The role of self-confidence in learning to teach in higher education

Abstract

The paper considers teacher self-confidence, which emerged as a theme within a wider study into the influences upon new academics’ development as teachers over time. Three interviews took place, over a two-year period, with 11 new teachers from a range of higher education institutions and discipline areas. The first phase of analysis was the creation of detailed cases studies for three of the participants, of which one is reported in the current paper to illustrate the role of self-confidence in teacher development. The second phase used a thematic analysis of all interview transcripts. The new teachers’ self-confidence appeared as a key influence in the use of teaching strategies that actively involved the students. Content knowledge and teaching skills were related to feelings of self-confidence, with experience being a key factor in the teachers’ perceptions of their knowledge and skills. The findings hold implications for managers to ensure new staff have as familiar and stable teaching schedule as possible, and teacher developers to encourage dialogue and reflection in relation to the self-confidence and content knowledge of new teachers.

Keywords:

• confidence
• content knowledge
• teacher development
• approaches to teaching
• new teachers

Acknowledgements

Thanks must go to Prof. Dai Hounsell, Teaching Leaning and Assessment Centre at Edinburgh University and Dr. Velda McCune, Learning and Teaching Centre, University of Glasgow, for their assistance with the data analysis and helpful comment on drafts of this paper.