Preservice Agricultural Education and Secondary Education Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Professional Identity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the self-efficacy and professional identity of preservice agricultural education teachers and other secondary education preservice teachers. Data were collected from respondents (n = 85) from 13 institutions and included both agricultural education preservice teachers (n = 68) and other secondary education preservice teachers (n = 17). The instrument used in this study was a modified questionnaire that combined two previously established scales, Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy’s (2001) Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale and Woo’s (2013) Professional Identity Scale in Counseling. Descriptive statistics revealed that agricultural education preservice teachers possessed a slightly higher level of self-efficacy than other secondary education preservice teachers. Conversely, secondary education preservice teachers possessed a slightly higher level of professional identity than agricultural education preservice teachers. A Spearman’s rho Correlation was used to reveal a negligible relationship between self-efficacy and professional identity among agricultural education preservice teachers. However, there was a small relationship between self-efficacy and professional identity among secondary education preservice teachers. Further research should be conducted to establish the development of self-efficacy and professional identity throughout the teacher career cycle through longitudinal studies.