Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

A large body of research points to the importance of teaching self-efficacy, or teachers’ belief in their ability to promote student learning, for improved learning contexts in schools. Beginning with a study by the RAND corporation in 1976 (Armor, 1976), teaching self-efficacy has been identified by many studies as one of the few teacher characteristics related to improved student outcomes. Teachers with higher teaching self-efficacy have been shown to improve student self-efficacy (Anderson et al., 1998), student motivation (Midgley, Feldlaufer & Eccles, 1989), facilitate higher levels of classroom engagement (Good & Brophy, 2003 and improve academic achievement (Capara, Barbaranelli, Steca & Malone, 2006) among their students.

Teaching self-efficacy is particularly relevant in the context of preservice teachers and teacher preparation programs. First, self-efficacy beliefs are developed during this time and sustain over the career of the teacher (Barnes, Crowe & Schaefer, 2007). In addition, there is evidence to suggest that candidates’ teaching efficacy increases with experience and pedagogical training, particularly during the preservice years (Hoy & Spero, 2005). Second, Lee, Patterson and Vega (2011) argue that from the point of view of quality teacher preparation, programs must address a variety of indicators related to effective teacher performance, including teaching self-efficacy. Overall, teacher preparation programs are thought of as being critical to the development of teaching self-efficacy (Bandura, 1989; Hoy & Spero, 2005).

While we know that teaching self-efficacy is largely shaped by the first few years of teaching (including the time when candidates are enrolled in teacher preparation programs), we know far less about demographic, personal and contextual factors that influence the development of self-efficacy among preservice teachers (Labone, 2004; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2007; Pfitzner-Eden, 2016). For example, some studies conclude that demographic variables such as race and gender are not correlated with teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs (see Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2007; Yilmaz, Gercek, Koseoglu & Soran, 2004 for examples), while other studies find that female teachers have higher self-efficacy than male teachers (see Lee, Buck & Midgley, 1992 or Cheung, 2006 for examples).

With evidence that ties higher teaching self-efficacy to higher quality teaching and improved student outcomes, there is a greater need to understand and examine the factors that play a role in determining preservice teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs when they first enter a teacher preparation program as well as extent to which these factors affect change in self-efficacy by the end of the program. The proposed study will examine the role of demographic (gender, age, race, etc.), personal (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experiences, agreeableness and conscientiousness) and contextual (program enrolled in, academic concentration, etc.) factors as predictors of teacher candidates’ self-efficacy in a large southeastern university. In addition, this study will examine changes in candidates’ self-efficacy from the beginning to the end of the teacher preparation program and the extent to which the above factors explain these changes. Very preliminary results suggest that male teacher candidates have higher self-efficacy as it relates to classroom management than female teacher candidates, while race does not differentially predict teacher candidates’ self-efficacy.