Teacher Efficacy Scale

Abstract

The Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES), developed by Gibson in 1984, is a 30-item, self-report instrument designed to assess a teacher’s conviction regarding their ability to successfully execute behaviors necessary to produce desired educational outcomes. Rooted in Bandura’s social cognitive theory, the scale measures the degree of Self-Efficacy beliefs, specifically how teachers evaluate their personal abilities to bring about positive student change, even in challenging environments. The instrument differentiates between personal teaching efficacy and general teaching efficacy.

Keywords

Teacher Efficacy, Self-Efficacy, Educational Psychology, Teaching Effectiveness, Personal Efficacy, Factor Analysis, Rating Scale, Student Outcomes.

Authors

S. Gibson

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Teacher Efficacy Scale is to provide a standardized, quantitative measure of a teacher’s perceived competence and control over instructional and behavioral outcomes in the classroom. This measurement is crucial for understanding motivational patterns, resilience, and persistence among educators, as efficacy beliefs strongly influence effort and goal setting.

The scale aims to capture the conviction teachers possess concerning their capacity to overcome common obstacles, manage disruptive behavior, and effectively facilitate learning across diverse student populations, thereby linking psychological constructs to observable classroom behaviors.

Construct

The core psychological construct measured is Teacher Efficacy, defined as the teacher’s judgment of their capabilities to positively affect student engagement and learning. This construct aligns with Albert Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy, adapting it specifically to the educational setting.

The instrument is structured to capture two relatively independent dimensions of efficacy, as confirmed by factor analysis: Personal Teaching Efficacy (the belief in one’s own specific teaching skills and competence) and Teaching Efficacy (the general belief in the power of teaching as a profession to influence student learning, often against external constraints like home environment or community support).

Validity

Validity for the Teacher Efficacy Scale was established through the rigorous application of the multitrait-multimethod technique. This methodology was used to assess both convergent and discriminant validity simultaneously, ensuring the scale measures the intended construct accurately.

The validation study focused on three distinct traits: teacher efficacy, verbal ability, and flexibility. The results demonstrated that the scale successfully converged on the teacher efficacy trait while showing appropriate divergence from measures of verbal ability and flexibility, thereby confirming its robust psychometric properties.

Reliability

While specific internal consistency coefficients (such as Cronbach’s alpha) were not detailed in the source abstract, the comprehensive validity study and the clear two-factor structure derived from the Factor Analysis strongly imply acceptable levels of reliability. The independence of the two factors—Personal Teaching Efficacy and Teaching Efficacy—supports the internal consistency and structural integrity necessary for reliable academic measurement.

Factor Analysis

The factor structure of the 30-item scale was investigated using a Principal Factoring Solution. Both orthogonal and oblique rotational methods were applied to interpret the resulting factors. The analysis consistently produced two distinct factors, suggesting that these two dimensions of efficacy are relatively independent of one another.

These factors were subsequently named Personal Teaching Efficacy (reflecting the individual teacher’s sense of capability) and Teaching Efficacy (reflecting the general perceived effectiveness of teaching as a profession in influencing student outcomes). This two-factor structure has been highly influential in subsequent research on teacher motivation.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report rating scale

Format: 30 items utilizing a 6-point Likert-style response format.

Language Available: English (Original development language)

Population Group: Elementary School Teachers

Age Group: Adult (Professional Educators)

Population Details: The initial standardization sample consisted of 208 teachers drawn from 13 elementary schools located across two neighboring school districts in California, USA.

Test Methodology: The scale results were correlated with behavioral data derived from classroom observations. These observations focused on academic focus and teacher feedback behaviors, revealing significant differences between high- and low-efficacy teachers regarding instructional time allocation (whole class vs. small group), the frequency of criticism, and persistence when facing student failure.

Scoring: Items are scored on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 6 = Strongly Agree.

Keywords

Personal Efficacy, General Efficacy, Educational Measurement, Teacher Training, Classroom Management, Student Achievement, Multitrait-multimethod, Rotations.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1984

Permissions and Fees: The original publication detailing the scale and its development is published in the Journal of Educational Psychology. Researchers interested in utilizing the scale should consult the journal or the author for specific permissions and licensing requirements.

Reference’s

• Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review 84:191–215.

• Bandura, A. (1978). Reflections on self-efficacy. Advances in Behavioral Research and Therapy 1:237–69.

• Gibson, S. (1984). Teacher Efficacy Scale. Journal of Educational Psychology 76:569–82.

• Gibson, S., and Brown, G. (1982). The development of a teacher’s personal responsibility/self-efficacy scale. Paper presented at American Educational Research Association.

Items of the Teacher Efficacy Scale

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

1. When a student does better than usual, many times it is because I exerted a little extra effort.
2. The hours in my class have little influence on students compared to the influence of their home environment.
3. If parents comment to me that their child behaves much better at school than he/she does at home, it would probably be because I have some specific techniques of managing his/her behavior which they may lack.
4. The amount that a student can learn is primarily related to family background.
5. If a teacher has adequate skills and motivation, he/she can get through to the most difficult students.
6. If students aren’t disciplined at home, they aren’t likely to accept any discipline.
7. I have enough training to deal with almost any learning problem.
8. My teacher training program and/or experience has given me the necessary skills to be an effective teacher.
9. Many teachers are stymied in their attempts to help students by lack of support from the community.
10. Some students need to be placed in slower groups so they are not subjected to unrealistic expectations.
11. Individual differences among teachers account for the wide variations in student achievement.
12. When a student is having difficulty with an assignment, I am usually able to adjust it to his/her level.
13. If one of my new students cannot remain on task for a particular assignment, there is little that I could do to increase his/her attention until he/she is ready.
14. When a student gets a better grade than he usually gets, it is usually because I found better ways of teaching that student.
15. When I really try, I can get through to most difficult students.
16. A teacher is very limited in what he/she can achieve because a student’s home environment is a large influence on his/her achievement.
17. Teachers are not a very powerful influence on student achievement when all factors are considered.
18. If students are particularly disruptive one day, I ask myself what I have been doing differently.
19. When the grades of my students improve, it is usually because I found more effective teaching approaches.
20. If my principal suggested that I change some of my class curriculum, I would feel confident that I have the necessary skills to implement the unfamiliar curriculum.
21. If a student masters a new math concept quickly, this might be because I knew the necessary steps in teaching that concept.
22. Parent conferences can help a teacher judge how much to expect from a student by giving the teacher an idea of the parents’ values toward education, discipline, etc.
23. If parents would do more with their children, I could do more.
24. If a student did not remember information I gave in a previous lesson, I would know how to increase his/her retention in the next lesson.
25. If a student in my class becomes disruptive and noisy, I feel assured that I know some techniques to redirect him quickly.
26. School rules and policies hinder my doing the job I was hired to do.
27. The influences of a student’s home experiences can be overcome by good teaching.
28. When a child progresses after being placed in a slower group, it is usually because the teacher has had a chance to give him/her extra attention.
29. If one of my students couldn’t do a class assignment, I would be able to accurately assess whether the assignment was at the correct level of difficulty.
30. Even a teacher with good teaching abilities may not reach many students.