Exploring the context-specificity of teacher self-efficacy: a multilevel analysis of class characteristics in secondary schools

Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) is supposed to positively affect teachers’ well-being, instructional quality and students’ motivation. However, the extent to which secondary school teachers’ TSE is shaped by their social teaching environment—particularly the different classes they teach—remains largely unexplored. This pre-registered study exploratorily investigated to what extent TSE can be considered a context-specific construct that varies within teachers across classes. Intraclass correlations indicated substantial within-teacher variation for TSE related to student engagement (ICC = 0.40) and classroom management (ICC = 0.37), while TSE for instructional strategies appeared relatively stable (ICC = 0.61). Multilevel regression models, considering the data from 1,326 students in 74 classes taught by 26 teachers, revealed negative relations between class misbehavior and TSE beliefs across all domains of TSE. All other class characteristics (i.e., students’ emotional and behavioral engagement, percentage of boys in class, mean grade) were less consistent or not significantly related to TSE. These exploratory findings call for larger replications to further understand whether conventional approaches to measuring and promoting teacher self-efficacy should be challenged.