Teacher Efficacy and Content Knowledge of Senior High School Quantitative Research Teachers
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the association between teacher efficacy and the content knowledge of teachers in teaching quantitative research. By convenient sampling and complete enumeration of the participants, there were 48 teachers teaching quantitative research in Clusters I and III of the Department of Education, Division of Agusan del Sur, Caraga Region, Philippines. To measure teacher efficacy, the present study used the Quantitative Research Proficiency Assessment Tool (QRPAT) whose indicators include research conceptualization skills, quantitative analysis skills, information seeking skills, methodological knowledge, ethical sensitivity skills, and communication skills. On the other hand, a validated 50-item test was administered to measure content knowledge. Upon employing descriptive and correlation analyses, results showed that the level of teachers’ content knowledge for teaching quantitative research is "moving towards mastery", while their efficacy level is “high”. Moreover, there is a significant relationship between the content knowledge of teachers and their teaching efficacy in terms of quantitative analysis skills, research conceptualization skills, and methodological skills. Hence, the study implicated that to modify teaching practices and improve the learning process in quantitative research, it is of high importance to consider improving or maintaining both the teachers' efficacy and their content knowledge, particularly in performing statistical analysis and computational techniques.
References
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company
Chan, Y. (2015). Examining relationships among elementary mathematics teachers' efficacy and their students' mathematics self-efficacy and achievement. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 11(6), 1307-1320.
David Sinclair, (1972). Senior staff is more involved in academic work and research responsibility than teaching itself. Basic Medical Education, Oxford University Press, 3: 48-52
Holtzman, D. (2005). Teach for America, teacher certification, and student achievement in Houston, Texas in 2001-2002: A Multilevel Analysis. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.
Jacob, B. A. & Lefgren, L. (2004). The impact of teacher training on student achievement: Quasi-experimental evidence from school reform efforts in Chicago. Journal of Human Resources, 39 (1), 50 - 79.
Kelchtermans, G., (2004). CPD for professional renewal: Moving beyond knowledge for practice. In International handbook on the continuing professional development of teachers. Maidenhead: Open University Press
King Rice, J. (2010). The impact of teacher experience: Examining the evidence and policy implications (CALDER Policy Brief 11). Retrieved from http://www.caldercenter.org/publications/impact-teacher-experience examining evidence- and-policy-implications
Krauss, S., Brunner, M., Kunter, M., Baumert, J., Blum, W., Neubrand, M., & Jordan, A. (2008). Pedagogical content knowledge and content knowledge of secondary mathematics teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(3), 716–725.
Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 67, 4-14
Spiller, D. & Ferguson, P. B. (2011). Teaching strategies to promote the Development of students’ learning skills, The University of Waikato
Tschannen-Moran, M., Hoy, A. W., & Hoy, W. K. (1998). Teacher efficacy: Its meaning and measure. Review of Educational Research, 68(2), 202.
Weiss, E. (1999). Perceived workplace conditions and first-year teachers’ morale, career choice commitment, and planned retention: A secondary analysis. Teaching and Teacher Education, 15, 861-879.
