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Dissertation
Monograde and Multigrade Special Education Teachers' Sense of Self-efficacy Beliefs
University of West Florida Libraries
Doctor of Education (EDD), University of West Florida
2019
Abstract
Challenges of teaching special needs students result in high special education teacher turnover (Dev & Haynes, 2015; Linehan, 2013). Bandura's (1977, 1994) self-efficacy theory explains how people remain resilient despite challenges. Resilience is contingent on mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion, and emotional and psychological states (Bandura, 1994; Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk-Hoy, & Hoy, 1998). This quantitative study examined a convenience sample of 45 special education monograde and multigrade teachers to determine if classroom type influenced self-efficacy levels in student engagement, instructional practice, and classroom management. Data collected from the Teacher's Sense of Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) were analyzed. An unpaired, independent t-test assessed any mean differences between variables. The researcher found that multigrade teachers exhibited lower levels of self- efficacy than monograde teachers when assessing how much they can do to get through to and engage the most difficult students. Related to theoretical constructs, lower self-efficacy among multigrade special education teachers may be attributed to lack of individual success engaging these students or opportunities to be observed or be motivated by other successful teachers. The study also highlights that while classroom type may have some influence on teacher self-efficacy levels in student engagement, additional research is needed to identify what other aspects of the learning environment influence special education teacher self-efficacy. Improving special education teachers' self-efficacy may increase teacher resilience in the profession midst of challenges.
Details
- Title
- Monograde and Multigrade Special Education Teachers' Sense of Self-efficacy Beliefs
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Publisher
- University of West Florida Libraries; Pensacola, Florida :
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 169
- Copyright
- Unpublished work © Chad William Weirick
- Identifiers
- 99380090851906600
- Academic Unit
- School of Education
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- University of West Florida; Doctor of Education (EDD)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Education (EDD), University of West Florida