Teachers' sense of efficacy in schools in the major urban centres of the Free State Province after May 10, 1994

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to assess teachers' sense of efficacy in schools in the major urban centres of the Free State Province after May 10, 1994. The study had two major objectives. Firstly, the study sought to examine the impact of the new educational perspective and practice on primary and secondary school teachers. Secondly, the study sought to contribute to the theory of teacher self-efficacy by exploring teacher self-efficacy in relation to School Category (CAT), Gender (GEN), and Teaching Experience (EXP). Data were collected from ninety-three primary and secondary schools in the school districts of Sasolburg, Bethlehem, Kroonstad, Welkom, Bloemfontein East, Bloemfontein West, and Bloemfontein South. The instrument u~ed consisted of fifty-three items aimed at asking teachers about their work, experiences at work, and opinions on matters related to teachinglearning interactive situations that are democratically inclined. The instrument was submitted to a principal component analyses using a varimax rotation of one criterion for factor extraction. Three principal components were retained and rotated obliquely using the factor matrix solution. Factor 1 was called Teacher Administrative Responsibilities (TAR). Factor 2 was called Classroom Teaching Organisation (TCO). Factor 3 was called Teacher in Relationships with others (TRO). The internal consistency reliabilities for TAR, TCO, and TRO were found to be .89, .89, and 87 respectively. A three-way ANOV A focused on CAT, GEN, and EXP as independent variables and TAR, ' TCO, and TRO as dependent variables to generate descriptive statistics concerning the sample and inferential statistics for testing the seven research hypotheses . The results have revealed a significant effect for the CAT variable with respect to TAR, TCO, and TRO. Primary school teachers tended to score higher than Secondary school teachers in all three factors . The same pattern was consistent for the GEN variable (although no main effects were determined). Females demonstrated higher self-efficacy than males in all three factors irrespective of School Category. The EXP variable showed a remarkable vacillation of opinions among the three factors. No primary-order and secondary-order interactions were found in all three factors . A discussion, interpretation of the results, and suggestions for future research studies in this realm were rendered based upon the outcome of the results.