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Dissertation
How do reflective conversations between a principal and a teacher promote teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy?
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Drexel University
Jun 2012
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-4073
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to understand the development of teachers' perception of self-efficacy as a result of reflective conversations conducted between a principal/school administrator and a teacher. Self-efficacy, based on social cognitive theory, is dependent upon the perceived level of competency or mastery of the individual and their belief that they can accomplish the task successfully. In the educational setting, teachers must have confidence in their personal capacity to coordinate instructional actions that bring about students' success. Teachers exhibit self-efficacy through instructional efforts that include: an understanding of learning, cognition, emotions, and the classroom environment in order to support student learning experiences. It also includes a self-critique and monitoring of their professional practices to optimize student instruction within the classroom. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, this case study explored how school leadership, that includes a principal and assistant principals, can contribute to teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy through ongoing, reflective conversations. The study took place in an urban middle school housing Grades 5-8 that was in Corrective Action II status based upon Pennsylvania System of School Assessments (PSSA) results. Transience was frequent for both students and school administrators at this site. Four school administrations had changed at the site within the past five years. The researcher utilized the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale as an online survey as a means to determine teacher-participants' perceptions of efficacy (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk, 2001). From these participants, seven teachers indicating high to moderate efficacy were observed during reflective conversations as they interacted with their school administrators to analyze recent student benchmark assessment data. School administrators posed focused questions about the individual student's data and trends observed within the data. Later in the study, those seven teachers and two administrators were interviewed individually to respond to three sub-questions of the study. The reflective conversations and interviews yielded themes that indicated the importance of data review to support student learning, but also, the measures teachers took to ensure students were successful. Based on the research design, quantitative data was collected through the following means: 1) the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSOES); 2) a researcher-designed checklist to record during reflective conversations on the topics discussed, and 3) tape recorded conversation. Qualitative data was collected through interviews utilizing three sub-questions for the seven teachers and two school administrator interviews. The data collected from the reflective conversations was analyzed and provided insight into how reflective (practice) conversations impact teachers and their own perception of self-efficacy. Key words: Teacher efficacy, reflective practice, instructional leadership
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Details
- Title
- How do reflective conversations between a principal and a teacher promote teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy?
- Creators
- Cheryl Ann Shaffer - DU
- Contributors
- John M. Gould (Advisor) - Drexel University (1970-)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Education (1997-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 4073; 991014632421804721