Title of article :
Opportunities to Learn for Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Enthusiasm
Author/Authors :
Mahler, Daniela Biology Education - Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) - Olshausenstraße - Kiel, Germany , Großschedl, Jörg University of Cologne - Herbert-Lewin-Straße - Koln, Germany , Harms, Ute Biology Education - Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) - Olshausenstraße - Kiel, Germany
Abstract :
The aim of this study was to identify opportunities to learn for teachers’ motivational orientations. Motivational orientations are
relevant characteristics of psychological functioning, which are important for the behavior of a teacher and mandatory for effective
teaching. We focus on three domains: self-efficacy, subject-specific enthusiasm, and enthusiasm for teaching the subject. Selfefficacy covers the belief of an individual that he or she is capable of performing required behaviors to produce a desired outcome.
Teacher enthusiasm is an affective teacher orientation that is related to a specific subject and to teaching this specific subject.
Different opportunities to learn are considered for teachers’ motivational orientations. Since teacher education particularly focuses
on the acquisition of professional knowledge, we added a further exploratory focus to the study and investigated the relationships
between motivational orientations and professional knowledge (content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge). 134
biology teachers participated in the study. The results reveal that teacher education at university, the attendance in professional
development courses, and self-study provide opportunities to learn for self-efficacy and enthusiasm for teaching the subject.
Moreover, we found self-efficacy and subject-specific enthusiasm to be positively related to pedagogical content knowledge.
Keywords :
Enthusiasm , Opportunities , Motivational
Journal title :
Education Research International