RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES AND SELF-EFFICACY OF LOWER SECONDARY EDUCATION TEACHERS

Abstract

Education is responsible for shaping society, and teachers play an important role in its implementation. A teacher’s actions are guided by their value orientation, or implicit pedagogy, which can be theoretically classified within educational philosophies. This study is based on four fundamental educational philosophies. Another important aspect of a teacher’s role is their self-efficacy. Research has shown that a teacher’s belief in their own ability to create an effective learning process is linked to various aspects of their professional conduct and to the performance of their students. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between educational philosophies and teacher self-efficacy. A total of 210 subject teachers working in elementary schools in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County participated in the research. Participants completed a survey that included sociodemographic data, a scale measuring educational philosophies (Educational Philosophies Self-Assessment) (Cohen, 1999), and a self-efficacy scale for teachers(Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale) (Schwarzer et al., 1999). This study examined the contribution of teachers’ educational philosophies to their self-efficacy, as well as potential differences in educational philosophies based on subject area and their association with years of teaching experience. The findings indicated no statistically significant differences in educational philosophies across subject areas. Moreover, no significant correlation was found between educational philosophies and teaching experience. The relationship between educational philosophies and self-efficacy among lower secondary school teachers was found to be statistically significant. Educational philosophies are a predictor of self-efficacy, although they account for only 10% of the variance in this variable.