Teacher-Efficacy for using HOTS Pedagogy in the Classroom

When considering the educational context and expectations of our teachers today, an evaluation of teacher-efficacy in promoting higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) in the classroom is more important than ever. Promoting these skills as illustrated in Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) taxonomy of educational objectives, through pedagogical techniques, provides an opportunity for students to develop metacognitive skills for learning. The literature (Thomas & Walker, 1997) stresses that the confidence that teachers have in actually promoting these skills (also known as teacher-efficacy (Bandura, 1986)), is important to bridging the gap between pedagogy and development of student thinking skills. The aim of the study was to validate an instrument that could evaluate teacher-efficacy in promoting HOTS in the classroom. A total of 77 elementary teachers New England completed a 28-item survey comprised of three hypothesized factors. The results from a factor analysis and reliability analysis produced a 17-item, two-factor structured instrument which included Interactive, Critical Thinking and Metacognitive Strategies pedagogy, to evaluate teacher-efficacy and HOTS. Limitations and future directions of this study are discussed