Teacher Efficacy in Zimbabwe:

1
Teacher Efficacy in Zimbabwe Stamina
Sacrifice Judy K. Dunham, Ph.D. Daniel Songony,
Ph.D. 51st Annual Conference Comparative
International Education Society Baltimore,
MD March 1, 2007
2
Overview

• Type of Research
• Background of Zimbabwe
• Self-efficacy
• Teacher Efficacy
• Methods
• Results
• Limitations
• Implications
• Conclusion

3
Fast FactsZimbabwe

• Independence in 1980
• GDP per capita was 600
• Most well-developed economies in Africa
• During the 1990s
• Became one of 19 WEI countries
• Politically motivated crisis
• White farms confiscated by government
• Weakening of economic political institutions
• World Education Indicators Middle Income
  Countries

4
Current situation

• GDP 200
• Economy fallen by 2/3 since independence
• Food shortages
• Near collapse of tourism
• 700 (2003) to 70 million (2006)
• Inflation is nearly 1000 (2006)
• HIV/AIDS rate is 24.6
• Life expectancy is 39 years
• Child mortality is 29/1,000

• In July, 2006

5
Education

• Primary enrollment 65-90
• Primary to secondary transition 70
• Secondary enrollment 24-30 (est.)
• Literacy in adult population 62.5

UNESCO UIS 2004
6

• These political, economic, and societal crises
  have led to the near collapse of all
  institutions.
• Thousands of professionals have left Zimbabwe,
  yet there are those who remain.

Buckle, 2004 CIA Fact Book 2007 Hill, 2006
International Crisis Group, 2006Lindow (2006)
UNESCO 2007 World Bank, 2006 Zimbabwe An
Opposition Strategy, 2006 Zimbabwe Situation,
2004
7
Self-Efficacy

• Two Theories
• Rotters (1966) Social Learning Theory
• Internal vs. External Locus of Control
• Banduras (1986) Social Cognitive Theory
• Reciprocal Determinism

8
Beliefs in ones capabilities to organize and
execute the courses of action required to produce
given attainments (Bandura, 1986, p.3).
9
Efficacy is Enabling
Conviction
Estimate
Bandura (1977)
10
Expend Persist - Rebound
Woolfolk Hoy (1990), Tschannen-Moran Hoy
(2001)
11
Teacher Efficacy
12
Benefits of Teacher Efficacy

• Linked to student achievement
• Open to new ideas
• Allow for student autonomy
• Attention to high needs students
• Build student self-confidence
• Set goals
• Persist when students fail
• (Hoy Spero, 2005)

13
Research in countries where teachers experience
difficult environmental conditions could reveal
additional insights about the construct of
teacher efficacy.
14
Tschannen-Moran Woolfolk Hoy (2001)
15
OSTES Items

• How much can you do to get through to the
• most difficult students?
• To what extent can you craft good questions
• for your students?
• How well can you calm a student who is disruptive
  or noisy?

16
Subjects
23 educators from 9 rural schools Sanyati West
Schools Catchment
17
Results

• RQ1 What are the levels of teacher efficacy of
  educators who work in a catchment of rural
  schools in Sanyati, Zimbabwe?
• 87.3 of responses in highest 3 levels
• of 9-point Likert scale (7-9)
• 10.2 of responses in the mid-levels
• (6-8)
• Only 2.5 in lowest 3 levels

18

• Means
• 23/24 items had mean score of 7.0 or above

19
Only 1 item resulted in 1/3 of the responses in
low-mid levels
20

• RQ2 Are the three primary factors in the OSTES -
  - instructional strategies, classroom management,
  
• and student engagement generally found in the
  responses of American teachers also present in
  the responses of the Zimbabwean teachers?
• It was not possible to conduct a factor analysis
• due to the small sample size. For a factor
• analysis to be reliable, 300 subjects is
• recommended.
• (Tabschnick Fidell, 2006, cited in Mertler
  Vannatta, 2005)

21

• RQ3 In this sample of teachers, are there
  significant differences between the 3 underlying
  structures generally found in previous research
  using the OSTES?

Means and Standard Deviations for Three
Factors Factors Mean SD Factor
1 Instructional Strategies 8.065 1.227875 Factor
2 Classroom Management 7.98375 1.500875 Factor
3 Student Engagement 7.8925 1.388875
22
RQ4 Are there significant differences in the
level of teacher efficacy for years of
experience? Low 0-5 yrs. Med 6-12 yrs. High
13-35 yrs.
Analysis of Variance for Years of Experience
_________________________________________________
___ Source SS df MS F ? Between Groups 228.323
2 114.161 Years of Exp 228.320
2 114.161 .594 .562 Total
844665.000 23 _________________________________
_________________________
23
Discussion

• Possibility of cultural bias
• OSTES measures personal rather than general
  teaching efficacy
• OSTES does not include adequate items related
  to environment

24
Personal Teaching Efficacy
25
Limitations

• Sample size
• Funding
• Time

26
Implications

• Conduct confirmatory analysis of the
• OSTES in Zimbabwe with larger sample of teachers
• Collect comparative data from another country
• in sub-Saharan Africa
• Redesign OSTES to include external, general
  factors
• Use qualitative methods to study contextual
  variables
• Resources facilities (Hoy Spero, 2005)
• Socio-cultural dimensions
• (Sorrells, Schaller, Yang, 200)
• Culturally-specific teaching responsibilities
• Ho Hau (2004)

27
In the world of human thoughtthe most fruitful
concepts are those to which it is impossible to
attach a well-defined meaning. Lewis (1991)
A Question of Values
28
References Bandura, A. (1986). Social
foundations of thought and action A social
cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice
Hall. Buckle, C. (July 5, 2004). School dropout.
New Republic, 231(1/2) Retrieved on December 13,
2006, from EBSCOhost. CIA The World Factbook.
(2007). Zimbabwe. Retrieved on February 22, 2007,
from https//www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook
/geos/zi.html Collins, J. (2001). Good to
great Why some companies make the leapand
others dont. New York HarperBusiness. Goddard,
R. D., Hoy, W. K., Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2000).
Collective teacher efficacy Its meaning,
measure, and impact on student achievement.
American Educational Research Journal, 37(2),
479-507. Hill, C. W. L. (2006). Global Business
Today. Boston McGraw-Hill. Hinton, P. R.,
Brownlow, C., McMurray, I., Cozens, B. (2004).
SPSS explained. New York Routledge. Ho, I. T.,
Hau, K. (2004). Austrailian and Chinese teacher
efficacy Similarities and differences in
personal instruction, discipline, guidance
efficacy and beliefs in external determinants.
Teaching and Teacher Education, 20,
313-323. Hoy, A.W. (2004). What do teachers need
to know about self-efficacy? Paper presented at
the annual meeting of the American Eduational
Research Association, San Diego, CA.
29
References, cont. Hoy, A. W. Burke-Spero, R
(2005). Changes in teacher efficacy during the
early years of teaching A comparison of four
measures. Teacher and Teacher Education, 21, 343-
356. International Crisis Group. (2006, August,
2). Zimbabwe An opposition strategy. Retrieved
February 22, 2007, from http//www.crisisgroup.or
g/home/index.cfm?id4353l1 Lindow, Megan.
(June 23, 2006). Enemies of the State. Chronicle
of Higher Education, 52(42). Retrieved on
December 13, 2006, from EDSCOhost. Academic
Search Premier Mertler, C. A. Vannatta, R. A.
(2005). Advanced and multivariate statistical
methods Practical application and
interpretation (3rd ed.). Glendale, CA Pyrczak
Publishing. Mji, A. Kiviet, A. M. (2003).
Psychometric characteristics of the Science
Teaching Efficacy Belief Inventory in South
Africa. Psychological Reports, 92,
325-332. Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers
beliefs and educational research Cleaning up a
messy construct. Review of Educational Research,
22 (3), pp. 307-332. Rotter, J. B. (1966).
Generalized expectancies for internal versus
external control of reinforcement.
Psychological Monographs, 80, 1-28. Selaledi, D.
K. (1999). Teacher efficacy in the Free State
province of South Africa. South African Journal
of Education, 19(4), 266-271. Tschannen-Moran,
M. Hoy, A. W (2001). Teacher efficacy
Capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and
Teacher Education, 17, 783-805. Tschannen-Moran,
M., Hoy, A. W., Hoy, W. (1998). Teacher
efficacy Its meaning and measure. Review of
Educational Research, 68(2), 202-248.
30
References, cont. Wheatley, K. F. (2005). The
case for reconceptualizing teacher efficacy
research. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21,
747-766. Woolfolk, A. E., Hoy, W. K. (1990).
Prospective teachers sense of efficacy and
beliefs about control. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 82, 81-91. World Bank. (2007).
Zimbabwe Data Profile. Retrieved February 23,
2007, from http//devdata.worldbank.org/external/
CPProfile.asp?CCODEZWEPTYPECP Zimbabwe
Situation. (2004, May 7). The rise and fall of
Zimbabwes schools. BBC News. Message posted
to http//www.zimbabwesituation.com/may9_2004.htm
llink3