An investigation of pre-service teachers\u27 perceptions of personal and general teaching efficacy prior to and following student teaching

Teaching self-efficacy is strongly correlated to multiple facets of teaching and learning. Using a mixed methods non-experimental research design, the present study investigated pre-service teachers\u27 perceptions of personal and general teaching efficacy prior to and following the capstone experience of student teaching. The sample size consisted of 80 pre-service teachers enrolled in Teacher Education programs from two neighboring, regionally accredited public universities in North Carolina. One University was a Historically Black University (HBCU) and the other a Minority Institution (MI). To assess and compare pre-service teacher efficacy before and following classroom training and to gather information on factors that influence pre-service teacher efficacy, participants completed (a) a Demographic Information Survey, (b) the Teacher Efficacy Scale (short form) 10-item Likert scale (Hoy & Woolfolk, 1993) and (c) a 2-item open-ended questionnaire. Quantitative analysis between pre- and post-test data revealed a statistically significant relationship for personal teaching efficacy, but not general teaching efficacy. Overall efficacy did improve to a statistically significant level related to personal teaching efficacy. Analysis of the open-ended questions provided a more in-depth perspective of factors that influenced the development of the pre-service teachers\u27 sense of confidence during the student teaching experience