Date of Graduation

5-2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Statistics and Research Methods (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders

Advisor/Mentor

Turner, Ronna C.

Committee Member

Lo, Wen-Juo

Second Committee Member

Goering, Christian Z.

Third Committee Member

Munshi, Parveen

Keywords

Education; Construct validity; In-service teachers; Pakistan; Self-efficacy; TSES; Teacher efficacy

Abstract

Teachers with a high sense of efficacy are motivated to achieve and are generally optimistic about future learning. There is an extensive body of research that indicates a teacher’s self-efficacy beliefs can be a performance indicator for school outcomes. Research on characteristics related to teachers in Pakistan has been increasing over the last decade, however there are a number of instruments being used with this population without any documented validation studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) to determine the latent structure of the TSES in the context of Pakistan in-service and pre-service teachers. Participants included 549 in-service (31% male and 69% female) and 423 pre-service (27% male and 73% female) teachers from four provinces of Pakistan. Content validity was investigated using experts’ judgement ratings. All items were rated as culturally appropriate for a Pakistani population. This study evaluated the construct validity of the TSES using structure equation modeling. Three-factor models were hypothesized for in-service teachers and one-factor models for pre-service teachers, as had been consistent with factor structure of the TSES for in-service and pre-service teachers from other cultures. Confirmatory factor analysis validated the three-factor model for in-service teachers, as had been observed with other cultures. However, it did not support the one-factor model for pre-service teachers. As a follow-up, exploratory factor analysis produced three-factors for pre-service teacher, concluding that a three-factor model is more appropriate for both pre-service and in-service teachers in Pakistan. A multitrait-multimethod procedure provided partial evidence of convergent validity, however the scales within the TSES appear more correlated with each other than corresponding measures of the scale. Teacher subgroup comparisons revealed that female teachers tend to have a higher sense of efficacy in student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management than male teachers. Moreover, Pakistani teachers teaching at primary level grades report a higher sense of efficacy than teachers teaching at higher grade levels. The findings of this study provide significant benefits for Pakistani researchers who want to use a teacher efficacy instrument as a tool for their studies.

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