An Adapted Measure of Teacher Self-Efficacy for Preservice Teachers: Exploring its Validity Across two Countries
Abstract
Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) is an important construct in the prediction of positive student and teacher outcomes. However, problems with its measurement have persisted, often through confounding TSE with other constructs. This research introduces an adapted TSE instrument for preservice teachers, which is closely aligned with self-efficacy experts' recommendations for measuring self-efficacy, and based on a widely used measure of TSE. We provide first evidence of construct validity for this instrument. Participants were 851 preservice teachers in three samples from Germany and New Zealand. Results of the multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses showed a uniform 3-factor solution for all samples, metric measurement invariance, and a consistent and moderate correlation between TSE and a measure of general self-efficacy across all samples. Despite limitations to this study, there is some first evidence that this measure allows for a valid 3-dimensional assessment of TSE in preservice teachers.
Lehrerselbstwirksamkeit (LSW) ist ein zentrales Konstrukt zur Vorhersage von positiven Outcomes von Schülerinnen und Schülern sowie Lehrpersonen. Aufgrund der Konfundierung von Selbstwirksamkeit mit anderen Konstrukten, werden Probleme der Erfassung von LSW seit längerer Zeit diskutiert. Diese Studie stellt eine adaptierte Version eines häufig verwendeten englischsprachigen Instruments zur Messung der LSW für Lehramtsstudierende vor. Neben einer zielgruppenspezifischen Anpassung erfolgte eine Anpassung des ursprünglichen Instruments im Hinblick auf Banduras Richtlinien zur trennscharfen Erfassung von Selbstwirksamkeit. Wir berichten erste Belege für die Konstruktvalidität des Instruments. Untersucht wurden 851 Lehramtsstudierende in drei Stichproben aus Deutschland und Neuseeland. Die Ergebnisse der konfirmatorischen Mehrgruppen-Faktorenanalysen zeigten eine uniforme 3-Faktoren Struktur für alle Gruppen, metrische Messinvarianz, sowie eine konsistente, moderate Korrelation zu genereller Selbstwirksamkeit über alle drei Stichproben hinweg. Trotz einiger Limitationen der Studie, gibt es erste Belege dafür, dass das vorgestellte Instrument eine valide drei-dimensionale Messung der LSW für Lehramtsstudierende zulässt.
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