Self-Efficacy in Teaching and Learning to Read in English in Private and Public Primary Schools in Kuwait

English education for primary school children in Kuwait has been compulsory since a Ministerial policy was implemented in 1992/93. However, in response to insignificant educational performance and attainment in English among such children over recent years, this research sought to explore self-efficacy on both teaching and learning of English reading. Exploring self-efficacy was important as in the context of education, this trait represents an individual’s capacity and belief to achieve a desired level of performance. The study also aimed to explore whether any differences in self-efficacy in learning/teaching English reading exists between private and public primary schools. A mixed-methods design was adopted to allow for a quantitative cross-sectional survey of teachers and students, using the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) (Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997), the New Group Reading Test (NGRT) (GL Assessment, 2018) and the Parents Demographic Questionnaire, plus qualitative semi-structured interviewing of participants, to explore experiences in more depth. Convenience sampling was used to recruit students into the quantitative phase of the study (n = 91) and a sample of 12 students and 12 teachers participated in qualitative interviews. The quantitative data was analysed using a range of inferential statistics, while the qualitative data was analysed via thematic analysis. Internal consistency of the MRQ, NGRT and TSES were high with overall Cronbach alpha values of 0.90, 0.88, and 0.95 respectively. Parents Demographic survey revealed all parents to be of Kuwaiti ethnicity, and most had a Bachelor level of education (34.8-56.5%: public school, 65-85% private school), modest (60%) to high (40%) income among private school parents, low (43.5%) to middle (43.5%) income among public school parents, and the presence of maids that spoke English (84.2-88.9%). At baseline, mean scores on the NGRT were 0.33 (T1) and 0.43 at six months (T2) for public school students and 0.79 (T1) and 0.81 (T2) for private school students, while mean MRQ scores for the respective groups were 2.07 (T1) and 2.20 (T2) and 2.92 (T1) and 3.05 (T2), indicating superior performance among private school students. Correlations in scores for the MRQ and NGRT between time points were significant (all p<0.01). Simple regression revealed that self-efficacy accounted for 14-18.8 percent of the variance in MRQ performance, favouring public school students. Stepwise modelling revealed that the lower performance in NGRT in public schools was significantly explained by lower levels of self-efficacy (p=0.046). Thematic analysis revealed that students held strong desires for learning reading in English, given its extensive use across the world and the perception that it optimised future life prospects. However, differences in exposure to native English speakers, enjoyment of learning English, parental and sibling support in learning English, teaching approaches, and resource availability to support learning appeared to influence learning, performance. The data from the teacher interviews also revealed that learning was influenced by resource availability, passion and enjoyment of teaching, perceived importance of students learning English, education and training in teaching methods, and fluency in English. Overall, this research was able to triangulate quantitative and qualitative evidence to show that self-efficacy plays a crucial role in the teaching and learning of English for primary school children, in both public and private schools, and that it likely provides a key foundation for advancing learning in later school years. However, self-efficacy was mainly present among private school students and was lacking or present at low levels among public school students; this may account for current variances in academic performance in the Kuwaiti primary school system.