Teachers' Sense of Efficacy: An Important Factor in School Improvement

Stage 1: Survival During Stage 1, which may last throughout the first full year of teaching, the teacher's main concern is whether she can survive. This preoccupation with survival may be expressed in questions the teacher asks: "Can I get through the day in one piece? Without losing a child? Can I make it until the end of the week? Until the next vacation? Can I really do this kind of work day after day? Will I be accepted by my colleagues?" Such questions are well expressed in Ryan's enlightening collection of accounts of first-year teaching experiences (3).

The Elementary School Journal Volume 83, Number 2 ? 1982 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 001 3-5984183/8302-0009$01o.00 Teachers approach their instructional tasks with a variety of perspectives and strategies that emphasize certain aspects of teaching and deemphasize others. For example, some teachers teach language skills using organized games, while other teachers teach the same skills by direct instruction. Teachers adopt different approaches to the same subject matter partly because their teaching situations differ. Their students may have different learning problems or their classrooms may have varied resources and facilities. Even in the

The Influence of Experience on the Beginning Teacher

The Elementary School Journal Volume 81, Number 1 ? 1980 by The University of Chicago 0013-5984/81/8101-0008$0o1.00 In colleges and universities across the country, prospective and practicing teachers and administrators take courses on planning-curriculum-planning and instructional planning. During the courses, teachers and administrators usually study an objectives-first model of curriculumplanning. This model has four steps. Planners are expected to 1. Formulate objectives 2. Choose appropriate learning activities

The primary reference employed in this paper is to view schools as social organizations. Such a perspective calls attention to the structure of the social relations in the school as well as to norms, values, and other orientations shared by school personnel. The present study builds upon earlier research in which pupil control was seen as a central feature of the organizational life of schools.2 A major concern was the socialization of teachers with regard to pupil control ideology. It was hypothesized that as teachers were absorbed into the teacher subculture their pupil control ideology would become more custodial. Cross-sectional data confirmed the prediction that more experienced teachers would be more custodial than less experienced teachers.3 Subsequent longitudinal data on a sample of beginning teachers also showed a significant increase in the custodialism of pupil control ideology both after the student teaching experience and again after the first year of teaching.4 The purpose of this inquiry is to reexamine the pupil control ideology of the same sample of beginning teachers as they acquired their second year of teaching experience. Before the empirical phase of this investigation is reported, it seems appropriate to review the conceptual framework and rationale from which the major hypothesis was developed.

Change Processes and Strategies at the Local Level

Pre-service physical education teachers preference for class management profiles and teachers self-efficacy beliefs

An Experimental Study of Effective Teaching in First-Grade Reading Groups

to general feelings such as liking/disliking of mathematics, nor is it meant to exclude perceptions of the difficulty, usefulness, and appropriateness of mathematics as a school subject. There are several ways affective variables are related to mathematics learning. It is likely that a student who feels very positive about mathematics will achieve at a higher level than a student who has a negative attitude toward mathematics. It is also likely that a high achiever will enjoy mathematics more than a student who

School Reform: The District Policy Implications of the Effective Schools Literature

With the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, preservice teachers have experienced an unprecedented situation and faced various kinds of issues due to uncertain learning and teaching environments. As a result, they felt insecure and disappointed about their teaching performance during student teaching. Self-efficacy to teach and pedagogical beliefs are crucial elements that influence preservice teachers’ teaching performance during student teaching and their professional development in the early stage. This study adopted a quantitative research method to examine the changes in the self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs of preservice teachers after student teaching during the initial teacher education stage in the Japanese context and how preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 133 preservice primary teachers in a university in Western Japan was recruited in this study. Two structured surveys were used to collect the data, and factor analyses and paired t-tests were fitted. This study verified the validity and internal consistency of two surveys in the Japanese context. The results showed that the Japanese preservice teachers’ self-efficacy made a steeper change after student teaching. Their pedagogical beliefs increased significantly, however, yielded a small effect. The results suggested that student teaching is an essential source of influence on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs. This study contributes to the meaningful application of theories developed in the West to Japan by highlighting the Japanese educational context. This study provides implications for effectively reinforcing preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs through developing deeper reflection skills, thus supporting them to overcome various challenges in their future teaching careers.

Effective Schools: A Review

The importance of self-efficacy beliefs for the profession of teachers has been shown empirically (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy 2001). Yet, for the assessment of teacher self-efficacy beliefs in Germany only a one-dimensional instrument (Schmitz & Schwarzer, 2000) exists. To meet the demand of context-specifity of self-efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1997), I developed a multi-dimensional instrument for teacher self-efficacy beliefs and applied the instrument in three separate studies. The instrument covers the dimensions classroom management, diagnostic competence, assessment, communication and conflicts as well as coping.In the first study I analyzed whether the multi-dimensional assessment of teacher self-efficacy beliefs is more appropriate than the one-dimensional assessment, and how these self-efficacy beliefs develop during teacher education. Furthermore, I developed and tested an instrument to assess general pedagogical knowledge. No differences could be shown for the one-dimensional teacher self-efficacy in a cross-sectional study (173 first year students, 27 advanced students, 35 examination candidates, 19 preservice teachers). Yet, group differences for the new, multi-dimensional instrument were revealed: For classroom management and assessment, first year students revealed the lowest scores. For diagnostic competence there were no differences during the university years. Yet, the preservice teachers revealed lower scores. For communication and conflicts as well as for coping there were no group differences. General pedagogical knowledge increased during studies.In the second study change and level of self-efficacy beliefs during the first practical experiences of 91 student-teachers were examined. Moreover, I analyzed the relations of self-efficacy beliefs and personality in this context. On nearly all subscales, self-efficacy scores increased during student-teaching. Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness showed relations to self-efficacy beliefs, yet these results were not consistent among the subscales. Furthermore, students who experienced greater support by their mentor showed higher self-efficacy scores.In the third study I applied the multidimensional scale of teacher self-efficacy in a sample of teachers. In a confirmatory factor analysis with two groups (348 student-teachers and teachers), we found acceptable quality criteria for a slightly revised version of the instrument. The resulting six subscales cover the dimensions coping, communication and conflicts, diagnosis of learning disorders, diagnosis of intellectual giftedness, assessment, and classroom management. A high convergent validity could be shown for five of the six dimensions (exclusive the subscale coping). The current work clearly shows that teacher self-efficacy beliefs should be assessed in a multi-dimensional way. Limitations and implications of the empirical studies are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the level of pre-service primary school teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in science teaching and their level of determining taxonomy, strategy, and teaching methods-techniques for the curriculum’s objectives in primary science education. A total of 101 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in the third and fourth grade of the department of primary school teachers in the 2017–2018 academic year at a private university in Gaziantep, Turkey participated in this study. The level of teacher candidates’ self-efficacy beliefs toward science teaching was determined through the “Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument.” In addition, teacher candidates’ levels and reasons for determining the appropriate taxonomy, strategies, methods, and techniques while teaching the objectives in the science curriculum were examined through “form of determining suitable taxonomy, strategy, and method-techniques for objective.” Therefore, qualitative and quantitative data were examined together. This was a correlational study but it was enriched through qualitative data. Results showed that pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs toward science teaching and determination levels of appropriate taxonomy, strategy, and teaching methods-techniques were relatively high. In addition, a statistically weak but positive relationship was found between these two variables. As a result, it is recommended to give more importance to these courses in teacher education of pre-service primary school teachers.

The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number S O 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/86/8603-0002$01.00 Teachers have strong opinions about parent involvement. Some believe that they can be effective only if they obtain parental assistance on learning activities at home. Others believe that their professional status is in jeopardy if parents are involved in activities that are typically the teachers' responsibilities. The different philosophies and beliefs of teachers reflect the two main, opposing theories of school and family relations. One perspective emphasizes the inherent incompatibility, competition, and conflict between families and schools and supports the separation of the two institutions (Parsons, 1959; Waller, 1932; Weber, 1947). It assumes that school bureaucracies and family organizations are directed, respectively, by educators and parents, who can best fulfill their different goals, roles, and responsibilities independently. Thus, these distinct goals are achieved most efficiently and effectively when teachers maintain their professional, general standards and judgments about the children in their classrooms and when parents maintain their personal, particularistic standards and judgments about their children at home.