Measuring self-efficacy in teaching education for sustainable development

Education for sustainable development (ESD) encourages students to develop critical thinking skills that will foster resiliency in the face of future challenges, such as rising sea levels or significant temperature changes. By learning about sustainable development, students may feel empowered to alter their actions and influence their communities to be more sustainable. In order to have the greatest impact on students, teachers must be knowledgeable about sustainable development and believe in their abilities to teach ESD subjects, also known as self-efficacy. Studies show that self-efficacy can encourage professionalism among teachers and increase their motivation to be successful. In this study, researchers created the Teacher's Self-Efficacy Scale for Education for Sustainable Development (TSESESD). TSESESD varies from previously developed instruments because it considers social and behavioral components in addition to knowledge and cognitive skills. In addition, the authors believed that knowledge influences pro-environmental behaviors. Therefore, they included questions measuring teachers' perceived knowledge (or self-report of their knowledge) of ESD subjects. This research determined whether the TSESESD accurately measures how much pre- and in-service teachers believe in their ability to teach ESD.

First, the researchers developed TSESESD, which consists of 24 self-efficacy statements and 31 perceived knowledge questions. The researchers separated the self-efficacy statements into 4 domains values and ethics, system thinking, emotions and feelings, and actions. Perceived knowledge questions focused on Content Knowledge (CK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). CK is a teacher's understanding of a subject, while PCK indicates a teacher's willingness to try new pedagogical approaches. The researchers used a 7-point scale (1=not sure at all, 7=absolutely sure) to indicate participants' level of agreement with each statement.

Then, the researchers conducted a study to test whether TSESESD accurately measured teachers' self-efficacy in ESD; in research, this is known as establishing validity and reliability. The study was conducted in Northern Greece at three undergraduate universities during the 2014-15 academic year. The researchers used lists of currently enrolled students and randomly selected 924 pre-service teachers (87% female) enrolled in either the department of Primary Childhood Education (804 participants) or Early Childhood Education (120 participants). In order to test whether the instrument accurately measured gains in self-efficacy, the researchers compared results of 315 first-year participants to 609 fourth-year participants. Additionally, the researchers recruited 88 in-service teachers to compare pre-service and in-service teacher results. All participants volunteered to participate in the study. The researchers used statistics to analyze the results from the survey.

Overall, pre-service teachers demonstrated moderate levels of self-efficacy. The analysis determined no significant difference between the first- and fourth-year students self-efficacy beliefs overall. Additionally, the researchers explored the relationship between self-efficacy and perceived knowledge scores. Overall, the participants' self-efficacy in teaching ESD topics was largely dependent on how knowledgeable they believe they are on the subject. Regarding perceived knowledge scores, the researchers determined that participants had higher scores for PCK than CK, meaning participants felt more willing to try new ways to teach content than knowledgeable about the content itself. Additionally, the researchers compared perceived knowledge scores between first-year and fourth-year participants. As predicted, fourth-year participants had significantly higher perceived knowledge scores than first-year participants, suggesting participants gained knowledge during their training.

The researchers identified certain limitations to the study. This study did not explore differences between perceived and actual knowledge, meaning the participants self-reported their knowledge of ESD, which may not accurately represent their actual content knowledge. Additionally, the authors did not investigate changes in scores from students' first-year to their final year of study, but rather compared scores of two samples of participants. A study measuring change over time might have varying results. Lastly, the researchers focused on student participants from three universities in Greece. Therefore, results should not be generalized to student teachers in varying disciplines or in other countries.

The researchers concluded that the TSESESD survey accurately assesses teachers' perceived self-efficacy in ESD topics. However, because scores indicated average self-efficacy beliefs among the participants, the authors recommend that innovative pedagogical approaches are needed to further develop student teachers' self-efficacy. Further, HE programs should provide content specific curricula to educate pre-service teachers on sustainability issues to ensure they are knowledgeable about the material.