Teacher Efficacy and Past Experiences as Contributors to the Global Attitudes and Practices among Vocational Home Economics Teachers

Abstract

Contributions ofteacher efficacy and past experiences to global education attitudes and practices of 78female Florida home economics teachers were studied. Teacher efficacy included twofacets: teaching efficacy as outcome expectancies and personal teaching efficacy as self‐efficacy expectations. Teacher efficacy was assessed in relation to expectations associated with teaching students about other cultural or ethnic groups. Past experiences referred to teachers' age, educational level, length of teaching in home economics, travel experiences to other world regions, and cumulative time spent outside the United States. Regression analyses revealed teaching efficacy to be the only significant predictor of teachers' global education attitudes, whereas personal teaching efficacy wasfound to be the only significant predictor of their global education practices. The overall modelsfor both ofthese analyses were significant. Findings were discussed on the basis of Bandura's self‐efficacy theory relative to the importance of aspects of teacher efficacy and past experiences in determining behavior.

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“…According to Bandura, “outcome expectations”, a person's belief that a given behaviour will lead to a particular outcome, and “personal efficacy”, a person's belief that they can undertake that particular behaviour, combine in the concept of self‐efficacy (Mumaw et al , 1995). Individuals' perceptions of their own capability to carry out an action are learnt from various sources and relate to their personal experiences of success on prior occasions, their observations of others, their psychological and physiological states.…”