Enhancing teaching self-efficacy in preservice teachers through direct experience, vicarious experience, and persuasion

In this study, preservice teachers were taught an approach to managing classroom behavior problems and then completed two questionnaires regarding perceptions of personal self-efficacy as future teachers. Participants received direct information regarding the strategy, were modeled it, and were allowed to role play use of the strategy. As a result, participants received persuasion, and both direct and vicarious experience as to the effectiveness of the problem solving approach. Participants, when compared to those of a placebo-control group, demonstrated greater levels of self-efficacy in their ability to: (a) manage their classroom, and (b) have a positive effect on difficult-to-teach students despite their family background or influential peers. Participants also demonstrated a greater sense of efficacy in their ability to work successfully with hypothetical cases presented in brief vignettes. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed. The results provide direction for school psychologists\u27 provision of services through effective problem solving inservices