新進教師第一年教學之自我效能感縱貫性研究

This qualitative longitudinal study aims to examine the developmental processes of novice teachers’ self-efficacy throughout their first year of teaching in junior high schools in Taiwan and the influences of first-year teaching experiences on the teachers’ self-efficacy development. Eight junior high school teachers were recruited to participate in this study. Self-plotted self-efficacy graphs and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from the participants. The findings show that the participants’ self-efficacy featured by different degrees of fluctuation through their first-year of teaching, though the participants’ self-efficacy was above the acceptable level (as defined by themselves) during most of the time in the first year of teaching. The findings also reveal that the participants’ first year teaching experiences were featured with the participants’ involvement in diverse occasions and events that produced various kinds of efficacy sources. These efficacy sources affected the participants’ self-efficacy profoundly. Five most influential efficacy sources were identified, including: (1) teacher knowledge; (2) mastery experiences; (3) verbal persuasion; (4) vicarious experiences; and (5) physiological arousal. Two implications from the findings are suggested. First of all, teacher learning communities within schools play significant role in producing self-efficacy sources that could contribute to young teachers’ self-efficacy growth. These facilitating sources of self-efficacy include vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion and teacher knowledge. Second, school leaders should be more cautious about the tasks that they assign to new teachers in schools, given that these tasks might either effectuate self-efficacy growth or endanger positive self-efficacy development.