Teacher quality, self-efficacy, and quality teaching in Ethiopian primary schools: An integrated sociological and psychological perspective

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the roles of motivation and social context in education. This study tests a new research direction in these areas, based on sociological and psychological theories, examining the linkages between contextual factors, self-efficacy, and quality teaching, as well as possible differences, found among teachers based on gender and education qualification. For this, the study used a cross-sectional survey design collecting quantitative data. The sample included 154 teachers in 3 randomly selected primary schools in Ethiopia who volunteered to participate in the study. The analysis involves descriptive statistics to describe the basic features of the data in the study, t-tests to assess group differences, and both correlation and regression analyses to examine relationships between variables. The t-test results show significant differences in some self-efficacy components based on gender and qualification (0.39 ≤ Cohen’s d ≥ 0.49). In addition, results of correlation analyses indicate that higher self-efficacy beliefs were associated with higher quality teaching (0.24 ≤ r ≥ 0.78). Beyond these, the teacher’s self-efficacy components, together with the contextual variables positively predicted quality teaching (47 % and 58 % explained variance), but with differential effects (.18 ≤ β ≥ .40). The implication is that the quest for quality in the primary school context should have a broader spectrum, including several aspects of teacher-related factors and teaching roles.