Teachers’ mobbing-related self-efficacy expectations (MOB-SWK)

Abstract

The mobbing-related self-efficacy expectations of teachers (MOB-SWK) scale is a brief, 5-item instrument designed to measure a teacher’s conviction regarding their capacity to successfully manage and intervene in peer-to-peer mobbing situations among students. Developed within the framework of the DFG-funded research project, “Teachers’ Dealing with Violence and Mobbing,” the scale assesses the specific self-belief necessary for effective intervention action.

The instrument was validated across two major samples: 495 practicing teachers and 477 student teachers. Psychometric evaluations confirmed that the MOB-SWK scale is objective, highly reliable, and valid for measuring this specific facet of teacher competence. The scale contributes to the understanding of determinants influencing successful teacher intervention against school violence.

Keywords

Self-efficacy, Teacher Competence, Mobbing, Bullying, School Violence, Intervention, Psychometric Scale, Exclusion, Student-Teacher Relations

Authors

Saskia M. Fischer, Juliane Ulbricht, Ludwig Bilz

Purpose

The primary purpose of the MOB-SWK scale is the empirical assessment of teachers’ specific self-efficacy beliefs related to intervening in and resolving student-on-student mobbing incidents. This measurement is crucial because research indicates that a teacher’s belief in their ability to influence mobbing outcomes directly correlates with the frequency and success of their intervention actions.

Developed specifically for the DFG research project on teacher response to violence and mobbing, the scale aims to provide a reliable and parsimonious measure of this key psychological construct, allowing researchers to better understand the relationship between teacher competence and the mitigation of school violence.

Construct

The scale measures a highly specialized form of Self-efficacy expectation, defined as the subjective estimation of a person’s ability to successfully meet challenging situations using their own adequate competencies (cf. Bandura, 2001). The MOB-SWK focuses this general theory onto the specific domain of classroom management related to bullying and violence.

The construct, “Mobbing-Related Self-Efficacy Expectation,” operationalizes the conviction that a teacher possesses the necessary skills—including situational awareness, direct intervention, and long-term conflict resolution abilities—to manage and terminate persistent student-on-student mobbing behaviors. High scores reflect a strong belief in one’s capacity for effective intervention, which is considered a vital component of professional teacher competence.

Validity

Evidence for the validity of the MOB-SWK scale was established across several dimensions:

• Convergent Validity: The MOB-SWK scale demonstrated a moderate to high correlation with the established General Self-Efficacy scale by Schwarzer and Schmitz (1999). Specifically, the correlation was r = .50 (p < .001) for practicing teachers and r = .47 (p < .001) for student teachers. This correlation confirms that while the MOB-SWK measures the underlying concept of self-efficacy, it is specific enough to provide new, context-relevant information pertaining to mobbing intervention, as expected for a domain-specific measure.

• Content Validity: Content validity is supported by the systematic development process, which closely aligned the scale items with both the theoretical definition of self-efficacy and established models of effective teacher intervention in mobbing situations (Bilz et al., 2017).

• External Validity: External validity was evidenced by the correlation between high MOB-SWK scores and reported successful intervention outcomes. Teachers with higher mobbing-related self-efficacy reported achieving their intervention goals—both short-term (stopping the incident) and long-term (improving class climate, fostering competence)—to a greater extent than their less self-efficacious colleagues (Bilz & Kunze, 2017).

Reliability

The reliability of the MOB-SWK scale was assessed using Raykov’s Rho, which is appropriate for a tau-congeneric measurement model where item loadings on the latent factor are unequal (Raykov, 1997). The internal consistency was found to be strong across both primary samples.

• The calculated Raykov’s Rho was .82 for both the sample of practicing teachers (Sample 1) and the sample of student teachers (Sample 2).

• Item intercorrelations ranged from .35 to .65 in Sample 1 and from .31 to .70 in Sample 2. These values indicate that the scale is internally consistent while simultaneously capturing slightly heterogeneous facets of mobbing intervention competence (e.g., perception, direct action, solution finding).

Factor Analysis

The dimensionality of the MOB-SWK scale was rigorously tested using both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to confirm its intended unidimensional structure.

The EFA results strongly supported a single-factor structure. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was high (0.81 for teachers and 0.79 for student teachers), confirming suitability for factor analysis. Parallel Analysis confirmed the extraction of a single factor in both samples, which accounted for 48% of the total variance. Standardized factor loadings were generally high (ranging from .51 to .79 for teachers and .46 to .82 for student teachers), confirming an adequately stable latent factor.

CFA using Maximum Likelihood estimation was performed on a tau-congeneric model. Fit indices for the single-factor model were generally good (CFI = .95, SRMR = .04 for teachers; CFI = .96, SRMR = .03 for student teachers). While the RMSEA values were slightly poorer, the convergence of the CFI and SRMR values, coupled with the EFA results, provides sufficient evidence for the scale’s intended unidimensional structure.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Questionnaire (Specific Self-Efficacy Scale)

Format: Written survey format using a 4-point Likert scale.

Language Available: German (Deutsch)

Population Group: Teachers and Student Teachers (Pre-service and In-service)

Age Group: Adults (Teachers and University Students)

Population Details: The scale was validated on 495 practicing teachers from Gymnasium, Oberschule, and Förderschule (special education) in Saxony, Germany, and 477 university students enrolled in teacher education programs.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate their level of agreement with five statements using a four-point scale ranging from 1 (“stimmt nicht” / strongly disagree) to 4 (“stimmt genau” / strongly agree). The final scale score is approximated by calculating the unweighted mean of the five positively coded items, resulting in a score between 1 and 4.

Keywords

Mobbing, Self-Efficacy, Teacher Intervention, School Psychology, Psychometrics, Scale Development, German Language Instrument, Violence Prevention

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg / Universität Potsdam

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Information regarding permissions must be obtained directly from the corresponding authors.

Fee: Not specified; typically non-commercial use for academic scales.

Test Year: Developed and validated as part of a research project conducted around 2017 (based on key publications).

Reference’s

• Bilz, L. & Kunze, U. (2017). Der Zusammenhang zwischen Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung und Lehrerinterventionen bei Mobbing. In L. Bilz, W. Schubarth, I. Dudziak, S. Fischer, S. Niproschke & J. Ulbricht (Hrsg.), Gewalt und Mobbing an Schulen. Wie sich Gewalt und Mobbing entwickelt haben, wie Lehrer intervenieren und welche Kompetenzen sie brauchen (S. 219-229). Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt Forschung.

• Ulbricht, J. (2017): Lehrerhandeln bei Gewalt und Mobbing – angehende, berufseinsteigende und erfahrene Lehrkräfte im Vergleich. In L. Bilz, W. Schubarth, I. Dudziak, S. Fischer, S. Niproschke & J. Ulbricht (Hrsg.), Gewalt und Mobbing an Schulen. Wie sich Gewalt und Mobbing entwickelt haben, wie Lehrer intervenieren und welche Kompetenzen sie brauchen (S. 129-144). Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt Forschung.

• Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1–26.

• Schwarzer, R., & Schmitz, G. (1999). Skala zur Allgemeinen Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung. Institut für Psychologie, Freie Universität Berlin.

Items of the mobbing-related self-efficacy expectations of teachers (MOB-SWK)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.