Influence of descriptive and contextual characteristics on teaching efficacy of secondary teachers
Abstract
The purpose of this survey study was to examine the influence of descriptive and contextual characteristics on the perceived teaching efficacy of secondary teachers within public schools in the State of Georgia, with special emphasis on career and technical education teachers. Contextual characteristics included gender, race/ethnicity, subject area taught, years of teaching experience, and certificate level. Teacher efficacy was defined as the belief a teacher has about his or her abilities to influence or bring about the desired outcomes of student engagement and learning (Bandura, 1977). Three distinct aspects of the teacher efficacy construct were measured, including instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement. These three factors were examined using the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy scale – long form (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001).
The population for this study contained all secondary academic and CTE teachers in the Griffin Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) region of the state of Georgia. A proportional sample of teachers randomly selected from the population included 1,095 academic and 200 CTE teachers. The sample consisted of 403 secondary teachers.
Statistical analysis included the use of descriptive statistics and several series of one-way and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures, using an alpha level of .05. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19 software was used to conduct each statistical procedure.
No statistically significant interactive or main effects were detected between academic and CTE teachers on any of the three teacher efficacy subscale areas (instructional practices, classroom management, and student engagement) when grouped by gender, years of teaching experience, or certificate level. However, the findings of this study contribute to limited research on the teacher efficacy of career and technical educators.