Qualified to teach : a comparative exploration into teachers' sense of their self-efficacy and their initial teacher education and certification

Abstract

It is tacitly understood that teachers are both academically and professionally qualified to teach. The teaching populations in Italy, Malta and Portugal are heterogeneous, especially in relation to their professional qualification to teach. Cultural differences in the way teacher education is perceived across countries provide insights into how teacher status may impinge on teacher self-efficacy towards their own learning, and their students’. A mixed methodology was used to gather field data from teachers in Maltese schools. Data were collected from self-filling questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that there are nuances in how teachers with different educational backgrounds and training construe their self-efficacy. The two data sets yielded themes which are seen to explain teachers’ identities in terms of their self-efficacy and conception of learning. Self-efficacy is construed by teachers in a reality fraught by dilemmas and elements of change, yet with the potential of being buffered by relationships. This study’s findings can serve to sensitise school senior leadership teams and support personnel to the factors within and outside schools which destabilise teachers’ self-efficacy. Since the employment of unqualified teachers is likely to continue, the importance of further research among unqualified teachers is warranted. This can inform support structures about ways of enhancing teachers’ self-efficacy.