STUDY OF THE PERCEPTIONS HELD BY MALE AND FEMALE GRADUATE STUDENTS IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP TOWARD THE INFLUENCES THAT ROLE MODELS, MENTORS, AND NETWORK SYSTEMS EXERT ON CAREER DEVELOPMENT

The Problem. The purpose of this study was to determine whether significant differences existed between the perceptions held by male and female graduate students in educational leadership toward the influences that role models, mentors, and network systems exert on educational career development. The subjects consisted of graduate students enrolled at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, during the 1985-86 academic year who were either seeking a graduate degree in educational leadership or seeking Florida State Certification in educational leadership. Procedure. A multivariate analysis of variance procedure was applied to test the hypotheses of the study to determine whether significant differences existed between the perceptions held by male and female graduate students in educational leadership on role models, mentors, and network systems of the group level. Where a significant multivariate difference was detected, a univariate analysis of variance was completed for each of the forty-five variables to detemine whether significant differences existed between the perceptions held by male and female graduate students in educational leadership at the item level. Conclusions. (1) Male and female graduate students in educational leadership exhibited significant differences in their perceptions toward role models on educational career development; (2) Male and female graduate students in educational leadership exhibited significant differences in their perceptions toward mentors in educational career development; (3) Male and female graduate students in educational leadership exhibited no significant differences in their perceptions toward network systems on educational career development.