Students’ Achievement and Engagement as Sources of Teaching Self-Efficacy: Evidence From the Field and Laboratory

• In Event: Spotlight on Teachers: Insights From Teacher Emotion and Motivation Research

Abstract

Few scholars have explored how teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs are influenced by students’ academic performance and behavioral engagement. In the present research, we investigated effects of these behaviors on novice teachers’ self-efficacy. In Study 1 (N = 178), we examined data collected from preservice teachers during their first classroom placement and after their last. Studies 2 (N = 42), 3 (N = 76), and 4 (N = 54) were randomized control trials. Participants’ self-efficacy was measured after (a) teaching a student who appeared engaged/unengaged (Studies 2 & 3) or (b) learning that their student scored well/ poorly on a quiz (Studies 2 & 4). Results challenge common causal assumptions by demonstrating that students’ behaviors can inform teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs.

Authors

• David B. Morris, Saint Mary's College of Maryland

• Jennifer J Tickle, St. Mary's College of Maryland