Teacher Comparison

The possibility that youthful enthusiasm or idealism would produce higher levels of teacher efficacy than experience, age, or post-baccalaureate education, must also be rejected. In fact, age, experience, and further education may well be the factors that contribute to higher levels of teacher efficacy. While engaged in full-time teaching, teachers are obviously gaining more experience and most will pursue further education of some type. It seems to be the case that confidence in one's abilities as a teacher increases over the years of a teacher' s full-time teaching experience.

The analysis of the variable of age proved to be quite helpful in establishing the relationship between age and teacher efficacy. The age ranges used in the study were regrouped for the purpose of this analysis. Instead of the seven age ranges used in the study, three age ranges (over 40, 26-40, 16-25) were used for the Scheffe test comparison. The differences between the range of 16-25 and the over 40 range proved to be significant confirming the relationship between teacher efficacy and increasing age (see Table 2).

The variable of degree also resulted in significant differences. This variable was regrouped from five descriptors to three. The three descriptors used in the Scheffe analysis were pre-B.S., B.S., and post-graduate. Significant differences were revealed between post-graduate and pre- B.S. and post-graduate and B.S. (see Table 2). There very clearly seems to be a relationship between teacher efficacy and post-graduate education or professional in-service training.

Table

Scheffe

(*)

triangle

Mean

108.0282

115.4667

120.2407

The final demographic variable to be examined was teaching experience. Once the one-way ANOVA produced a significant F score, the variable was regrouped from four ranges to three ranges of years of teaching experience. The ranges of 0-3, 4-9, and over 10 were used in the Scheffe comparisons. Once again, experience proved to be related to the development of teacher efficacy. The difference between the means of the 10 and over group and the 0-3 group was significant (see Table 2).

As teachers pursue graduate study or in-service activities, they are exposed to an increasing number of ideas and strategies which may well assist in developing their confidence. Actually the interactions that such classes and experiences afford may well be an integral factor in the development of teacher efficacy. If a teacher learns that others have successfully engaged in an activity, it would certainly seem to strengthen their confidence in their ability to execute the same activity.

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