A scale for measuring self-efficacy for teaching mathematics in grades 5 to 10 was developed in this study for teachers in Oman. The participants were 328 mathematics teachers randomly selected from five educational governorates in the Sultanate of Oman. Factorial structure of the scale revealed three subscales: selfefficacy for understanding the mathematics content, self-efficacy for teaching the mathematics content, and general teaching self-efficacy. The three subscales showed strong internal consistency and sufficient evidence of construct validity and concurrent validity. The scale has potential uses for both educational and research purposes.Keywords: self-efficacy, teaching efficacy, mathematics efficacy, validity, reliability, scale development 144 Development and Validation of a Scale for Measuring …International Journal of Instruction, July 2017 • Vol.10, No.3 INTRODUCTIONSelf-efficacy is concerned with individuals' beliefs in their capabilities to conduct courses of action required to achieve given outcomes (Bandura, 2006, p. 1). It influences the choice of activities individuals make, the effort they invest, and how long they will persist in stressful situations (Pajares, 1997). A strong sense of efficacy can be motivating and persevering while a weak sense of efficacy can be exhausting and lead one to evade the difficult tasks (Pajares, 1997).Bandura (2006) has cautioned researchers attempting to measure self-efficacy in that there is no global measure of self-efficacy. An adequate analysis of the self-efficacy requires a detailed assessment of the level, generality, and strength of self-efficacy. The level of self-efficacy refers to variations across levels of task difficulty. The generality of the self-efficacy is concerned with the transfer of self-efficacy beliefs across activities. The strength of self-efficacy is measured by degrees of certainty that one can perform given tasks. These three dimensions of self-efficacy are measured using items that are task specific and vary in difficulty as well as degrees of confidence (Pajares, 1997;Zimmerman, 2000).In the context of the teaching profession, teaching efficacy beliefs refer to teachers' judgements in their capabilities to conduct specific teaching tasks required to influence student learning (Dellinger, Bobbett, Olivier, & Ellett, 2008). It has been documented that teacher self-efficacy beliefs are powerful predictors of a variety of student-and teacher-related outcomes (Aldhafri, 2016;Garvis, 2013). As such, the measurement of teacher self-efficacy has received notable attention in educational research. Numerous instruments have been created to measure the construct. However, the majority of them were not consistent with Bandura's theoretical framework for measuring self-efficacy in terms of task specificity, thereby causing misinterpretation about the nature of selfefficacy itself (Tschannen-Moran, Hoy, & Hoy, 1998). Hence, Bandura (1997) developed Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSS) consisting of 30 items divided into seven subscales: (a...
This study aimed to investigate the results of employing Productive Pedagogies produced in its four dimensions (Intellectual quality -Connectedness -Supportive Classroom Environment -Working and Valuing Differences) on enhancing the teaching performance of female mathematics teachers in Oman. The qualitative materials and instruments of the study included: the teacher professional development program to introduce Productive Pedagogies, individual and group semi-structured interviews, group discussions, classroom observations and researcher's diaries notes, were employed in this study. The program targeted a small purposeful sample consisting of four mathematics female teachers who were teaching in a post-basic education school for grades (11)(12) in Oman. The results showed an improvement in teachers' knowledge, skills, and ability to introduce Productive Pedagogies' dimensions into their teaching practices. That improvement was occurred through three stages (preparation and training -designing and applying teaching and learning experiences -reflection and improvements). The results of the study emphasized the importance of applying quality professional development programs in the school community and in colleges of education. The study also recommended conducting more research to investigate challenges facing the optimal application of the Productive Pedagogies as a framework to enhance the teaching performance of mathematics teachers.
Professional identity has a significant impact on teachers' interpretation of their different roles and their understanding of how to perform these roles. This study aimed to explore mathematics and science teachers’ perceptions of the factors influencing their teacher professional identity within three dimensions: teaching efficacy, teaching profession, and teaching context. Mathematics and science teachers (N = 395) who were teaching in grades 5 to 12 participated in the study. To address the research aims, we administered a questionnaire to gather information on the factors influencing teacher professional identity. The quantitative data on the teachers’ perceptions of the factors influencing their teacher professional identity showed that the teaching efficacy dimension ranked the highest, the teaching context dimension ranked second and the teaching profession dimension third. The teachers’ perceptions were largely influenced by three main factors: years of teaching experience, gender, and school location. The teachers’ responses to the questionnaire’s open-ended questions highlighted some issues related to the quality of the professional development programs available to teachers. Keywords: teaching professional identity, math teachers & science teachers
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