Self-Efficacy of Teachers in Initial Training: A Comparison between the Populations of Two Universities

Eduardo Chaves-Barboza,José-Antonio Marín-Marín,Tomás Solá-Martínez,Mariano Sanz-Prieto

doi:10.3390/educsci9030188

Eduardo Chaves-Barboza, José-Antonio Marín-Marín + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci9030188

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Abstract

This article carries out a comparison of the self-efficacy of teachers in initial training, between the populations of two universities. A questionnaire with two Likert scales is applied in two samples, 836 subjects from the Universidad Nacional (Costa Rica) and 588 from the Universidad de Granada (Spain). The data is reviewed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics (95% confidence interval), correlation tests (Kendall τ correlation coefficient) and variance analysis (Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis H test). The results indicate that both populations show high levels of self-efficiency during their initial training, where the self-perceived capacity to pay attention to the explanations and instructions of the teachers excels. Meaningful differences are observed with getting ahead with difficult situations, doing the extra-class tasks and having motivation in the less interesting classes.

Highlights

The self-efficacy inside the Social Cognitive Theory refers to the self-perception of a person of his own ability to perform specific acts in certain situations, such as achieving a concrete learning with a definite level of difficulty [1–3]
The relative frequency of the self-efficacy variables are shown in the Table 1, in order to allow the comparison between both university populations, the UNA-CR values are placed in the upper part and the UGR-Effect Size (ES) values in the lower part; in each case the arithmetic mean and the standard deviation are calculated
In the UGR-ES population, the accumulated percentages of levels 4, 5 and 6 are lower than 75% in the variables “Control the disruptive behavior of my classmates” (56.2%) and “Motivate myself when classes are uninteresting” (55.1%), which is observed in the UNA-CR population, where accumulated percentages of 68.6% and 67.9%, respectively, are reached, for the three top levels of the variables

Summary

Introduction

The self-efficacy inside the Social Cognitive Theory refers to the self-perception of a person of his own ability to perform specific acts in certain situations, such as achieving a concrete learning with a definite level of difficulty [1–3]. Self-efficacy does not assess whether the person’s goals will be achieved or if the acts are carried out or not; it is a concept focusing on the person’s self-perceived ability to be able to perform them when necessary. The development and maintenance of a high self-efficacy in the training field is a way to motivate learning and encourage self-regulation in all the processes, as evidenced by the investigations that relate these variables [17–22]. The subject of self-efficacy faces learning in a critical, systematic and self-regulated way, and proactively assumes the completion of tasks and the accomplishment of their educational goals [23–29]

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