Predicting Preservice Teachers' Self-Efficacy to Resolve a Cultural Conflict Involving an African American Student

Abstract

This study examined preservice teachers' (1) sense of efficacy to resolve a cultural conflict involving an African American student, (2) sense of preparedness to effectively handle cultural conflicts, and (3) culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy beliefs. After reading a case study describing a teacher working with an African American male student, participants (n = 84) were asked to indicate how efficacious they were in resolving the conflict and how prepared they were to do so. The findings suggest that preservice teachers' sense of preparedness and the strength of their culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy beliefs contribute to the prediction of their sense of efficacy to resolve the conflict presented in the case study. The implications of these findings are discussed.