Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy for the Formation of Students’ Character

Abstract

This study describes the results of a survey of practicing K-12 teachers in the United States regarding their efficacy beliefs for developing character in their students. The Character Education Efficacy Belief Instrument (CEEBI) was completed by a sample of 930 teachers who represent all fifty states in the United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The results suggest that: 1) teachers generally possess a positive sense of efficacy for character education, but doubt their abilities to provide character education for students who lack good character; 2) elementary teachers have significantly higher levels of character education teaching efficacy than high school teachers; and 3) staff development training and character education conference sessions have a positive impact on teachers’ sense of efficacy for character education, but university-based coursework provides no significant boost in teacher efficacy. Three tasks for teacher educators based on the findings of this study are proposed: 1) provide opportunities for reading and discussion that help teachers think about the challenge of and the methods for reaching those students who lack good character, 2) design teacher preparation experiences that address the differences in philosophy, curriculum, and methods between elementary and secondary character education, and 3) identify successful approaches to both in-service and pre-service teacher education that improve the deficiencies apparent in university-based coursework.