Linking Teacher Self-Efficacy to Teacher Evaluations

Abstract

A major attribute of effective teaching is a teacher’s sense of teacher self-efficacy, which influences teacher behavior, motivation, and impact on student outcomes. Teacher self-efficacy impacts the level of motivation a teacher exhibits towards their instructional behaviors. In a general sense, self-efficacy influences how much effort people put forth, how long they will persist in the face of obstacles, how resilient they are in dealing with failures, and how much stress or depression they experience in a difficult situation (Bandura, 1997). Applying this concept to the teaching profession, self-efficacy is a teacher’s belief that they can produce desirable changes in student achievement. Teachers with high teacher self-efficacy expect and believe they can successfully provide challenging student instruction that will increase student performance. Teachers behave in ways that will enhance their views of themselves as competent teachers. Conversely, low teacher selfefficacy manifest when teachers do not expect to be successful with certain students, are less likely to persevere in preparation and delivery of instruction, and retreat at the first signs of difficulty (Tollefson, 2000).