b. Teachers’ Self-Efficacy
There are various definitions of teacher self-efficacy. For instance, Grant (2006) stated “Teacher self- efficacy is the belief a teacher holds that he or she will be successful in the classroom and make a difference in the lives of students”. Ross and Bruce (2007:50) have defined “… efficacy is a teacher's expectation that he or she will be able to bring about student learning”.
Lohman (2006) has found that self-efficacy is an essential aspect that affecting teachers' participation in learning activities. As a result, professional development activities have the potential for both positive and negative implications for teachers (McLaughlin & Talbert, 2006) resulting in the powerful ability to change teachers‟ individual behaviors. As the above studies indicate self-efficacy of teachers is an important factor in education and one of the key factors influencing teachers‟ participation in professional development activities.
Desimone (2009) addresses that continual professional development is significant to improve the quality of teaching, and efficiency of classroom. He further adds that “Professional development is a key to reforms in teaching and learning, making it essential that we use best practice to measure its effects” (Desimone, 2009:192).
2.5.2 External Factors
In this section, the following external factors: time, funding (supplementary salary), principal influence, colleague influence, and school culture are discussed.
a. Time
As
Woods, Amelia Mays, and Jesse Rhoades. "Teaching Efficacy Beliefs of National Board Certified Physical Educators." Teachers & Teaching 19.5 (2013): 507-26.
In this chapter, Rivera outlines and describes three existing theories: Bandura’s Theory of Self-Efficacy, Vygotsky’s Constructivist Theory, and Social Interdependence Theory. She also refers to multiple sources and explains their opinions about these theories. She goes one step further to clarify how these theories directly correlate with her research topic.
Using the same example as above, the teacher may give an assignment and instead of being aware of the student’s progress, they may go back to their desk and the struggles go unnoticed because of a negative self-efficacy.
Mr. Evans even cites the use of instilling self efficacy in students. He mentions famous psychologists like Albert Bandura.(p33) Bandura was a very important psychologist who defined self efficacy as a persons belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Mr. Evans says that teachers should lead by example, if the teacher is motivated and loves the material being taught, then the students will engage in the material with the same
Professional Development measures the degree to which teachers value continuous personal development and school-wide improvement.
The Volusia County School Board has sought to improve teacher performance and student learning with the introduction of the Professional Development System. This system encourages teachers to engage in continuous professional learning to increase their
The study, “Professional Learning in the Learning Profession,” examined professional development in the United States and abroad to determine the key factors of effective professional development for educator as measured by improved teacher practice and student learning. (Darling-Hammond, Chung Wei,
Self-efficacy is defined as one’s belief in one’s ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. Self-efficacy
Another theory that also acquires skill and knowledge through interacting with others like the constructivist learning theory is the self-efficacy theory. Bandura (1989) defined self-efficacy as “beliefs regarding one’s capabilities to organize and execute the course of action required to produce given attainment.” It determines how a person feels, thinks in addition to their motivation and behavior. The students with a high self-efficacy tend to have higher chance to overcome difficulties and challenges that they encountered and consequently lead to a higher academic achievement than the students with low self-efficacy (Zimmerman, 2000). The sense of self-efficacy that students have played a significant role in their academic motivation and
Self-efficacy can be described as the level self-confidence that a person has when they try to do something. It is important in making a behavioral change because people need to envision themselves succeeding.
Self-efficacy beliefs are considered as the foundation of human agency. They influence many aspects of human functioning (i.e., the exercise of human agency), such as one’s choice of tasks, goal setting, motivation level, investment level, psycho-affective states, and accomplishments. They influence “people’s goals and aspirations, how well they motivate themselves, and their perseverance in the face of difficulties and adversity” (Bandura, 2006). Also, self-efficacy beliefs “shape people’s outcome expectations” and determine how opportunities and impediments are viewed” (Bandura, 2006, p.171). Self-efficacy beliefs are not a stable character traits of an individual, but rather, an active and learned system of beliefs held in context (Bandura,1997).
Teaching is a profession that is considered to be a rewarding challenging and complex role. An effective teacher does not simply teach knowledge their students and instead aims to arm students with the knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes that will prepare students for life-long learning. The constructivist theories developed by Piaget and Vygotsky have impacted on the way that teachers teach and this has changed the approach of teaching to place a greater importance on the teacher instead to act as a facilitator of learning in an open, constructivist environment and providing students with the tools to challenge themselves to develop both academically and personally. The education of students within classrooms of today is
One of the most essential exercises when in comes to professional development as an instructor is to continuously reflect on your perspective, methodology, instruction and behavior within your profession. Doing so ensure that you a growing and improving on teaching skills and building on old strengths to benefit you as an instructor but especially the students that you serve.
Self-efficacy, for the purpose of this study, may be defined as a person’s optimistic self-belief. This is the belief that a person can develop the skills to perform new or difficult tasks to cope with changes in health and functioning. When a person perceives self-efficacy, it will facilitate goal-setting, effort, investment, persistence, overcoming obstacles and recovery from disappointments and failures. It can be regarded as a positive outlook or proactive way to handle stress factors. It is the ability to successfully cope with health changes, and implies an internal and stable acceptance of changes and ability to successfully adapt to those changes. Perceived self-efficacy is functional in
Teacher self-efficacy is an integral element of an effective teaching and learning environment. Wentzel and Miele (2016) pointed out that self-efficacy encompasses the personal beliefs that an individual teacher has regarding his/her own capabilities to help students and the higher the self-efficacy the greater the job satisfaction. According to the self-efficacy theory, teachers with greater self-efficacy are poised to help students succeed, develop challenging activities, and be more persistent with students who have difficulties (Bandura, 1997). In addition, self-efficacy among the teachers is associated with support for student’s ideas, positive classroom environments, and higher student achievement levels