The Relationship Between Teacher Self-Efficacy and the Professional Development Experiences of Agricultural Education Teachers Candidates

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the professional experiences of agricultural education teacher candidates during their internship, their sense of teacher self-efficacy, and their perceptions of their preparation. The population included the entire cohort (n=24) of teacher candidates during the 2007 fall quarter at The Ohio State University. Teacher self-efficacy was measured using the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). Candidates reported high levels of teacher self-efficacy at the end of the experience. The candidates’ perception of their level of preparation was similar to their sense of teacher self-efficacy. The largest discrepancy score was for the student engagement domain. Professional development experiences categorized as vicarious experiences revealed the strongest overall relationship with teacher self-efficacy. The experience of observing a first-year agriculture teacher had the strongest positive relationship with overall teacher selfefficacy. This variable explained 11 percent of the variance in overall teacher self- efficacy, and 14 percent of the variance in the instructional strategies domain. Verbal feedback that candidates received from their cooperating teacher was positively related to teacher self-efficacy. The number of courses teacher candidates taught was negatively related to their sense of efficacy in the classroom management domain.