Running head: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Does a Course in Classroom Management Affect Teachers’
Perceived Self-Efficacy in Classroom Management?
Michael Benhar
The Graduate Center at the City University of New York
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CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
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Does a Course in Classroom Management Affect Teachers’
Perceived Self-Efficacy in Classroom Management?
A principle source of emotional exhaustion and perceived negative self-evaluation
in job performance for teachers is classroom behavior problems (Griffith, Steptoe, &
Cropley, 1999). Moreover, teachers consistently report that deficient academic
preparation and experience leaves them poorly equipped to deal with behavior problems
(Martin, Linfoot, & Stephenson, 1999). Poor self-efficacious classroom management
abilities have clearly been implicated in triggering the burnout process (Brouwers &
Tomic, 2000).
Bandura defined self-efficacy as beliefs in one’s abilities to implement actions
required to produce a desired result (Bandura, 1997). Self-efficacy is a future-oriented
belief about the level of proficiency a person expects to demonstrate (task capability) in a
given circumstance, and is therefore, situation specific, unlike self-esteem, which is an
affective self-evaluation, such as feelings of self-worth (Gist & Mitchell, 1992). Efficacy
beliefs influence the individual’s cognition and affect to mobilize the necessary
psychological resources to accomplish a specific task. More specifically, self-efficacy
beliefs influence goal setting and the strategies for attaining these goals by influencing
motivation when obstacles are presented (Bandura, 1997; Zimmerman, 1995). Bandura
conceived that self-efficacy beliefs are formed due to four different sources of
information: 1) enactive mastery experiences that are our own direct experiences that
provide the most important source of efficacy information; 2) vicarious experiences in
which efficacy beliefs are affected due to someone else succeeding or failing on a task; 3)
verbal persuasion in which others give a “pep talk” to guide individuals to make
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additional effort or attempt new strategies; and 4) physiological arousal that provides the
individual with feedback about one’s performance.
Although there has been considerable research on teachers’ self-efficacy, there is
a lack of research dealing specifically with teachers’ self-efficacy in classroom
management (Giallo & Little, 2003). Teacher self-efficacy research, grounded in the
underpinnings of Bandura’s social cognitive theory and his self-efficacy construct,
produced several teacher efficacy scales such as the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale
(Bandura, 1990) and the Teacher Efficacy Scale (Gibson & Dembo, 1994) among others.
However, these measures are lacking in specific classroom management practices, which
is why Emmer and Hickman (1991) extended the Teacher Efficacy Scale of Gibson and
Dembo to the area of classroom management. Emmer and Hickman (1991) adopted
many of the items of the Teacher Efficacy Scale and supplemented additional items to
create a three factor scale instead of the two factor scale of Gibson and Dembo (1994).
Since self-efficacy is considered to be context specific to a particular task, the author
finds it quite strange that so much of the research has focused on teacher self-efficacy in
general and little research has been conducted on classroom management in particular.
Giallo and Little (2003) have shown that classroom experiences and perceived
preparedness significantly predict teachers’ self-efficacy in classroom management.
Nevertheless, research indicates that a large percentage of teachers’ training does not
include formal training on classroom management (Martin et al., 1999). Since there is a
clear link between teacher burnout and perceived self-efficacy in classroom management
(Brouwers & Tomic, 2000), one would expect abundant research in this area, and yet, no
published research has investigated if a course in classroom management increases
teachers’ perceived self-efficacy in classroom management.
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The purpose of this study was to determine if a course in classroom management
increases teachers’ perceived self-efficacy in classroom management and to investigate
the affect of mediating variables, such as gender, age, ethnicity, the number of years
teaching, child or childless, socio-economic status, and undergraduate and graduate
grade-point averages. The study shows that a classroom management course increased
the teachers’ perceived self-efficacy in classroom management and discipline. Since a
principle source of emotional exhaustion and perceived negative self-evaluation in job
performance for teachers is classroom behavior problems (Griffith, Steptoe, & Cropley,
1999), education programs should be cognizant of not only the students’ needs, but more
importantly, the means of providing teachers with the necessary skills to succeed in their
teaching endeavors.
The study also revealed an interaction effect between parent and minority
variables that impact on teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in classroom management and
discipline. These interaction effects mean that those teachers who are parents and belong
to a minority group had increased self-efficacy in this factor. Why this occurred is
unclear and future research could shed light on this interesting interaction. Possibly,
minorities who are also parents tend to live in and teach in urban environments with
many stress factors and at-risk variables impacting on their lives that make them more
open and interested in learning and applying classroom management and discipline skills
to their personal and professional lives.
Female teachers’ classroom management beliefs of the influence of external
factors were significantly diminished compared to males due to the classroom
management course. Apparently, the course increased female teachers’ perceived self-
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efficacy abilities to diminish the impact of external factors, such as the home and peer
influences that affect their classroom management skills.
The study also indicated that male teachers’ personal teaching efficacy increased
more than female teachers due to the classroom management course. Apparently, the
classroom management course impacted more on the male teachers in increasing their
self-perceived beliefs to convey or teach students academic concepts. Interestingly, after
a course in classroom management, male teachers more than female teachers perceive
students’ academic success due to their teaching efforts and not their students’ efforts.
The investigator speculates using attribution theory that the male teachers attributed
success due to internal, stable and controllable factors (Dabul & Phoenix, 1996). In
making sense of efficacy beliefs, male teachers possibly perceived their classroom
management abilities as a controllable, stable internal cause - originating within the
individual.
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References
Bandura, A. (1990). Multidimensional scales of perceived academic efficacy. Stanford,
CA: Stanford University.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman Press.
Brouwers, A., & Tomic, W. (2000). A longitudinal study of teacher burnout and
perceived self-efficacy in classroom management. Teaching and Teacher
Education, 16, 239-253.
Dabul, A. J., & Coll, P. (1996). Rethinking psychological theory to encompass issues of
gender and ethnicity: Focus on achievement. In K. F. Wyche & F. J. Crosby
(Eds.), Women’s ethnicities: Journeys through psychology (pp. 183-199).
Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Emmer, E., & Hickman, J. (1991). Teacher efficacy in classroom management and
discipline. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 51, 755-765.
Giallo, R., & Little, E. (2003). Classroom behavior problems: The relationship between
preparedness, classroom experiences, and self-efficacy in graduate and student
teachers. Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 3, 2134.
Gibson, S., & Dembo, M. (1984). Teacher efficacy: A construct validation. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 76, 569-582.
Gist, M. E., & Mitchell, T. R. (1992). Self-efficacy: A theoretical analysis of its
determinants and malleability. Academy of Management Review, 17, 183-211.
Griffith, J., Steptoe, A., & Cropley, M. (1999). An investigation of coping strategies
associated with job stress in teachers. British Journal of Educational Psychology,
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Martin, A., Linfoot, K., & Stephenson, J. (1999). How teachers respond to concerns
about misbehavior in their classroom. Psychology in the Schools, 36, 347-358.
Zimmerman, B. J. (1995). Self-efficacy and educational development. In A. Bandura
(Ed.), Self efficacy in changing societies (pp. 202-231). New York: Cambridge
University Press.
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