An Examination of the Relationships of Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Teaching Practices among Elementary, Secondary, and Special Education Educators

ABSTRACT

Teacher self-efficacy and teaching practices are both related to effective teaching and learning of mathematics. Given the theoretical and empirical basis for the importance of teacher self-efficacy, we hypothesized that teacher reported self-efficacy would be positively related to teacher self-reported effective teaching practices. This study examined the self-reported construct data across in-service educator grade level (i.e., elementary and secondary) and educator position (i.e., general education or special education) to determine the associations of constructs and the potential for differences between groups. Correlations between self-efficacy and teacher practices in-service teachers were analyzed using Kendall’s Tau. A Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the three participant groups (general education: elementary, general education: secondary, and special education) for the teacher self-efficacy and self-reported teaching practices constructs. Similarities and differences among the relationships between educator grade level, educator position, self-efficacy, and teaching practices are discussed. In addition, implications for future research and professional development with educators are outlined.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-efficacy
• teaching practices
• elementary
• secondary
• special education teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical Statements

“This manuscript is not currently in submission to another journal;” “We have gone through the appropriate process of obtaining approval for this research study;” and “We attest that all the authors listed contributed to this manuscript and that no other persons contributed.”