The interplay between preschool teachers' science self-efficacy beliefs, their teaching practices, and girls' and boys' early science motivation

Abstract

Children develop motivational beliefs about science in their preschool years and these beliefs are considered important precursors of children's future science motivation. Yet, it remains unclear how children's science motivation is shaped by their preschool teachers' own beliefs and practices. With over 90% female teachers, gender may play an important role in this relation. The present study investigates the relation between preschool teachers' and children's science motivation based on a sample of 277 young children aged 5–6 years and 348 preschool teachers in Germany. Teachers' self-efficacy beliefs were associated with children's self-efficacy in science. No effect was found for teachers' practices. However, multigroup analyses showed that these relations differed by gender: Teachers' self-efficacy beliefs were more strongly related to girls' motivation, whereas teachers' practices were more strongly related to boys' motivation. These findings emphasize the significance of teachers' self-efficacy and reveal gendered patterns regarding preschool teachers' influences on children's motivation.