Teachers’ Self-Efficacy: The Role of Personal Values and Motivations for Teaching

TLDR

Teachers’ personal values shape their goals and behaviors, support well‑being, and influence self‑efficacy, which in turn affects student achievement and teacher well‑being. The study examined how teachers’ values (conservation, openness to change, self‑transcendence, self‑enhancement) relate to self‑efficacy and whether these relationships are moderated by controlled versus autonomous motivations for teaching. 227 Italian high‑school teachers completed a self‑report questionnaire to assess values, motivations, and self‑efficacy. Conservation values were consistently linked to higher self‑efficacy, while the links between openness to change or self‑transcendence and self‑efficacy were stronger when teachers felt less external pressure and more self‑determined.

Abstract

Teachers' personal values drive their goals and behaviors at school. Moreover, values can support subjective well-being and an individual sense of self-efficacy. Teachers' self-efficacy, namely teachers' beliefs in their ability to effectively handle the tasks, obligations, and challenges related to their professional activity, plays a key role in influencing important academic outcomes (e.g., students' achievement and motivation) and well-being in the working environment. Based on Schwartz's well-known theory of human values, this study sought to examine the relations between teachers' values (i.e., conservation, openness to change, self-transcendence, and self-enhancement) and their self-efficacy. In particular, it aimed at analyzing the extent to which these relations are moderated by teachers' controlled and autonomous motivations for teaching. Two hundred and twenty-seven Italian high school teachers (73.6% females; M = 44.77 years, SD = 10.56) were involved in the study and asked to complete a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that teachers' conservation values were positively associated to sense of self-efficacy regardless of the type and level of motivation for teaching. More interestingly, the relationships between openness to change and self-efficacy on the one hand, and self-transcendence and self-efficacy on the other, varied depending on teachers' motivations. These relations were stronger when teachers perceived less external pressure and felt to be self-determined toward teaching. Implications of these results for teachers' practices and well-being in their work environment and further developments of the study are discussed.