Original scientific paper
Primary education students' assessment of self-efficacy in teaching science and society
Alma Škugor
orcid.org/0000-0002-6797-9108
; Faculty of Education, University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer, Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
Assessment of teaching self-efficacy is an important precondition for the preparation of students for future work as teacher because of the connection with the expected outcome of teaching. Therefore, the aim of the study was to determine the assessment of self-efficacy teaching Science and Society in second- and fifth-year students (N = 535) at Faculties of Teacher from four regional centers of Croatia. The results of assessment of self-efficacy in teaching Science and Society indicate that the students perceive themselves as being very effective in teaching Science and Society and that they have high expectations about the learning outcomes. The students believe that teachers with higher levels of self-efficacy and greater expectations about the learning outcomes have an influence on pupils’ results. If a teacher is effective in teaching Science and Society, the expected learning outcomes will be better and vice versa. When analysing students’ assessment of self-efficacy regarding the year of study, we can conclude that the fifth-year students perceive themselves as more effective, which was to be expected, but the students do not differ in their assessment of the expected learning outcomes since both groups have high expectations about the learning outcomes. It is essential to maintain high levels of developed self-efficacy in teaching Science and Society and to implement it in teaching practice as well as to provide teacher trainees and teachers with an organised system of support through various forms of lifelong learning.
Keywords
didactics of science and society; primary education students; expected outcome of teaching; teaching self-efficacy
Hrčak ID:
153133
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2015.
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