Teacher Efficacy Of Novice Teachers In Agricultural Education In Ohio At The End Of The School Year

Author : Elaine A. McConnell
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (546 download)

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Download or read book Teacher Efficacy of Novice Teachers in Agricultural Education in Ohio at the End of the School Year written by Elaine A. McConnell and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Because so many teachers leave the teaching profession early in their careers, the research investigated the differences in teachers' efficacy at the end of their first, second, or third year of teaching and the relation these differences had to teacher characteristics. The purpose of the study was to describe teacher efficacy at the end of the school year in novice (first- through third-year teachers) in agricultural education in Ohio related to stage of development, summer activities, classroom variables, and their future plans in teaching. This was a multiple one-shot case study investigation. Demographics were collected as part of a previous study, at the beginning of the school year, and a questionnaire was sent out at the end of April in 2002. Seventy-four percent (N = 73) of the teachers participated in the study. First-year teachers, second-year teachers, and third-year teachers were similarly efficacious at the end of the school year. Although stage of development is theoretically important (Richardson & Placier, 2001), there was not enough variability in teacher efficacy across the three stages of development to find a significant relationship. Forty-two teacher characteristic variables were correlated with the summed efficacy score and six were found to have significance. Out of these six variables, only two - the teachers' agreement with the statement that their student teaching experience was excellent and the number of class preparations for which the teacher is responsible - were found to have significant effects on the teaching efficacy score. When the teacher characteristics and demographics were reviewed, it was found that novice teachers in agricultural education were efficacious at the end of the school year. It was also found that teachers in the study who had mentors felt that their mentors were competent and supportive, that teachers had generally chosen teaching as a long- term career goal, felt that their job matched their personal and family needs, and felt confident about teaching in agricultural education, supporting Knobloch's (2002) findings.