Changes in self-efficacy beliefs

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2.6 Changes in self-efficacy beliefs

Bandura 1977, 1997 theorized that self-efficacy may be most malleable early in learning. He, therefore, has suggested that the first years of teaching could be critical to the long term development of teacher efficacy. This is supported by the findings suggesting that some of the most powerful influences on the development of teachers‘ sense of efficacy are experiences during student teaching and induction year Mulholland Wallace, 2001. In a longitudinal research on the changes of teacher efficacy during the first years of teaching, Hoy and Spero 2005 found a similar patterns and changes over time. Using both Gibson and Dembo‘ short form scale and Bandura‘s teacher efficacy scale, they found that ―… efficacy rose during teacher preparation program but fell with the actual experience as a teacher ― A. W. Hoy Spero, 2005, p. 352. Hoy and Spero further argue that the decrease in efficacy is because novice teachers very often underestimate the complexity of the teaching task and their ability to manage many agendas at the same time. Such a decrease is also caused by their disappointment with the gap between their standard and their own teaching performance A. W. Hoy Spero, 2005. In terms of the factors contributing to changes in efficacy beliefs, social cognitive theory proposes that behavior, cognitive and other personal factors, and the environment interact to influence each other through the process of reciprocal determinism Bandura, 1986, 1997. More recently, Tschannen-Moran, Hoy and Hoy 1998 have suggested that although early years of teaching might be critical 50 for developing efficacy beliefs, little is known in relation to the kinds of context variables that contribute to teacher efficacy. They further state that teaching resources and constraint in teaching help teachers to make their own efficacy judgement. In addition, Hoy and Spero 2005 found that the level of support received by teachers in their first year of teaching was related to the changes of their level of efficacy. Though, it is possible for teacher efficacy to change along with the amount of time teaching, there seems to be a shared belief that once it has been established it will relatively be stable . Teachers‘ self-efficacy potentially decreases during first year of teaching and then gradually rises with the amount of teaching and then relatively stable after a certain amount of time in teaching.

2.7 Teacher efficacy beliefs and students’