Pre-service teachers‘ teaching self-efficacy beliefs: A comparative study across various subject curricular

Abstract

The study measured and compared the University of Cape Coast pre-service teachers‘ teaching self-efficacy across four programme areas: Bachelor of Education in Accounting, Management, Social Science, and Social Studies. It employed the descriptive survey design as a blueprint to obtain data from the final year University of Cape Coast pre-service teachers on their teacher self-efficacy levels. The study adopted the extended version of the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale of 24 items. Data analysis was done using descriptive (frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Kruskal-Wallis H-Test and Mann-Whitney U-Test). The study found that pre-service teachers in the Department of Business and Social Science Education (B.Ed Accounting, Management, Social Science, and Social Studies) had a high level of self-efficacy in teaching their respective specialized subjects. Comparatively, the study found no significant difference in the level of teacher self-efficacy of the pre-service teachers in these four programme groups. Findings also revealed no statistically significant differences between teacher self-efficacy and the ages and gender of pre-service teachers. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the self-efficacy of the pre-service teachers do not differ with regards to age, programme, and gender variables. To enhance student engagement efficacy, it is recommended that educators and programme developers focus on effective strategies and practices while targeting all programme groups for future educational interventions and programmes.