An exploration of the relationship between Christian school contexts and sources of teacher self-efficacy

The environment of the school has an influence on the development of teacher self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997). Little research has been conducted into the relationship between faith-based schooling contexts and teacher self-efficacy, or the sources of teacher self-efficacy in these contexts. This exploratory study assessed teacher self-efficacy in a sample of teachers (n=9) from three Christian Education National (CEN) schools in Sydney, Australia. An assessment of teacher self-efficacy was followed by semi-structured interviews (n=7) to explore the sources of self-efficacy in relation to the context of their CEN school. The sample reported a moderate level of teacher self-efficacy and identified mastery experiences and affective states as significant sources of self-efficacy information. These teachers identified enactive mastery experiences as a source of self-efficacy that arose from and interacted with their specific schooling context, in the form of guidance and expectations to implement Christian curriculum frameworks. Participants identified principal adherence to the faith-learning integrative principles of CEN as a requirement for positive experiences of social persuasive feedback. There was also some evidence to suggest that teachers' experiences of their affective states, as sources of self-efficacy, were influenced by the student-teacher relationships encouraged by their faith-based schooling context. However, these teachers also typically articulated their enactive mastery experiences of success and failure in the classroom and their vicarious experiences of role model teachers in terms of state-mandated syllabus requirements, rather than in the faith-based concerns of their schooling context. The results support further investigation of the concept of teacher self-efficacy, focusing on the role of specific schooling contexts and the ways that a faith-based school might influence their staff's sources of self-efficacy -- abstract.