and its Relation to Student Learning Improvement
ABSTRACT
What constitutes a good teaching process? Being that education is an important aspect of one’s lifetime, it is assumed that teaching is also an important process to give attention to. In this discussion, a focus on teacher-efficacy and how it could be developed as well as how it affects student learning procedures shall be given attention to. This review of literature entails to use recent references and studies that pertain to the topic mentioned.
Background of the Problem
Efficiency of work performance is always a great part of what makes a good worker in any particular field of operation. Social institutions such as education strongly depend on working efficiently among the educators who handle the responsibility of providing good learning options for the students to be able to learn well from every subject being presented to them in class. Considerably, through the years of development that embraces the concept of progress in creating more responsive procedures of teaching specifically shows how teacher-efficacy does create a distinct impact on how students learn and absorb much from the class discussions they are presented with. At present, a determinable problem involving the lack of capacity of teachers to motivate their students further to learn more and grasp more of what they are being taught is currently arising especially involving the rising population of students being served in both public and private educational institutions.
In this presentation of literature review, a consideration over the most specific issues that affect the overall aspect of student comprehension shall be discussed. Giving attention to what teacher efficacy is and how it could actually increase the ways by which students learn more from what they are being taught in school shall be scrutinized. Giving attention to the comparison between traditional and innovative teaching procedures shall also be included into the discussion for the sake of pointing put the revolution of teaching actually allowed for a more distinct presentation of teacher efficacy in the modern age of education provision given attention in educational institutions at present. What has been done and what else needs to be done to impose development especially in assisting students to become more involved in the learning process being presented to them in classrooms.
Understanding what Teacher Efficacy is about
Efficiency involves the concept by which people operating under their own dedicated roles are able to utilize all necessary resources that are available at their disposal to improve the way they are able to respond to their tasks that they are expected to complete. As for educators, efficiency is an important element to consider when it comes to measuring the way they deliver the teaching services specifically demanded by their students. What makes teaching hard is the fact that the students teachers serve come from different backgrounds thus having different capacities of learning. Being able to take note of such truth pushes the teachers to become more aware as to how they make sure that they are able to reach out to each individual in their class and take note of the fact that they are learning as much as needed from the lessons they are being presented with.
This concern among educators has given birth to the emergence of studies and research that are dedicated towards determining how teacher-behavior over the teaching process that an educator provides the students with actually affects the response of the students towards the lessons. Likely, these studies aim to see how proper learning practices could be motivated through the teachers’ utilization of good attitude and proper practices towards enhancing their teaching prowess. According to Robin K. Henson’s (2011) study entitled Teacher Self-Efficacy: Substantive Implications and Measurement Dilemmas, teacher efficacy could be gained through the establishment of personal belief that allows teachers to become more engaged and devoted to their work as educators of the public. Apparently, people in the field of education, who do not fully accomplished with their jobs, have some grudges and disappointments in relation to how and what they have become in the industry are the ones often to lose track of how they assist their students become excellent in their own pursuits in life. Being more concerned about their personal issues, they lose track of the real meaning of their profession and the responsibility they have on their students. In a way, Henson tries to point out that teacher efficacy should be established on the foundation of self-efficacy and self-belief that teachers could only accomplish if they are interested in what they do and if they believe that what they do is important. Job satisfaction is also one element that contributes to the personal development of self-efficacy. If a person is satisfied with his job, then it is most likely that he will be convinced to do better in completing his responsibilities. On the other hand, if he is not satisfied with his occupation and the way it pays him with proper compensation and benefits, the elevation of personal concerns about his individual needs tend to overshadow the overall idea of making a good mark at work and making a good mark among the stakeholders he serves. The same thing is true when it comes to teaching. Hence, it is suggested that when it comes to improving the concept of teacher-efficacy among educators, it is first important to consider the need to improve the idea of developing self-efficacy through properly determined options of motivating the teachers to embrace improved options of teaching through satisfying their needs as individuals.
True, Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey and Howard Sandler (2011) agree to the idea behind improving teacher efficacy through developing teacher-behavior geared towards the more positive aspects of teaching. Once a teacher is supported with his personal needs, he becomes more focused on his work thus allowing him to become more effective in reaching out to his students in class; sometimes even after class hours. When teachers are not dominated with their personal concerns, they become more effective in thinking what is best for their class and what specific options are best for sake of improving the way they relate to their students. It is evidently an effective argument to impose that teachers are but humans; and expecting too much from them when they are given nothing or lesser from what they actually need is obviously unfair. This general condition of teachers from all over the globe, both in developed and underdeveloped countries create a distinct cry that identifies the real plight of educators that often get neglected by the authorities who are supposedly giving them the support they need to survive life and to improve in their own craft of teaching.
Another consideration given attention to when it comes to developing options of improving teacher-efficacy is the ideal manner by which teachers are regularly given assistance through training. The times are changing and so are the students. This goes along with the needs of the learners as well as with the process of learning that most students choose to engage with. In her written research entitled Classroom Applications of Cognitive Theories of Motivation, Nona Tollefson (2012) imposes the idea that there are several teachers in the field of education who are undertrained especially in facing new challenges of the new millennium students. She has found out in her research that at least 45% of the overall number of teachers from the United States consider themselves undertrained simply because of the fact that they feel that they have already been left out in technology and cannot push through to follow on with the new innovations that students are most familiar with at present (133). Herein, she further discusses the importance of retraining teachers on a regular basis through information talks and hands on activities that would allow them to develop skills especially related to modern technologies used today that could both increase their competence in teaching and ease them out from particular operations of teaching that is more geared towards the traditional options of assisting learners in classroom.
At present, there is such a thing called dynamic learning. This is when students are more interested in being engaged in interesting subject matters that challenge them. They often give in to hands on activities that allow them to feel the actual process of experiencing what they learn. Unlike the past generation of learners, students today desire more interactive activities; majority of today’s learners desire to undergo learning through the aid of the computer. How would teachers who have been trained under the traditional options of teaching be able to cope up with such challenge if they are not going to be assisted accordingly? No efficiency in teaching can be expected from an old process of instruction that depends on traditional procedures which students at present do not find inviting nor interesting (Tellefson, 2012). Accordingly, teachers need to know that they can handle what their students need; that they can provide the type of teaching process that their students are most likely to respond to. There are many options open for teachers to embrace, however, most often than not, these options of retraining themselves in aspects of teaching that they might not be fully familiar with requires a distinct amount of budget. It is, again, the government’s and the institutions’ responsibility to see to it that the teachers’ training needs is funded accordingly. Only through this particular aspect of investment would the teachers become more competent in their craft; an ideal element of excellence that they are likely to be able to pass on to their students as desired. With such determination to aid the teachers, the higher degrees of authority in the society would be able to expect more from the teaching staff of every educational institution existing to provide exceptional learning experiences to today’s modern generation of students.
Measuring the Effects of Applied Principles of Teacher Efficacy
The working research of Kathryn Wentzel (2013) entitled understanding the Teacher’s efficacy beliefs: the role of professional community points out that teacher-efficacy developed through personal beliefs and improved behavior among teachers provide so much assistance as to how students are able to grasp more of what they are being taught. Apparently, teachers who are at ease about their personal concerns are able to deliver good teaching operations that are best able to assist their students become more involved in class. The study further notes that the measure of teacher-efficacy based on student-performance works well especially if the teachers are able to balance out their professional life with their personal and familial being.
Through this research, it is shown how educators who are able to accomplish more for themselves seem to be more satisfied with work. As a result to such working condition, the said educators are more than willing to give out their best for their students. It has been found out through this study that majority of the teachers employed in the field of education are dedicated to their job and their stakeholders, the students (Wentzel, 2013). Most of them, graduates as they are, know the hardships of being a teacher and have likely been prepared for such matters as they entered the industry. Nevertheless, this does not mean that they should just be set aside, especially that they have already accepted their [fate] as mere educators of the public. Investing on them and their capacities and skills as educators would do so much good for the government and the entire nation as well. This is the reason why the collaborative operation of the government and the higher authorities in the field of education is being pursued for suggestion in the research of Wentzel (2013).
Teaching is hard work; while this is true, to those who actually love what they are doing, to those who have the right passion towards enriching the lives of the young learners, such concept of work might not be much true. Volunteers are even flooding community learning centers to make sure that they are able to practice their profession even when they are not properly compensated for their hard work. Handling several individuals in one class, these brave teachers prove to be the real legacy of what good education is about. However, helping them out in their quest towards creating a more livable society with more respectful and worthy individuals, would affect their teaching procedures a lot. Gaining the attention and support from those who actually have the power to change how things operate in the industry shall give teachers a better source of motivation that they need to face numerous students in a day who are longing to be assisted, to be taught and to be guided.
The teaching environment also plays a great role in development teacher-efficacy. In her writing, Wentzel (2013) also points out that the environment where the students are situated affect so much of how they are able to grasp the real value of their lessons. In a way, the capacity of a teacher to manage such environment and make full use of it to motivate his students influences the behavior of the learners towards their studies. Even though the environment might be a bit uncomfortable due to population and other issues, properly behaved teachers who know what they are doing and why they are completing such tasks are most often than not able to make use of what they have to the fullest thus rendering their students with the best education that they deserve.
Reflection on References Analyzed
As seen from the series of references utilized for this discussion, there are two particular elements of teacher efficacy that are being fully given attention to: one is that of the satisfaction that comes from a rewarding job and another is that of the improvement that comes from regular training assistance that comes from the authorities of the field. Since teachers are humans too, it could not be denied that they have some needs they have to attend to. Being able to accomplish such tasks allows them to focus more in class; thus increasing their teaching capacities. Sadly, this fact about the general plight of teachers receives vague attention from people who have the power to change the situation that educators have to deal with. Because of this, teachers are left in the line hoping for better days to come, making it harder for them to concentrate on their position. This often results to failure among their students. True to its sense, an uninspired educator produces uninspired learners. It should be realized that the behavior a teacher emanates in class affects the overall thinking and response process of the students. It is because of this that modern teaching is considered more complex than the traditional ways.
Conclusion
The option of developing teacher-efficacy among educators is a choice that authorities of the industry need to make. Notably, the decision of making a better option of growth for teachers lay on the hands of those who have the power to change how situations occur in the industry. Practically, inspired teachers are able to perform well and are thus able to make sure of the most effecting teaching procedures rendered to their students. True, investing on the teachers create a chain reaction among all the stakeholders they serve. Investing on educators means investing on the students who re later on to take on the position of managing the whole society. Perhaps creating a policy that would protect teachers’ rights and benefits would help well in identifying the possibilities of increasing teacher-efficacy among current educators around the globe.
The need to increase teacher-efficacy among educators is a global need. Giving attention to such matter is of utmost concern, as resolving such problem also resolves some of the most crucial problems in the society involving uneducated individuals who make less use of their lives. Motivated teachers create motivated students; in a way, the more inspired the teachers are to teach, the more inspired the students would become, therefore affecting their future in a huge way. Considerably, giving attention to this matter now is expected to change the course of education that the modern society is to receive in later years.
References:
Henson, R.K. (2011). Teacher Self-Efficacy: Substantive Implications and Measurement Dilemmas. University of North Texas.
Hoover-Dempsey, K and Sandler, H. (2011). Parental Involvement in Children’s Education: Why does it make a difference? Venderbill University.
Tollefson, N. (2011). Classroom Applications of Cognitive Theories of Motivation. Educational Psychology Review.
Wentzel, K. (2013). Understanding Teachers’ Efficacy Beliefs; The Role of Professional Community. Department of Human Development. University of North Texas.
