Developing and Validating a Measure of Self-Efficacy in Teaching using Science Inquiry Skills

From 2011 teacher education curricula in Malaysia have been required to emphasise the teaching of science using science inquiry skills. However, the performance of science pre-service teachers using these skills is an under-researched area. It is acknowledged in the teacher development literature that personal beliefs mediate the knowledge and practice of pre-service teachers in their classroom. This study explores how the self-efficacy beliefs of science pre-service teachers in Malaysia relate to teaching performance using science inquiry skills. This thesis presents the development and validation of a measure of teacher’s self-efficacy: Self-efficacy in Teaching using Science Inquiry Skills (SETSIS). The conceptual framework used in this study consists of three factors: knowledge efficacy (KE), personal teaching efficacy (PTE) and outcomes belief expectancy (OBE). Using a multi-methods research approach the study developed the SETSIS instrument comprising 72 items using a five-point rating scale. The SETSIS instrument was piloted using a cross-sectional survey of 325 pre-service teachers at 13 Institutes of Teacher Education across Malaysia. Factor analysis confirmed the contribution of the three factors with high reliabilities (α>0.9). The SETSIS also met the Rasch rating scale model requirement in terms of reliability, dimensionality, difficulty and item discrimination but, needs to include more difficult to affirm items to distinguish the high self-efficacy level. A concurrent validation using a separate knowledge test and teaching practice assessment confirms weak associations but were able to establish the models to infer knowledge and teaching practice performance among the samples. Overall, the findings confirm new conceptualisations of teacher self-efficacy among pre-service teachers using the three factors proposed in the SETSIS. The empirical evidence supports the utilisation of the factors of the SETSIS in assessing the belief component of pre-service teachers in teacher education. However, the study suggests different utilisation of the factors to infer pre-service teachers’ performance in content knowledge and teaching practice.