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European Journal of <strong>Educational</strong> Studies 2(2), 2010this particular study, no significant differences on the variables of personal teaching efficacy and teacher efficacywere found. Research on the efficacy of the teachers suggests that behaviors such as persistence at a task , risktaking , and the use of innovations are related to degrees of efficacy (Ashton & Webb ,1986 ). For example, highlyefficacious teachers are more likely to use open – ended, inquiry, student–directed teaching strategies, whileteachers with a low sense of efficacy were more likely to use teacher - directed teaching strategies such as lecture orreading from the text book.Research indicates that students generally learn more from teachers with high self efficacy than those studentswould learn from those teachers whose self – efficacy is low. Teachers with low levels of efficacy often expend littleeffort in finding materials and planning lessons that challenge students, show little persistence with students havingdifficulty and display little variety in their teaching approaches, whereas teachers with high levels of efficacy aremore likely to seek out resources and develop challenging lessons, persist with students who are struggling andteach in multitude ways that promote student understanding (Deemer, 2004, p. 74).Using the 16-item version of the Gibson and Dembo (1984) used a 16 item version of the teacher efficacy scale,Soodak and Poodell (1997) looked at how teaching experience influenced teacher efficacy among 626 elementaryand secondary preservice and practicing teachers in New York metropolitan area. The main finding from this studywas that for the elementary teachers, personal teaching efficacy was initially high during the pre-service teachingyears but in the first year of teaching, this sense of personal efficacy fell dramatically. However, with more years ofteaching experience, their personal efficacy gradually increased but their sense of their own effectiveness neverreached the same levels achieved by secondary-level teachers. On the other hand, the secondary teachers in thisstudy were more homogeneous and stable in their personal efficacy beliefs.Huang, Liu, & Shiomi, (2007) in their research study report, concluded that teachers’ efficacy beliefs influencestudents’ attitudes and achievement as well as affect teachers’ teaching behaviors . In recent years the developmentof the constructivist view of learning has resulted in modifications of teaching and learning designs in manycountries educational systems such as Turkey and Singapore (Chang, 2005, p. 96; Chan, Tan, & Khoo, 2007). Sucha view requires a classroom environment that encourages students to become active, self-motivated or masteryoriented learners (Deemer, 2004). It is obvious that teachers play an important role in creating such environments(Pajares, 1992). Specifically, teachers’ beliefs are one of the most important factors that affect the implementation ofcurriculum reforms (Day, Elliot, & Kington, 2005). For example, teachers with high self-efficacy beliefs are likelyto adopt more student-centered approaches than teacher-centered approaches in educational settings such asclassrooms (Swars, 2005). Understanding teachers' self-regulatory processes and self-efficacy is a paramountinquiry if their effects in the classroom would like to be accurately determined. From the social cognitiveperspective (Bandura, 1997), self-regulation encompasses the interaction of the person and his or her behavior aswell as the environment in a triadic process. In other words, teachers' beliefs and abilities interact with their actionsand with how they perceive and relate to their environment. Teachers' self efficacy refers to "their beliefs in theirability to have a positive effect on student learning" (Ashton, 1985, p. 142). Recent work has revealed that teachers'self-efficacy beliefs is a significant factor that influences teachers' positive attitudes toward helping their students,their level of satisfaction, and their desire to motivate their students (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk, 2001).Sampling procedureMETHODOLOGYIn all, out of 150 junior secondary school teachers in the southern educational region of Botswana selected for thisstudy, only 132 teachers participated in the study by completing the teachers’ self – efficacy questionnaire. Theinitial 150 junior secondary teachers were selected through random sampling procedure. The 132 teachers whoresponded to the questionnaire were made up of 74 (%) females and 58 (%) males. The average age of the teacherswere thirty (30) years and their average teaching experience was six (6) years in service. All of them were classroomteachers at the junior secondary schools in Botswana, and their level of education is a diploma in education.142
European Journal of <strong>Educational</strong> Studies 2(2), 2010InstrumentationThe questionnaire consisted of two sections, section A contained items that were eliciting personal demographicinformation like age, marital status, qualification and teaching experience of respondents. Section B was made up ofthirty items based on a nine Likert scale from the Bandura’s (1994) teacher self- efficacy scale, in which theteachers were to indicate the extent of their agreement or otherwise. Bandura’s 30 – item scale has seven subscales:efficacy to influence decision making, efficacy to influence school resources, instructional efficacy, disciplinaryefficacy, efficacy to enlist parental involvement, efficacy to enlist community involvement, and efficacy to create apositive school climate. Each item measured on a 9-point scale anchored with the notations: nothing, very little,some influence, quite a bit, a great deal (Appendix 2).Analysis of dataThe method of analysis in this research study was factor analysis. Factor analysis is a method used to determine thenumber and nature of the underlying variables among a large number of measures. The method helps to reduce themultiplicity of tests and measures to a simple form, clarifying the tests or measures that are virtually measuring thesame dimensions. In factor analysis a common factor is shown to be responsible for the covariation among a set ofmeasured variables or test. A factor in this case is a construct, a hypothetical entity that is assumed to underlie anumber of items. One of the outcomes of a factor analysis is a factor matrix (an array of factor loadings). Factorsloadings are similar and equivalent to correlations.The responses to the thirty items in section B based on Bandura’s(1994) nine point likert scale on teacher self- efficacy scale were subjected to factor analytical procedures using theSPSS computer package. The principal factor with iteration was employed and it was rotated with varimax. Therotated matrix converged in 22 iterations., and nine factors emerged (Tables 1and 2) from the responses of theteachers to Banduras’ self-efficacy scale.PRESENTATION OF RESULTSWhat are the perceived levels of self-efficacy of junior secondary teachers in Botswana schools?The responses of the junior secondary teachers to the thirty items from Bandura’s self efficacy scale were subjectedto factor analysis; Table 1 shows the nine factors derived from the thirty items, with eigen values greater than 1,accounting for 73.374% of the total variance of teachers’ perceived agreement to the self-efficacy scale. Initially,Bandura’s scale indicated seven (7) factors of the teachers’ perceived self-efficacy, but the results of factor analysisof responses by the junior secondary teachers resulted in nine (9) identified factors (table 2).New titles were given tothe nine emerging factors from the responses of teachers to the self-efficacy scale.Table 1. Eigen values of the nine factors after varimax rotationVariables Eigen value % of variance1 3.869 12.8962 3.587 11.9573 3.212 10.7064 2.690 8.9675 2.265 7.5506 1.852 6.1757 1.693 5.6448 1.583 5.2769 1.261 4.204143
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