The effect of teacher self-efficacy on learning engagement of secondary school students

Abstract

Less engagement in learning among students’ becomes an obstacle to their academic journey, which teacher self-efficacy can influence. This study examined the level and linkages between students’ engagement and teacher self-efficacy using data from 714 selected secondary school teachers in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. Descriptive and correlational survey designs were employed to determine the status and associations among study variables. CFA was used to ensure the validity of the instruments: student engagement and teacher self-efficacy scales. The data was analyzed using mean, standard deviations, one sample t-test, Pearson correlation, and multiple regressions. The study revealed that students’ behavioral and cognitive engagement were significantly below average, while teachers had significantly above-average self-efficacy in engaging students, managing classrooms, and using various instructional strategies. Nonetheless, a change in student engagement was significantly associated with teacher self-efficacy. The regression analysis disclosed that teacher self-efficacy accounted for 19.4% of the variance in student engagement. The study’s conclusions have implications for teacher efficacy, which is important in enhancing student engagement. Besides, diverse context-specific studies are required to ensure the stability of the study findings.

Keywords

• Student engagement
• teacher self-efficacy
• behavioral engagement
• emotional engagement
• cognitive engagement
• Lawrence Jun Zhang, Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of Auckland Faculty of Education and Social Work, Auckland, New Zealand