A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY FOR TEACHING IN PRIMARY EDUCATION ACCORDING TO GENDER, YEARS OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AT SIX CHURCH-BASED PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN NORTHERN SHAN STATE, MYANMAR
Keywords:
Teachers’ Self-Efficacy; Primary Education; Gender; Years of Teaching Experience; Educational Background; Efficacy for Student Engagement; Efficacy for Instructional Strategies; Efficacy for Classroom Management; MyanmarAbstract
The purpose of this quantitative, comparative study was to determine if there were significant differences in teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching in primary education (in terms of efficacy for student engagement, instructional strategies and classroom management), according to their gender, years of teaching experience and educational background, at six purposively chosen church-based primary schools in Northern Shan State, Myanmar. The study was conducted on 127 teachers who were teaching at the target schools during the academic year 2020-2021. The Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES, short form, Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) was used to measure the levels of self-efficacy for teaching in primary education including the three subscales (efficacy for student engagement, instructional strategies and classroom management). A total of 99 out of 127 (77%) teachers completed the questionnaire. After the data collection was done, descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and a statistical hypothesis testing (multiple analysis of variance, MANOVA) were carried out to address the research objectives and hypotheses of this study. The findings from this study revealed that there were no significant differences in teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching in primary education (in terms of efficacy for student engagement, instructional strategies and classroom management), according to their gender, years of teaching experience and educational background.
References
Allinder, R.M. (1994). The relationship between efficacy and the instructional practices of special education teachers and consultants. Teacher Education and Special Education, 17(2), 86-95.
Anderson, R., Greene, M., & Loewen, P. (1998). Relationships among teachers’ and students’ thinking skills, sense of efficacy, and student achievement. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 34(2), 148-165.
Armor, D., Conroy-Oseguera P., Cox, M., King N., McDonnell, L., Pascal A., Pauly, E., & Zellman, G. (1976). Analysis of the school preferred reading programs in selected Los Angeles Minority Schools. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
Ashton, P.T., & Webb, R.B. (1986). Making a difference: Teachers’ sense of efficacy and student achievement. New York: Longman.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
Betoret, F. D. (2006). Stressors, self-efficacy, coping resources, and burnout among secondary school teachers in Spain. Educational Psychology, 26(4), 519-539.
Bilali, O. (2013). Teaching efficacy to student teachers in the faculty of education, Elbasan, Albania. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 3(1), 179-185.
Butucha, K. (2013). Gender and school type differences in self-efficacy in teaching. Sky Journal of Educational Research, 1(4), 23-31.
Caprara, G.V., Barbaranelli, C., Borgogni, L., & Steca, P. (2003). Efficacy beliefs as determinants of teachers’ job satisfaction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(4), 821-832.
Cheung, H. Y. (2008). Teacher efficacy: A comparative study of Hong Kong and Shanghai primary in-service teachers. Australian Educational Researcher, 35(1), 103-123.
DeMesquita, P. B. & Drake, J. C. (1994). Educational reform and the self-efficacy beliefs of teachers implementing non-graded primary school programs. Teaching and Teacher Education, 10, 291-302.
Htang, L. K. (2018). Measurement of teacher sense of efficacy: A study with Myanmar in-service teachers. Journal of Educational Practice, 9(35), 39-48.
Klassen, R. M., Bong, M., Usher, E. L., Chong, W. H., Huan, V. S., Wong, I. Y. F., & Georgiou, T. (2009). Exploring the validity of a teachers’ self-efficacy scale in five countries. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34(1), 67-76.
Klassen, R. M., Tze, V. M. C., Betts, S., & Gordon, K. (2011). Teacher efficacy research 1998-2009: Signs of progress or unfulfilled promise? Educational Psychology Review, 23(1), 21-43.
Nyunt, N. N., & Aung, T. (2017). An exploratory study of self-efficacy and job satisfaction of secondary school teachers. AsTEN Journal of Teacher Education, 2(1), 1-9.
Makim, A. J., & Velez, J. J. (2015). Exploring the relationship between self-efficacy and career commitment among early career agriculture teachers. Journal of Agricultural Education, 65(1), 127-140.
Mojavezi, A., & Tamiz, M. P. (2012). The impact of teacher self-efficacy on the students’ motivation and achievement. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(3), 483-491.
Pigge, F. L., & Marso, R. N. (1993, February). Outstanding teachers’ sense of teacher efficacy at four stages of career development. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association of Teacher Educators, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Shaukat, S., Vishnumolakala, V. R., & Bustami G.A. (2019). The impact of teachers’ characteristics on their self‐efficacy and job satisfaction: A perspective from teachers engaging students with disabilities. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 19(1), 68-76.
Shazadi, T., Khatoon, S., Aziz, S., & Hassan, H. (2011). Determining factors affecting Teachers’ self-efficacy at the secondary school level. Language in India, 11(10), 385-395.
Tschannen-Moran, M., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2001). Teacher efficacy: Capturing and elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(7), 783-805.
Tschannen-Moran, M., Woolfolk Hoy, A., & Hoy, W. K. (1998). Teacher efficacy: Its meaning and measure. Review of Educational Research, 68(2), 202-248.
