Examining the Effect of Teacher Qualification, Teacher Experience and School Location on Teacher Efficacy and Learning Environments

Abstract

The study discusses the effect of teachers’ educational (professional) Qualification, Experience and their Location of work on their efficacy building strengths, with particular interest on how the variables influence teachers’ choices of instructional methods. The study was conducted among four-hundred and sixty (460) Ghanaian public basic school teachers in two regions: the Greater Accra and Upper-east regions. Instrumentation was by questionnaire designed by the researcher. The explorative study was underpinned by the research questions: To what extent do teachers’ qualifications, experience and school location affect their efficacy strengths? How strongly can teachers’ qualifications influence their choice of instructional methods and student management abilities? What importance do teachers attach to their choice of instructional methods, and how easy is it for them to employ interactive instructional techniques in their classrooms? It was found that, no significant difference exists between teachers’ educational qualification and their teaching experience on both teacher- efficacy consciousness levels and Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE) strengths. The study also found that the location of a school has telling effects on teacher’s sense of efficacy. Although educational qualification had no statistical significance on teachers’ efficacy strengths, it was found that teachers’ educational qualification had a statistically significant difference on their choice of instructional methodology and student management abilities.