INTEGRATED SCIENCE TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS AND IT’S IMPACT ON THEIR INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE

Collins Owusu-Fordjour, James Awuni Azure, Charles Kwesi Koomson

Abstract


This study investigated the self-efficacy beliefs of Integrated Science Teachers in Senior High Schools and its impact on their instructional practice. The study employed the mixed method approach adopting the descriptive survey design. The study employed the use of questionnaire, interview and observation to collect data from 138 participants. Findings of the study observed that majority of the teachers had the requisite qualification to teach at the senior high school level, not all of them can confidently teach Integrated Science as an integrated whole. Some participants were of the view that since the subject encompass the various branches of science with the three main branches of the natural science dominating, it is imperative that more integrated science specialist are employed to handle the subject as an integrated whole and not in aspects as majority of the schools in the country are doing. Again, it was realised from this study that, teachers confidence level were low whenever they are teaching aspects that are not in their field of study. The study therefore recommends that regular, effective and efficient organisation of science workshops and seminars, continuous discussions about issues relating to the effective teaching of science in Senior High Schools should be held at least once every two years to enable teachers be updated with current practices in education. Again stakeholders of education should institute a scholarship package to enable more teachers to be trained to teach Integrated Science as an integrated whole to boost confidence in students.

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


self-efficacy beliefs, instructional practice, integrated science, teaching, learning

Full Text:

PDF

References


Anamuah-Mensah, J., & Benneh, B. (2010). Particular issues of teacher education in Ghana. The UNESCO Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa. Accra: Ghana.

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman.

Bernat, E., & Gvozdenko, I. (2005). Beliefs about Language Learning: Current Knowledge, Pedagogical Implications, and New Research Directions. TESL-EJ, 9(1), 1-21.

Coladarci, T. (1992). Teachers’ sense of efficacy and commitment to teaching. Journal of Experimental Education, 60, 323-337.

Conant, J. (1963). The Teacher and the Taught: Education in Theory and Practice from Plato. (R. Gross, Ed.) New York: The Dell Publishing Company.

Donaghue, H. (2003). An Instrument to Elicit Teachers’ Beliefs and Assumptions. ELT Journal, 57(4), 344-351.

Elloitt, P. (2010). Science and literacy in the elementary classroom. Research Monograph(26), 1 - 4.

Guerrero, L. K., & Floyd, K. (2006). Nonverbal communication in close relationships. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Jones, K. (2008). Will education be powerful enough to provide satisfying employment and economic stability? Career Development: NCDA Magazine, 2, 22 28.

Jurik, V. E. (2014). Predicting students’ cognitive learning activity and intrinsic learning motivation: How powerful are teacher statements, student profiles, and gender? Learning and Individual Differences, 32, 132-139.

Kenneth, D. M. (2007). Classroom Teaching Skill. Edisi ke-6: McGraw Hill.

Mansfield, C. F., & Woods-McConney, A. (2012). I didn't always perceive myself as a science person: Examining efficacy for primary science teaching. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 37(10), 37-52.

Ormrod, J. E. (2006). Educational psychology: Developing learners. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and education research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research(62), 307-332.

Wimsatt, M. A. (2012). One Instructor Teaching Multiple Online Graduate-Level Courses: Are There Differences. International Journal of Education, 3 (2), E5.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejoe.v6i2.3922

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright © 2016-2023. European Journal of Open Education and E-learning Studies (ISSN 2501-9120) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms.

All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).