Influence of Qualification of Secondary School Science Teachers on their Perception of Self-Efficacy

Abstract

The complexity of science teaching at the secondary school level may have interacted with paucity of instructional materials, equipment and facilities to make science teachers have a poor perception of self-efficacy. This may in part, be implicated in the phenomenon of underachievement in science subjects among secondary school students. This study was designed to investigate the influence of science teachers’ qualification on their perception of self-efficacy. An instrument, ‘Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Scale’ was administered on 200 randomly selected secondary school science teachers in Warri Municipality, Nigeria, and its suburbs. Z-test statistic observed at the 0.05 level of significance was used  for testing the hypothesis of the study. The results indicated that qualified secondary school teachers had a more positive perception of self-efficacy than their counterparts in all the seven sub-scales of the instrument. Implications of the results were discussed and suggestions were put forward about the direction of further studies.

Keyword: Self-efficacy; underachievement in science; teachers’ qualification; perception.