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Teacher Confidence

Teaching confidence scale
The teaching confidence scale lists teaching skills such as managing classrooms, evaluating student work, using cooperative learning approaches, teaching basic concepts of fractions, and building learning in science on children's intuitive understandings.

Respondents are asked to rate on a six-point scale how confident they feel with each skill. A study by Woolfolk Hoy (2000) found that the scale measured three factors, which were interpreted as: 1) confidence to teach maths and science, 2) confidence to use instructional innovations, and 3) confidence to manage classrooms.

Teacher efficacy scale
Bandura (1977) argued that a person's self-efficacy may change from task to task. A teacher could have high efficacy for some tasks and low efficacy for others. Bandura constructed a 30-item teacher efficacy questionnaire with seven subscales: efficacy to influence decision-making, efficacy to influence school resources, instructional efficacy, disciplinary efficacy, efficacy to enlist parental involvement, efficacy to enlist community involvement, and efficacy to create a positive school environment. Respondents answer each item along a nine-point scale.

Nothing		Very little		Some influence		Quite a bit		A great deal
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Sample items on the teacher efficacy scale include the following.

How much can you influence the decisions that are made in your school?
How much can you overcome the influence of adverse community conditions on student learning?
How much can you do to get children to follow classroom rules?
How much can you assist parents in helping their children do well in school?
How much can you do to get local colleges and universities involved in working with your school?
How much can you do to make students enjoy coming to school?
How much can you do to get students to believe they can do well in schoolwork?

Teachers' sense of efficacy scales
Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001) developed a teacher efficacy scale that appears to identify three main factors: 1) efficacy in student engagement, 2) efficacy in instructional practices, and 3) efficacy in classroom management. A similar scoring line to Bandura's (above) is used.

Sample questions included the following.

How much can you do to control disruptive behaviour in the classroom?
How much can you do to motivate students who show low interest in schoolwork?
To what extent can you craft good questions for your students?
How much can you use a variety of assessment strategies?
To what extent can you provide an alternative explanation or example when students are confused?
How well can you implement alternative strategies in your classroom?

References
Bandura, A. (1977). 'Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behaviour change.' Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.

Tschannen-Moran, M. & Hoy, A. W. (2001). 'Teacher efficacy: Capturing an elusive construct.' Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 783-805.

Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2000). Changes in teacher efficacy during the early years of teaching. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, April.