample from business schools at Lahore, Islamabad, Multan and Karachi. Stratification was done first at the ownership level, where the two strata consist of public and private sector schools. At the second stage, three strata were made according to the students' background, where students coming from English-medium schools, semi-English-medium schools and vernacular-medium schools were placed in three strata. In the third stage, the stratification was done on a gender basis. In the final stage, students were selected using systematic sampling. Such a multi-stage stratification plan permitted us to do an in-depth analysis of the whole process of teacher student interaction. The study identifies the types of interactions that are most likely to enhance students progress in business administration courses. It also identifies the important factors inhibiting or encouraging, teacher-student interaction. Further, it provides suggestions to enhance this interaction process.