The Impact of Tutors’ Demographic Factors on their Self-Efficacy Beliefs: A Study of the University Colleges of Education in Ghana

Abstract

Findings of extant research studies have consistently demonstrated that teachers' sense of efficacy is a significant predictor of their performance. While various factors such as mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion and affective states are presented as sources for the development of teachers' sense of efficacy, other variables such as principals' transformational leadership practices, continuous professional development programs have equally been identified as effective means to enhancing teachers' sense of efficacy. However, what is less studied and very much less researched is the impact of teachers' demographic factors on teachers' sense of efficacy. This study examined the relationship between demographic factors such as gender, academic qualification and experience and tutors' sense of efficacy in the University Colleges of Education in Ghana. Using responses from 434 tutors, the study used independent sample test (t-test) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to examine this relationship. Results indicate that demographic factors such as gender and qualification accounted for variations in tutors' sense of efficacies in student engagement, instructional strategies and classroom management.114 such as sources of efficacy, principal leadership and teacher professional development (Ross and Bruce, 2007;Ware and Kitsantas, 2007;Tschannen-Moran and McMaster, 2009), what is less studied and very much less researched is the extent to which teacher demographic factors such as age, gender, race, qualification and experience impact on teachers' sense of efficacy. This current study investigates the relationship between tutors' demographic factors such as gender, academic qualification and years of experience their sense of efficacies in the University Colleges of Education in Ghana.