University of Twente Student Theses
Investigating the effects of 'being a type of starting teachter' on Teacher Self-Efficacy and the Mediating rols of its Sources
Krakers, M. (2015) Investigating the effects of 'being a type of starting teachter' on Teacher Self-Efficacy and the Mediating rols of its Sources.
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| Abstract: | Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) has proven to be a powerful predictor of teacher practice. Previous studies revealed that the TSE levels of starting teachers are significantly lower compared to experienced teachers. Hence, insight in TSE levels of starting teachers and effective ways to increase these levels is essential. Thus far, TSE has been investigated mostly among novice teachers. However, as a teacher, one can be a starter in multiple ways. Being a novice is the most classic one. Yet, switching from school or schoollevel, or being a substitute may also imply a new start within a teacher’s career, with lower TSE levels as a result. Therefore this study investigated differences in self-efficacy for multiple starter-groups on three dimensions of TSE (instruction, class management and student engagement), while controlling for age, gender and school-board. Additionally the mediating effects of the four sources of self-efficacy, identified as being the major influences on TSE in social-cognitive theory, were examined. In total, 696 primary teachers from 11 school-boards in the Netherlands participated in this study. Participants were categorized as 1) the novices group (teachers with less than 3 years of working experience); 2) substitutes, and 3) the experienced teachers in an unstable situation group (teachers who transferred to a new school or a new schoollevel) or to the control group (non-starters). Data were gathered by use of an online questionnaire. ANOVA’s as well as structural equation modeling were used to investigate group differences between TSE and sources of TSE. Results revealed that non-starters outperformed all starters for all dimensions of TSE. Importantly however, the starter-groups differed as well. Experienced unstable teachers scored significantly higher than novices on all three dimensions of TSE. Furthermore, substitute teachers had significantly lower levels of TSE for instruction and student engagement compared to experienced unstable teachers. Moreover, mastery experiences appeared to mediate the relation between novices and substitutes and the three dimensions of TSE. Furthermore, physiological arousal mediated the effects that being a novice has on TSE for instruction and student engagement. The structural model fitted the data well and explained 42% (instruction), 50 % (student engagement) and 56 % (class-management) of the variance in TSE. It can be concluded that this study has provided initial evidence for the relevance of distinguishing between various groups of starting teachers. Furthermore, this study provided some primary indications on how this support may be shaped for each of the groups, based on the hypothesized sources of TSE |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 81 education, teaching |
| Programme: | Educational Science and Technology MSc (60023) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/68751 |
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