Support of Educational Associates and Self-Efficacy for Teacher Cooperation

Abstract

The aim of this research is to determine the differences in the individual components of self-assessed self-efficacy for teachers' cooperation, taking into consideration whether educational associates provide them with adequate support in working with students with disabilities or not. In addition to the calculation of basic statistical parameters, in data processing, multivariate analysis of variance, t-test and discrimination analysis were used to calculate the differences between the observed groups. The obtained results show the presence of statistically significant differences in separate components of self-assessed self-efficacy for cooperation between teachers, taking into consideration whether educational associates provide them with adequate support in working with students with disabilities or not. The differences are evident both on the manifest and latent levels. However, the variables in which teachers who receive support from educational associates show a higher level of self-efficacy for cooperation mostly relate to administrative-organizational support and freedom of expression of opinion, so it is necessary to better conceptualize this cooperation and its components, as well as the factors affecting it. The contribution of this research is twofold. It consists in acquiring results that allow insight into the structure of self-assessed self-efficacy of teachers working in inclusive conditions in the area of one region in Croatia. On the other side, this work contributes to the interpretation of the possible connection between specific components of teacher self-efficacy for cooperation in inclusive conditions with factors that could influence it when it comes to the support of educational associates.