The Rand Researchers Teachers’ efficacy beliefs: First theoretical strand

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2.2.1 Teachers’ efficacy beliefs: First theoretical strand

As stated previously, the first strand of research in teacher efficacy was based on the Social Learning theories and was triggered by Rotter‘s article and caught the attention of the Rand researchers and other researchers at that time to further pursue on the field. For these researchers, teachers‘ efficacy was related to the beliefs of teachers in their reinforcement control over their actions. It was related to whether control of reinforcement was within or outside themselves. High sense of efficacy, therefore, was marked by the beliefs that the control over an event was within themselves, while low sense of efficacy was marked by the overwhelming influenced of the environment on their actions Armor et al., 1976.

2.2.1.1 The Rand Researchers

Rand researchers were pioneers in the teacher efficacy research. In investigating the teachers‘ efficacy, they used a two-item scale known as the Rand Items. The first item was used to measure teache rs‘ beliefs about the external power of the environment on teaching and was labeled the General Teaching Efficacy GTE. The second item, on the other hand, was used to teachers‘ confidence in influencing the results of teaching and was called the Personal Teaching Efficacy PTE. In the Rand study, teachers‘ efficacy was governed by the level of teacher agreement with the two items. Low efficacious teachers tended to state that external factors dominated their control over the reinforcement in their teaching. 29 Highly efficacious teachers on the other hand expressed their beliefs on their ability to control the reinforcement. In their two publications, the Rand researchers set out an important contribution on the development of teacher efficacy concept. In their report related to the analysis on the preferred reading program, they suggested that teacher efficacy was related to variations in reading achievement Armor et al., 1976. In the other project related to the programs to support education change, they found that teacher sense of efficacy was related strongly not only with student achievement, but also other aspects of the projects Berman, McLaughlin, Bass, Pauly, Zellman, 1977. In relation to the perceived teacher control over the events that happened to them, a number of research studies with varying degree of success had come to suggest that more internally controlled teachers generally produce a higher level of achievement in their students than do less internally oriented teachers Rose Medway, 1981. Despite being the pioneers in the field, their short measure consisting of as few as two items seemed to prompt questions among other researchers in terms of its accuracy and reliability. There was therefore an increasing need to devise more comprehensive measures that could address more aspects of the teacher efficacy construct. 30

2.2.1.2 Responsibility for student achievement