From University to School; a longitudinal study of beginning teachers' resilience and self-efficacy

<p dir="ltr">The beginning years of teaching are a critical time for developing teacher resilience and self-efficacy, with burgeoning research in both areas. However, less is known about the longitudinal changes in, relationship between, and beginning teachers’ understanding of teacher resilience and teacher self-efficacy, as they progress through the first two years of teaching. Extensive quantitative research has established a positive relationship between teacher resilience and teacher self-efficacy. However, as they commence teaching, beginning teachers report a decline in self-efficacy and this may inhibit the growth of their resilient qualities. As teachers' experience develops, their self-efficacy may be enhanced as they adapt to early career challenges.</p><p dir="ltr">This mixed-method longitudinal study explored the changes in, and relationship between, beginning teachers’ resilience and self-efficacy, and how these teachers come to understand these constructs, during the first two years of their careers. Beginning teachers (N=172) completed an online questionnaire assessing their teacher resilience and teacher self-efficacy at five timepoints including the final semester of their University course and the first two years of their career. Semi-structured interviews (n=33) were also conducted at each time point, probing the beginning teachers’ understanding of teacher resilience and self-efficacy, along with the sources and influential factors which shape both these important constructs.</p><p dir="ltr">Consistent with the literature, the results indicate a positive relationship between teacher resilience and teacher self-efficacy, as well as a significant decline in the self-efficacy of beginning teachers in the first year of teaching. Importantly, this longitudinal study revealed no significant growth in teacher resilience or teacher self-efficacy until the first semester and second semester of the second year of teaching, respectively. Despite this, the beginning teachers’ understanding of teacher resilience, and the relationship between resilience and self-efficacy, did change and develop in complexity throughout the two-year period. Although beginning teachers faced significant challenges throughout the two years, evaluative feedback and support received from colleagues, as well as experiences in classroom management and instructional practices, were reported as positively shaping their self-efficacy beliefs and resilience. These teachers offer a unique perspective on the development of resilience in a dynamic system of interactions between the individual and their school context, resulting in a contextually oriented sense of their competence as teachers. </p><p dir="ltr">Together these findings confirm that the first two years of teaching are a vulnerable time for beginning teachers. It is a time when they are re-developing their self-efficacy beliefs, after an initial significant depletion, whilst simultaneously facing a range of challenges within their respective school contexts. However, by developing their understanding of and drawing on both personal and contextual resources, beginning teachers learn how to adapt to challenges, and concurrently (though slowly) strengthen their resilience and self-efficacy beliefs. Implications for the support, positive development and understanding of beginning teachers’ resilience and self-efficacy are discussed.</p>