Teachers' Self-Efficacy and Professional Development in High- and Low-Performing School Systems

• In Event: International Comparative Studies of Teacher Motivation and How They Matter

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between teachers’ professional development (PD) and teachers’ self-efficacy (TSE) in high and low performing education systems using data from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS; OECD, 2014a).

Theoretical Framework. According to social cognitive theory, self-efficacy—confidence to master desired tasks—is a key factor in human agency (Bandura, 1997). TSE increases persistence in working with challenging students, and has been shown to influence teachers’ job satisfaction, commitment, and instructional practices (e.g., Klassen & Tze, 2014; Ryan, Kuusinen, & Bedoya-Skoog, 2015). In this context, teachers’ PD is suggested as a possibility to positively influence TSE, thus improving teaching quality and teachers’ health (Ross & Bruce, 2007). However, existing studies have been conducted only in single contexts; cross-national explorations of the universality of the relationships have not yet been conducted.

Method and Data Sources. The TALIS is an OECD-sponsored large-scale survey on the learning environment and working conditions of over 107,000 teachers in lower secondary schools in 34 countries. We compared TSE, PD (collaborative and individual), and associated variables (job satisfaction, teacher-student relationships) in five representative countries with mean performance in the top third of the 64 PISA countries (OECD, 2014c; Canada, Finland, Korea, Netherlands, and Singapore, N = 28,387), and five representative countries with mean performance in the bottom third of PISA (Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Malaysia, and Mexico, N = 31,462).

Initial analyses focus on teacher-level cross-national comparisons of TSE and professional development. We used latent factor indices computed using CFA, with model parameters (factor loadings and intercepts) based on the TALIS calibration sample (OECD, 2014c). Cross-country comparability of TSE was ensured by checking metric invariance of the TSE scales (see also Vieluf, Kunter, & van de Vijver, 2013).

Results. Effective PD (and professional collaboration) was associated with TSE in high (¯r = .16, .24) and low PISA countries (¯r = .18, .21), and in each of the 10 countries. Replicating Vieluf et al., (2013), TSE was higher in low performing PISA countries (M = 13.02, SD = 1.57) than in high performing settings (M = 12.04, SD = 1.94), F(1, 46,867) = 2988, p < .001, p2= .07 (due to very large sample, we used p2 > .05 rather than p-value as cut-off of ‘meaningful difference’). The ‘need for PD for teaching for diversity’ was significantly higher in low performing (M = 10.81, SD = 1.86) than in high performing PISA countries (M = 9.39, SD = 1.88), p2= .13. Further analyses to understand context effects are focused on nested-data comparisons of PD, TSE, job satisfaction, and teacher-student relationships on the school level within and between countries, using TALIS data linked with student achievement data from PISA 2012.

Conclusions. Initial results show that PD and TSE are significantly linked across high and low performing school systems. The perceived need for additional forms of PD—especially teaching for diversity—was strongest in lower performing PISA countries.

Authors

• Rob Klassen, University of York

• Anna-Katharina Praetorius, German Institute for International Education Research (DIPF)