IMPACT OF TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL SELF-EFFICACY

i IMPACT OF TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL SELF-EFFICACY ON THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF GOVERNMENT SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS By ZOHRA BEGUM PhD SCHOLAR Roll No: 20074 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, HAZARA UNIVERSITY MANSEHRA, PAKISTAN 2020

ii IMPACT OF TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL SELF-EFFICACY ON THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF GOVERNMENT SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS By ZOHRA BEGUM PhD SCHOLAR Roll No: 20074 Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at the Department of Education, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan 2020

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iv Dedicated To My Father ‘Daji’ & My Mother ‘Ammi’ For their life long support in any endeavor that I have ever aspired for.

v Author’s Declaration I, Zohra Begum D/O Sadullah, Roll number 20074 student of PhD at the Department of Education, Hazara University Manshera Pakistan do hereby solemnly declare that the thesis titled PhD thesis titled, “Impact of Teachers’ Professional Self-Efficacy on the Academic Achievement of Government Secondary School Students”, submitted in partial fulfillment of PhD degree in Education is my original work, except where otherwise acknowledged in the text, and has not been submitted or published earlier or shall not in future, be submitted by me for obtaining any other degree from this or any other university or institution, Dated: Zohra Begum

vi FORWARDING SHEET The thesis titled “Impact of Teachers’ Professional Self-Efficacy on the Academic Achievement of Government Secondary School Students” submitted by Miss Zohra Begum, Roll No.20074 in partial fulfillment of PhD in Education has been completed under my supervision. I am satisfied with the quality of her research work. Dated: ________________________ Prof. Dr.Abdur-Rahman Supervisor

vii Plagiarism Undertaking I solemnly declared that the research work presented in the thesis titled “Impact of Teachers’ Professional Self-Efficacy on the Academic Achievement of Government Secondary School Students” is solely my research work with no significant contribution from any one other individual. Small contribution/ help wherever taken has been duly acknowledged and that complete thesis has been written by me. I understand the zero-tolerance policy of the HEC and University Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan towards plagiarism. Therefore, I as an author of the above titled thesis declared that no portion of my work has been plagiarized and that any material used in this research as reference has been properly referenced/ cited. I undertake that if I am found guilty of any formal plagiarism in the above titled thesis even after the award of PhD degree, the University reserves the rights to withdraw/revoke my PhD degree and that HEC and the University has the right to publish my name on the HEC/University Website on which names of students are placed who submitted plagiarized thesis. Student / Author Signature: ___________ Name: Zohra Begum

viii Certificate of Approval This is to certify that the research work presented in this thesis, titled “Impact of Teachers’ Professional Self-Efficacy on the Academic Achievement of Government Secondary School Students” was conducted by Mst. Zohra Begum under the supervision of Prof. Dr.Abdur-Rahman. No part of this thesis has been submitted anywhere, else for any other degree. This thesis is submitted to the Department of Education, Hazara University, Mansehra in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in field of Education, Department of Education, Hazara University, Mansehra. Student Name: Zohra Begum Signature: ________________ Examination Committee: a) External Examiner 1: Prof. Dr.……………… Signature: __________________ ………………………. b) External Examiner 2: Prof. Dr. ……………… Signature: __________________ …………………………, c) Internal Examiner: Dr. ……………………. Signature: __________________ Assistant Professor, Department of Education Supervisor Name: Prof. Dr.Abdur-Rahman Signature: __________________ Name of Chairman: Prof. Dr. Manzoor Hussain Shah Signature: _________________

ix ACKNOWLEDGMENT All Glory Be to Allah, who gave the researcher patience, courage, and ability to work on the thesis. Space limits do not permit me to shell out my thanks to each and every single person who guided and helped me in writing this thesis. I would start with my family and especially my loving and caring father who has been the biggest source of motivation for me throughout my life starting my childhood till now. His prayers and love for me at first and then his love for education have been working as a lighthouse for me to protect and guide me through all the tough waves and thus achieve any endeavor in life that I have aspired for. I want to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Professor Dr. Abdur-Rahman, Political Science Department Hazara University Mansehra, for his generosity, faith and superb assistance from start till end. I would like to extend very special thanks to Assistant Professor, Dr. Iqbal Majoka, for his unconditional help and remarkable guidance in getting through the difficult parts of the whole research process. I highly appreciate Mr. Muhammad Farooq Item Analyst, National Education Assessment System (NEAS) Islamabad for his generous guidance during the analysis of data for the study. The researcher would also like to acknowledge the cooperation of Chairmen Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, D.I.Khan, and Abbottabad for providing the raw data of secondary level students who appeared in their respective board exams in the year 2012. In addition, the accomplishment of the study involves the continuous guidance, motivation, and encouragement from many teachers and I extend my special regards to all the respected teachers. This researcher wouldn’t have been able to conduct this research, had Anita Woolfolk Hoy, Professor Educational Psychology & Philosophy, School of Educational Policy & Leadership

x at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, not allowed to use her instruments for the collection of data. Finally, special thanks to all friends and colleagues for their moral support and back up throughout the life span of thesis. (ZOHRA BEGUM)

xi TABLE OF CONTENTS S.No Content Page No 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Statement of the Problem 4 1.2 Objectives of the Study 5 1.3 Research question 5 1.4 Hypotheses of the Study 5 1.5 Significance of the Study 6 1.6 Delimitation of the Study 7 1.7 Limitations of the Study 7 1.8 Operational Definitions of the Key Terms 8 1.8.1 Academic Achievement 8 1.8.2 Teacher Self-Efficacy 8 1.8.3 Government Secondary School 8 1.8.4 Instructional Strategies 8 1.8.5 Classroom Management 8 1.8.6 Student Engagement 8 2 Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 9 2.1 Conceptual framework of efficacy self-efficacy 9 2.2 Teachers efficacy 10 2.3 Teacher Professional self-efficacy 11 2.3.1 Characteristics of Self-efficacious teachers 12

xii 2.3.2 Historical perspective of Professional self-efficacy of teachers 13 2.3.3 Professional self-efficacy theory 15 2.3.4 Self-efficacy Research in Education settings 16 2.3.5 Self-efficacy and related beliefs 17 2.4 Academic Achievements 19 2.4.1 Achievement and Construct representation 20 2.5 Teacher – student relationship, Academic achievement and selfefficacy 21 2.6 Teacher commitment and Teacher performance of secondary schools 25 2.7 Factors affecting teacher’s professional self-efficacy and students’ academic achievement 26 2.7.1 Gender 26 2.7.2 Locality 27 2.7.3 Subjects areas 28 2.8 Pedagogical knowledge 30 2.9 Classroom Management 36 2.10 Importance of Classroom management 38 2.11 Factors that affect classroom management 38 2.11.1 New trends in classroom management 39 2.11.2 Classroom management and self-efficacy 40 2.12 Student engagement 41 2.12.1 Categories of student engagement 41 2.12.2 Factors affecting student engagement 44

xiii 2.12.2 .1 Job Dissatisfaction 44 2.12.2.2 Class Size 45 2.12.2.3 Student involvement in teaching learning process 45 2.13 Summary 46 3 Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 52 3.1 Research Design 52 3.2 Population of the study 53 3.3 Sample of the study 53 3.4 Research instrument 54 3.5 Validity 55 3.6 Reliability 55 3.7 Data collection 56 3.8 Data analysis 56 3.9 Statistical techniques applied for hypotheses testing 57 4 Chapter 4 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 61 4.1 Academic achievement of students related to different categories of teachers 61 4.2 Level of efficacy and professional self-efficacy of secondary schools teachers 62 4.3 Comparison of academic achievement of students belonging to teachers with different categories 64 4.4 Impact of Teacher’s efficacy on students’ academic achievement within different categories 73

xiv 4.5 Impact of Teacher’s professional self-efficacy on students’ academic achievement within different categories 79 4.6 Relative impact of Teachers’ efficacy and professional self-efficacy of different factors on students’ academic achievement 92 4.7 Discussion 93 5 Chapter 5 SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 98 5.1 Summary 98 5.2 Findings 100 5.2.1 Academic achievement of students related to different categories of teachers 100 5.2.2 Level of Efficacy and Professional Self-Efficacy of Secondary Schools Teachers 100 5.2.3 Comparison of academic achievement of students belonging to teachers with different Categories 101 5.2.4 Impact of Teachers Efficacy on their students’ academic achievement within different categories 103 5.2.5 Impact of Teachers Professional Self –Efficacy on their students’ academic achievement within different categories 104 5.2.6 Relative impact of teachers’ efficacy and professional selfefficacy of different factors on the academic achievement of students 106 5.3 Conclusions 106 5.4 Recommendations for future 110

xv References Annexures

xvi LIST OF TABLES Table No Title of table Page No Table 3.9.1 Statistical Techniques Used for Hypotheses Testing 57 Table 4.1.1 Academic achievement of students related to different categories of teacher 62 Table 4.2.1 Efficacy of secondary school teachers 63 Table 4.2.2 Professional self-efficacy of secondary school teacher 63 Table 4.3.1 Academic achievement of students belonging to teacher with different locality 64 Table 4.3.2 Academic achievement of students belongs to teacher with different gender 65 Table 4.3.3 Academic achievement of students belonging to teachers with different subjects 66 Table 4.3.4 Comparison of teachers’ professional self-efficacy with in science and general subject 67 Table 4.3.5 Comparison of teacher efficacy with in science and general subjects 68 Table 4.3.6 Comparison of professional self-efficacy of male and female teachers 69 Table 4.3.7 Comparison of the efficacy of male and female teachers 70 Table 4.3.8 Location wise comparison of secondary school teacher professional self – efficacy 71 Table 4.3.9 Location wise comparison of secondary school teacher efficacy 72 Table 4.4.1 Male and female teachers’ efficacy and their students’ academic achievement 73 Table 4.4.2 Male and female teachers personal teaching efficacy and their student academic achievement 74

xvii Table 4.4.3 Teachers general teaching efficacy and their students’ academic achievement of male and female teachers 74 Table 4.4.4 Urban and rural teachers’ efficacy on students’ academic achievement 75 Table 4.4.5 Locality wise teachers personal teaching efficacy and their students’ academic achievement 76 Table 4.4.6 Locality wise teachers general teaching efficacy and their student academic achievement 76 Table 4.4.7 Subject wise teachers’ efficacy and their students’ academic achievement 77 Table 4.4.8 Subject wise teachers’ personal teaching efficacy and their students’ academic achievement 78 Table 4.4.9 Subject wise teachers’ general teaching efficacy and their students’ academic achievement 79 Table 4.5.1 Male and female teachers’ professional self-efficacy and their students’ academic achievement 80 Table 4.5.2 Male and female teachers’ professional self-efficacy and their student engagement on student academic achievement 81 Table 4.5.3 Male and female teachers’ professional self-efficacy in instructional strategies and their students’ academic achievement 82 Table 4.5. 4 Male and female teachers’ professional self-efficacy in classroom management and their students’ academic achievement 83 Table 4.5.5 Urban and rural of teachers’ professional self-efficacy and their academic achievement 84

xviii Table 4.5.6 Correlation showing impact of urban and rural teachers’ professional selfefficacy on students’ academic achievement in student engagement 85 Table 4.5.7 Urban and rural teachers’ professional self-efficacy in instructional strategies and their students’ academic achievement 86 Table 4.5.8 Urban and rural teachers’ professional self-efficacy in classroom management and students’ academic achievement 87 Table 4.5.9 Subject wise teachers’ professional self-efficacy and their students’ academic achievement 88 Table 4.5.10 Different subject teachers’ professional self-efficacy and their students’ academic achievement in student engagement 89 Table 4.5. 11 Subject wise teachers’ professional self-efficacy and their students’ academic achievement in instructional strategies 90 Table 4.5.12 Subject wise teachers’ professional self-efficacy and students’ academic achievement in classroom management 91 Table 4.6. 1 Recreation showing relative impact of different factors (locality, gender and subjects) on students’ academic achievement 92 Table 4.6. 2 Model Summary 93

xix ABBREVIATIONS BISE Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education CM Classroom Management DI Khan Dera Ismail Khan FATA Federally Administered Tribal Area GGHS Government Girls High School GGHSS Government Girls Higher Secondary School GHS Government High School GHSS Government Higher Secondary School GTE General Teacher Efficacy IS Instructional Strategies PTE Personal Teacher Efficacy Sc Science SE Student Engagement SST Secondary School Teacher TE Teacher Efficacy TES Teacher Efficacy Scale TPE Teacher Professional Efficacy TSES Teacher Self Efficacy Scale

xx ABSTRACT This research focused on the impact of teachers’ professional self-efficacy on the academic achievement of government secondary school students. This study mainly examined the impact of teachers’ professional self-efficacy in three areas of teaching and learning process. The three focus areas were students’ engagement, teaching instructions, and classroom management. The study was based on two different frameworks; Teachers’ Efficacy and Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and their relationship with the academic achievement of secondary school students. Main objectives of the study were i) to assess the academic achievement of students belonging different categories of teachers. ii) to measure efficacy and professional self-efficacy of secondary school teachers. iii) to compare the students’ academic achievement belonging to teachers of different categories (based on gender, locality, and discipline of study i.e., science and general). iv) to examine the impact of teachers’ efficacy and teachers’ professional self-efficacy on their students’ academic achievement. v) to examine the relative impact of gender, locality, and subject areas (science and general), on efficacy, and professional self- efficacy on their students’ academic achievement. This study has also two research questions (i) what is the academic achievement of students belonging to different categories of teachers? (ii) what is the efficacy and professional self-efficacy of secondary school teachers? Multi Stage Stratified Random Sample Technique was adopted in order to select the study sample. Data from a sample of 360 senior school teachers (SSTs) including 216 males and 144 females was collected through published and tested instruments of teachers’ efficacy and teachers’ self-efficacy. From each sampled school one science teacher and two general teachers were selected. The students’ achievement data was taken from the concerned Boards

xxi of Intermediate and Secondary Education of the related district. Independent sample t tests at 0.05 confidence level were applied to find significant mean score differences for independent variables. The magnitude of correlation between teachers’ performance in terms of their students’ achievement and efficacy was calculated using Pearson Correlation (at 0.05 and .01 levels of confidence). In addition, variance was found by applying one-way Anova. To find out the impact of variables on teachers’ performance in terms of the students’ achievement, regression analysis was carried out. The study found a significant impact of teachers’ efficacy and teachers’ professional self-efficacy on the academic achievement of secondary students with respect to location, gender, and subject. Additionally, a significant correlation between teachers’ self-efficacy/efficacy and teachers’ performance in terms of their students’ achievement was also found. Hence, it was concluded that teachers’ self-efficacy/efficacy is vital to the academic achievement of students. Thus, it becomes necessary to incorporate such modules into teachers’ trainings that will add to their professional self-efficacy in order to enhance students’ learning in terms of their academic achievement.

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1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Education in 21st century has become a high-stake game in which teachers and administrators alike are heavily inspected for students’ achievement. Perhaps none feels the pressure of this inspection more than teachers. Teachers have an immense impact on the learning process of students; basically, teachers are vital for successes or failure of an education system thus the more competent the teachers are; the more effective education system will be. If the teachers are competent, they will directly impact students’ performance. Teachers’ competency is based on self-efficacy (belief on his abilities). The efficacious teachers always introduce different teaching methods which improve the students’ abilities of critical thinking, decision making and creativity etc. This study is chosen with the intention to uncover the hidden skills of teachers’ professional self-efficacy as most of them are having these skills but they are unaware of it which directly affect students’ performance. Keeping in view the situation, this study is designed to know the impact of teachers’ professional efficacy on the academic achievements of government secondary schools’ students. This study will also highlight different aspects of teachers’ professional self-efficacy which can directly or indirectly affect the students’ academic achievement. Guskey (1994) stated the “Teacher’s beliefs and practices are ultimately at the heart of students’ success” (p.67). Teacher professional efficacy, the expectation that one possesses the talent and abilities to bring about student learning, is central to school reform. Motivation, a building block of teacher professional efficacy, influences teacher: (a) performance, (b) commitment, and (c) retention. Furthermore, it is with this motivation, filtered through the

2 levels of professional efficacy, that teachers determine what type of an impact they will have on students. Gordon (2001) concluded that teacher professional efficacy was linked directly to students’ achievement. Teachers with low professional efficacy attribute failures and even successes to external factors, which they believe are greater than themselves (Allinder, 1995). As challenges occur, low professional efficacy teachers blame students for their inadequacies and set low expectations for students who may not immediately or intrinsically arise to meet the academic standard. High teacher professional efficacy is linked to openness to change and its accompanying challenges Gavora (2010). Generally, teachers who believe strongly in their ability to bring about student learning, have higher expectations which, in turn produce higher students’ achievement. Collective teacher professional efficacy is related to the perceptions of the teaching faculty to increase students’ achievement. Henson (2001) recognized that highly efficacious teachers tend to be more organized, display greater skills of instruction, questioning, explaining, providing feedback to students having difficulties, and maintaining students on task. Low professional efficacy teachers, on the other hand, display a more custodial than humanistic approach to classroom management, spend significantly more time in group work as opposed to whole group instruction, feel angered and threatened by misbehavior, and experience difficulty in maintaining students on task. This self-perception, called self-professional efficacy, plays a pivotal role in how teachers select assignments and activities, shaping their efforts and perseverance when addressing certain challenges, and even in their emotional response to difficult situations.

3 Self-professional efficacy ultimately accounts for a cognitive construct that mediates between knowledge and action. Along with other variables, this determines the success of the actions themselves (Hussain, Ali, Khan, Ramzan & Qadeer, 2011). Teachers’ professional self-efficacy is a judgment of their capabilities to bring about desired outcomes of students’ engagement and learning, even among difficult or unmotivated students (Cagle,1998). A more contemporary definition for professional self-efficacy could be confidence of someone in his or her capacity in performing professional tasks. Researchers have investigated the impact of teacher’s professional self-efficacy on their students’ academic achievement with reference to gender differences, locality and subjects taught. However, most of the researchers have come to a vague conclusion about finding any remarkable impact of professional self-efficacy of teachers on students’ achievement with respect to gender locality and subjects. Additionally, they have provided reasons in their research which dictate that this area must be further investigated to come to the solid and firm conclusion. In short, it can be said that this area is still open to further investigations. After examining various definitions of professional self-efficacy of teachers and an overview of literature on the impact of teachers’ professional self-efficacy level on their students’ achievement, it is clear that this is one of the most important issues among the various issues in education. The literature shows that students of highly efficacious teachers have higher levels of positive attitude, improved attendance, quality of learning and better academic achievement (Guskey, 1994). According to Terry (2008), teachers’ professional self-efficacy is particularly important for secondary school students. Secondary education is now considered as a corner stone of the educational system in any country. Secondary school level is also having the same importance in Pakistan, but unfortunately it has been facing

4 many problems regarding students’ achievement. This topic is chosen to find out whether professional efficacy of school teachers has implications for academic gains, improved academic achievements, quality of learning, and positive attitude about school. 1.1 Statement of the Problem Every student starts first informal learning from the lap of mother. When this child starts school for formal learning, it is the teacher who replaces the mother and thus teacher is the one who is responsible for formal learning of the student onward. Although there are several factors that can contribute the quality of learning and level of achievement of students. However, the literature also provides lot of evidence on the strong involvement of teachers’ professional self-efficacy in this regard. In Pakistani Government schools’ students’ achievement at every stage in general and especially at secondary school level is a big question. Students are getting poorer day by day and this is evident from their SSC annual results. The question that clicks the mind is that why does a student show low achievement in presence of qualified teachers selected through a standard criterion? This study was selected with the sense that teacher’s efficacy has great impact on the students’ academic achievement and the same has been supported by various researches. The researcher tried to investigate through this study, the relationship between teachers’ professional self- efficacy in certain areas of teaching and learning processes during the class such as teaching instruction, class room management, students’ engagement and students’ academic achievement at the same time.

5 1.2 Objectives of the Study Following are the objectives of the study: 1. To assess the academic achievement of students belonging different categories of teachers. 2. To measure efficacy and professional self-efficacy of secondary school teachers. 3. To compare the students’ academic achievement belonging to teachers of different categories (based on gender, locality, and discipline of study i.e. science and general). 4. To examine the impact of teachers’ efficacy and teachers’ professional self-efficacy on their students’ academic achievement 5. To examine the relative impact of gender, locality, and subject areas (science and general), on efficacy, and professional self- efficacy on their students’ academic achievement. 1.3 Research Questions For achieving first and second objective following research questions were addressed 1. What is the academic achievement of students belonging to different categories of teachers? 2. What is the efficacy and professional self-efficacy of secondary school teachers? 1.4 Hypotheses of the Study For achieving objectives following null hypothesis were tested: H01: there is no significant difference between academic achievement of students belonging to different categories of teachers (genders, localities and subject).

6 H02: There is no significant impact of teachers’ efficacy on students’ academic achievement within different categories. H03: There is no significant impact of teachers’ professional self-efficacy on students’ academic achievement within different categories. H04: Different factors (teachers’ efficacy, professional self-efficacy, gender, location and subject areas) have no significant impact on students’ academic achievement. 1.5 Significance of the Study Professionally efficacious teachers can better motivate their students thus helping to boost academic out comes even among difficult students. Teachers with high professional efficacy can bring about positive changes in students’ learning, motivation, and behavior. Research literature shows that efficacious teachers are found to be ambitious and that they try various teaching strategies with their students. They are open to accept mistakes from students and work on the improvement of students via positive criticism. They always try to implement positive classroom management strategies and maintain positive outlook when teaching difficult students (Henson, 2001). This emphasizes the positive role of teachers’ professional self-efficacy in the better-quality learning outcomes among secondary school students. In Pakistan, teaching learning process is mainly focused to develop the cognitive skills of students. The reason behind is that most of the training curricula overlook other competencies like professional efficacy, which are directly related to the effective teaching learning process. This study is significant in the sense that it will explore the impact of teachers’ professional self-efficacy on students’ academic achievement in secondary schools of Pakistan. This study will provide a base line to support work on teachers’ professional self-

7 efficacy to improve teaching and learning processes at secondary school level. The outcomes of this study will be equally important for policy makers, educational administrators, and other stakeholders of the secondary level education system in Pakistan. Moreover, the consultants who design the teachers’ training courses and programs could consider the results of this study to cater to the needs of the students as well as the millennium goals set in the new education policy. 1.6 Delimitations of the Study Due to time constrain and limited resources, this study was delimited to: (i.) secondary schools of five Districts Mardan, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Peshawar, Kohat and D.I Khan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. (ii)the students of 10th class session (2013-14), and their respective teachers. 1.7 Limitations of the Study The sample of students and teachers considered in this research belonged to different Examination Boards which assessed the students using different assessment tools (papers). There may be a difference in exam papers of different Examination Boards in terms of difficulty level, reliability and other characteristics. This possible difference in measurement in teachers’ performance might have affected the findings of this study. In this study, the teachers of general and Science groups have been compared for selfefficacy and their performance in term of academic achievement of their students. Usually, more capable students are given the choice to opt science subjects. So, there is a possibility that this\ generic difference might have affected the results of this study.

8 1.8 Operational Definitions of the Key Terms 1.8.1 Academic Achievement Students’ Academic achievement defines students’ learning outcomes which explains the level to which a student has achieved their learning goals. 1.8.2 Teacher Self-Efficacy Teacher’s self- efficacy is teacher believes in his or her self that he or she can influence students’ behavior and academic achievement. 1.8.3 Government Secondary School Government secondary school means a school established by Government under section 5 of the Act that provide free secondary education to the students aged 11 to 16. 1.8.4 Instructional Strategies Instructional strategies are techniques teachers use during their teaching process to help students become independent, strategic learners. 1.8.5 Classroom Management Classroom management refers to those skills and techniques that teachers use to keep students disciplined, organized, orderly, focused and attentive. 1.8.6 Student Engagement Student engagement is the technique which teachers use during teaching learning process to keep their students on task, attentive and academically productive throughout a class.

9 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This study was conducted to identify the impact of teacher professional self-efficacy on the academic achievement of the secondary school students of the government sector. And this chapter deals with the related work and research results of similar studies. It also focuses on different aspects of the study. Additionally, this chapter explains the constructs of the study under consideration. 2.1 Conceptual Framework of efficacy Self-Efficacy The study took teacher professional self-efficacy as the explanatory variable of interest (independent variable) that was influencing students’ academic achievement (dependent variable). The conceptual framework of this study is based on (Bandura & Albert, 1977) and Hu and Bentler (1999) social cognitive theories and researches carried out related to teachers’ self-efficacy. The Teleologism theory implies duty and moral obligation inherent in one’s actions to perform an act because that act fulfills one’s professional obligations along with ethical code of conduct as well as cultural and religious dictations. In other words, one should do to others, what one would like others to do to him/her. Hu and Bentler (1999) Deontologist theory presupposes that people should follow the obligations to one’s individually or to society because upholding one’s duty is what is considered ethically correct. It is possible by analyzing an ethical dilemma, meaning that a person should adhere to their obligations and duties under the core values of the code of conduct, and being committed, and having a positive perception. Bandura and Albert (1977) as an expert of cognitive theory in social

10 setup, states that people are competent in human activity that operates in “triadic” reciprocal causation process. The triad stems from behavior, environmental influences and interpersonal factors. These three inter-related forces result from affective, cognitive and biological processes and impact the actions they will take as well as what people believe about themselves. The teacher efficacy related research explored that teachers’ certain beliefs and biases can affect ways the students are treated in their presence or feelings about students. Teachers’ beliefs and efficacy influence what they do in the classroom. Teachers’ actions are generally based on their belief system, which can affect their students and their classroom practices. External factors like content of the subject, diverse nature of students and family influence, and local guidelines can affect teachers’ beliefs (Maxton, 1996; Cagle,1998; Henson, 2001; Gordon, 2001; George & Aronson, 2003; Rimm-Kaufman & Sawyer, 2004; Scharlach, 2008). 2.2 Teachers’ Efficacy Hoy (2000) defined the term ‘teacher’s efficacy’ as teachers’ confidence to promote students’ learning. It is about teachers’ beliefs in their capacities to shape and accomplish course of action necessary to bring about anticipated results in terms of students’ learning outcomes (Woolfolk-Hoy, & Hoy, 1990). Gavora (2010) explained teachers’ efficacy as having two major dimensions i.e. Personal Teaching Efficacy (PTE) and General Teaching Efficacy (GTE). Personal Teaching Efficacy (PTE) refers to a teacher’s overall sense of effectiveness of his/her teaching. It represents a teacher’s belief in his/her competencies to assist students’ learning. On the other hand, General Teaching Efficacy is about the teaching as a profession itself and not about the person who is teaching. Gavora (2010) explained General Teaching efficacy to be the confidence that teaching as an activity or form of

11 education in an organizational setup has its positive effects on students’ learning even in presence of external factors like lack of motivation and unsupportive home environments etc. 2.3 Teachers’ Professional Self- Efficacy Self-efficacy is one’s belief in his/her ability to succeed in new or certain situations. One’s sense of self-efficacy influences his/her approach to challenges and goals. one’s belief in his/her capabilities to succeed or fail when confronted with a challenge is the motive of self-efficacy. Those who believe that they are capable of performing well have strong selfefficacy. They do not avoid challenges but more likely they view challenges as something to be mastered. Professional self-Efficacy influences a teacher’s feelings about his or her ability to do their job. Ross (2001) defined teachers’ professional self-efficacy as the extent to which teachers believe their efforts will positively affect their students’ academic achievement. Gordon (2001) says that, “Teacher efficacy is sometimes considered to be an indicator or prediction of teaching effectiveness” (p. 5). Professional Self-efficacy can be seen through teacher’s ability and esteem to affect and influence for positive change in the classroom (Osborne, 2002). Self-efficacy is manifest by the response a person gives when asked, how well can you perform that task? Highly professional and effective teachers, courageously face their tasks and are very confident in their ability to do that job well. They have the ability to continuously turn those difficult situations into successful results in the most difficult situations (Gordon, 2001; Scharlach, 2008). Henson (2001) defines teacher professional selfefficacy as a teacher’s “judgment of his or her capabilities to bring about desired outcomes of student engagement and learning, even among those students who may be difficult or unmotivated” (p. 7). The literature on teachers’ self-efficacy explored that teachers having high professional self-efficacy are able to change students’ opinion about themselves, school

12 and learning by accepting challenging roles with the confidence and ability. Teachers possessing high self-efficacy cultivate a strong desire within their student to learn for desired achievements. Pedagogical strategies of professionally efficacious teachers help their students to become motivated, focused on learning, and academically successful (Adu, Tadu, & Eze, 2012). Philosophy of teachers’ efficacy revolves around humanistic and a custodial level of efficacy. At humanistic level, professionally highly efficacious teacher has the beliefs that students are accepting and trustful for their learning and he empowers his/her students to work harder as well as take more responsibility for their actions. At custodial level, a high efficacious teacher emphasizes the maintenance of order and distrusts the students are considering them as irresponsible and untrustworthy and in need of firmness, strictness, and punishment (Gordon, 2001). The term Teacher professional self-efficacy used in this study refers to the confidence that the teachers have regarding their teaching skills and subject specific knowledge to teach their students effectively, even under difficult circumstances and thus gain the respect of each student. 2.3.1 Characteristics of Self-Efficacious Teacher Bandura (2001) have the view that human behavior is an ever-changing process. According to research studies of Scharlach (2008) and Henson (2001) some of the common characteristics of efficacious teachers are: • Better organizer • Compliance to struggle for new ideas to meet students’ needs. • Positive criticism on students’ mistakes • Positive and effective towards teaching • Never refers to special education services for students,

13 • Able to execute positive attitude in classroom through better management strategies A teacher can be successful in teaching his/her students regardless of ethnic background, gender, race or location having above said qualities. These qualities are evidence of teacher’s higher efficaciousness. This efficacy is linked to their ability to work harder under difficult circumstances to ensure students’ high achievements as well as motivation. These efficacious teachers bring changes in students’ learning motivation, and behavior (Gordon, 2001, and Hoy &Woolfolk 1993). 2.3.2 Historical Perspective of Professional Self- Efficacy of Teachers Different concepts and ideas of same phenomenon or theory form construct. The construct teacher efficacy roots from the late seventies of nineteenth century’s studies. These studies have foundation on the view that self-efficacy of teachers is positively related to achievements of their students (Denham & Michael, 1981). Teacher efficacy construct is two dimensional; one dimension explores teachers’ teaching that is perceived as the power of teaching to achieve desired and objective results, and second dimension is teachers’ own teaching efficacy that is perceived as their belief in their own ability to achieve that desired results. Teachers having high level of professional self-efficacy have a strong purpose and academic orientation (Kinzie & Delcourt, 1991; Dembo & Gibson, 1985). Such teachers feel a personal accomplishment, a positive attitude about teaching, set high expectations for students, use different strategies for achieving objectives, they believe that they can influence student learning; and feel responsibility for improving student learning (Ashton, 1984). Efficacious teachers recognize themselves sole responsible for students’ results, consequently self-efficacious teachers support and motivate students in achieving their goals and spend

14 more time on student learning (Bandura, 1993). The research literature in the field of education and psychology related to pre-service teacher and professional efficacy indicates that more often academic programs start from very high level of teachers’ professional efficacy (Lanier, 1984; Narang, 1990; Walker, 1992). This may be because both students and teachers already spend much of their lives in classroom practices and observation during their coursework (Lanier, 1984). Narang (1990) is of the view that newly appointed teachers have more positive belief in their teaching skills than prospective teachers. According to Walker (1992) statement that “pre-service teachers may indeed have an unrealistic view, often bordering on overconfidence, about their ability to become effective teachers". However, research evidences the instability of these beliefs. Martin (1989) studied various levels of efficacy of prospective teachers during their professional education at various points and concluded that efficacy beliefs begin early in their education programs. Adams (1982) believed that pre-service teachers are more concerned with external issues and less concerned with self. Housego (1992) stated that a teacher can increase belief in his/her personal power but belief in the power of his/her teaching may be decreased. Pigge and Marso (1990) explored pre-service teachers, gradually, by developing a positive attitude about their effectiveness and found them to become more concerned with their students. Positive changes in efficacy levels may be one aspect of young novice teachers so it is important that majority of young teachers should remain in their teaching profession. Metz (1986) believes that young novice teachers in search of teaching jobs need to develop and carry out helpful teaching skills in addition to their desire or disposition for this profession. An understanding of fluctuation of professional efficacy with self-evaluation and experience has many potential uses and may be applied specifically for both in-service and pre-service teacher education.

15 2.3.3 Professional Self-Efficacy Theory An influential intrinsic factor of one’s professional self-efficacy refers to own beliefs about “one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required managing prospective situations (Bandura, 1995). Self-efficacy theory is based on the belief that people’s actions and decisions are based on their own expectations and self-imposed standards rather than others’ desires or directives. The teacher’s belief commonly referred to as teacher professional self-efficacy is based on his/her belief that he possesses the ability to influence all students’ learning and achievement although they may be considered unmotivated and difficult. One’s thought process and behavior are controlled by his/her “self-system”. This “self-system” allows him to exercise control, to some extent, for all their actions because information-processing model of early cognitive science conceptualized the mind as a computational device which manipulated abstract symbols (Newell & Simon, 1972). In contrast, people perceive and encode features of their physical and social environments heavily mediated through self-process(Bandura, 1993). Pajares (1996a) described self-system as being comprised of “one’s cognitive and affective structures and includes the ability to symbolize, learn from others, plan alternative strategies, regulate one’s own behavior, and engage in self-reflection.” Self-efficacy has originated from the “self-system” which developed over time through experience (Bandura & Albert, 1997). Self-efficacy belief plays a significant role in determining how people motivate themselves, think, and then ultimately act. Highly self-efficacious people do not worry about the amount of stress experienced in challenging situations. They visualize successful scenarios during planning the course of action (Landino & Owen, 1988). Self-efficacy beliefs of people increase their capabilities in engaging themselves in tasks that they consider feasible. Thus, according to Bandura’s theory

16 of triadic reciprocal causation, individuals are both “products and producers of their motivation, their respective environments, and their behaviors” (Stajkovic & Luthans, 2003, p.126). 2.3.4 Self-Efficacy Research in Education Settings In the educational scenario, self-efficacy is largely based on its established link to teacher behaviors and student achievement (Pajares, 1996a; Tschannen- Moran & Hoy, 2007). For example, Gibson and Dembo (1984) found that low self-efficacy is associated with individualized instruction and critiquing students whereas high self-efficacy of teacher is associated with group-oriented instruction with supportive behaviors. Builmahn and Young (1982) stated that teachers’ beliefs and attitudes influence performance of their students and affect their own teaching practices. Krows (1999) stated that many teacher education institutions emphasized on teacher beliefs as they have significant impact on teachers’ classroom behaviors. Therefore, one of the purposes of their teacher training programs is to improve their student teachers’ attitude and beliefs about teaching-learning process. A few institutions, explicitly, attempt to influence teachers’ attitude and beliefs about their teaching methods and their models of student learning. Some teacher education programs attempt to strengthen teachers’ self-related beliefs regarding teaching. However, in this case, the effectiveness of teacher education programs is based on teachers’ initial beliefs and beliefs that they developed throughout their educational program (Krows, 1999). Therefore, it is important to emphasize on understanding the novice teachers’ beliefs about their teaching capability before going into the real classroom to perform specific competences.

17 Some researchers have studied teachers’ behaviors, student academic performance and teachers’ interactions with students during classroom instruction (Koth, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2008; Montague & Rinaldi, 2001; Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Wright, Giammarino, & Parad, 1986). Some researchers explored that teacher beliefs and practices can be used to predict students’ academic performance (Caprara, Barbaranelli, Steca, & Malone., 2006; Pianta, LaParo, Payne, Cox, & Bradley., 2002). Within Classroom, there has been found a positive association between teachers’ beliefs, classroom interactions, students’ academic success and teachers’ instructional practices (Koth et al., 2008; Mashburn, Pianta, Hamre, Downer, Barbarin, Bryant, Burchinal, Early & Howes, 2008; Caprara et.al, 2006; Pianta et al., 2002). Hamre and Pianta (2001) found that teacher shapes student’s experiences in school in addition to the role of teaching academic skills and students react to their relationships with their teachers based on this learnt experience. Students are more motivated to succeed if they recognize that they have positive and close relationship with teacher. Teacher provides opportunities for students to achieve their required activity level, provide behavioral support to form peer relations, teach communication and coping skills. 2.3.5 Self-Efficacy and Related Beliefs Self-efficacy beliefs of teachers differ psychometrically and conceptually from closely related constructs such as, self-concept, apparent control, and outcome expectations. Bandura (1986) drew the conceptual similarity between self-efficacy, academics, and outcome expectancies based on psychometric research on language achievement aspects of reading and writing. Mashburn et al., (2008) assessed self-efficacy as distinguished capability to perform language aspects of writing, reading and various activities, and outcome expectancies in terms of social pursuits, citizenship, family life, attaining various outcomes in employment, and

18 education. They explored that self-efficacy was a major predictor of language aspects of reading and writing achievements. Self-concept and self-efficacy are closest constructs. Selfconcept is self-descriptive construct that is based on self-knowledge and self-evaluative feelings (Marsh & Shavelson, 1985). Phenomenologist Rogers (1951) stated that self-concept is awareness of one’s self-esteem reactions to his/her self-perception, but self-belief may or may not relate to students’ academic performance (Wylie, 1968). Jersild (1954) stated that self-concept is “a composite of thought and feelings, which constitute a person’s awareness of his individual existence, conception of who he is and his feeling about his characteristics, qualities and properties”. Similarly, Comb and Snygg (1959) explored that how an individual behaves and what he thinks is largely based on his own concepts about him/herself and his/her abilities. Yenagi (2006) conducted a study and found that self-concept is significantly different between intellectually non-gifted and gifted groups. Sood (2006) examined and explored that high academic self-concept is strongly correlated with high achievement. Academic domain-specific self-concept measures emphasize the reactions of self-esteem through self-evaluative questions, such as “How good I am in Mathematics?". On the other hand, self-efficacy emphasizes entirely on expectations related to task-specific performance, such as “How certainly I can solve this question?” Therefore task-specific reactions are often correlated with future performance expectations and there is emergent data that, self-efficacy measures offer predictive advantages when a task is familiar and can be specified precisely although self-efficacy beliefs are correlated with domain-specific self-concepts, For example, Pajares and Miller (1994) found that math self-concept is less predictive of problem solving than math self-efficacy. Thus, in regression equations of self-concept and self-efficacy beliefs, self-efficacy beliefs exhibit validity discriminately by independently predicting future

19 academic achievement. Pajares (1996a) found that the productiveness of self-efficacy is a function of both their specificity and correspondence to a skill. Rotter (1966) stated that selfefficacy is closely associated with the construct, perceived control. Perceived control refers to expectation about whether outcomes are controlled by external forces or by one’s behavior. It is theorized that self-directed courses of action should be supported and directed by an internal locus of control. Locus-of-control is neither content domain nor task specific but refers to general beliefs about the externality or internality of causality. Smith (1989) found that self-efficacy did predict improvements in academic performance in highly self-anxious students who undergone intensive coping skills training program. In summary, measures of self-efficacy, conceptually are of distinguished validity in predicting a variety of academic outcomes along with closely associated constructs such as self-concept, outcome expectancies, and perceived control. 2.4 Academic Achievement There is no agreed upon definition of achievement due to its nature. In literature, achievement is synonymous to accomplishment, something successfully done or completed, ability, attainment, performance, proficiency, or skill. Crow and Crow (1969), defined “Academic achievement as the extent to which a learner is profiting from instructions in a given area of learning i.e., achievement is reflected by the extent to which skill or knowledge has been imparted to him”. Achievement, in simple words is, “something accomplished, as through great effort, skill, perseverance, or courage” (p.29). On the basis of students’ academic achievement, in developing countries, parents not only pass judgments about the schools and teachers but also rank them (Goddard, Hoy & Hoy,2000). Factors like location, gender, parental motivation, parental socioeconomic status, qualities of intake, age of the

20 school, and adequacy of human, material, physical and financial resources affects students’ achievement. Some factors like parental motivation has positive while some factors have negative effect on students’ academic performance 2.4.1 Achievement and Construct Representation In this highly competitive world, student’s academic achievement has become an index of his/her future. The most important goal of an educational process is academic achievement. This competency may be due to intellectual or nonintellectual variables. Achievement encompass from simple to complex experiments. Therefore achievement, at the experimental level, is referred to as knowledge representation, learning, or acquisition. This acquisition, sometimes depends on theoretical biases (Pickens, 2010). In educational or psychometrics fields’ reference to a cognitive process, achievement is exemplified by the extent of conclusion required on the part of the student to give a response explicit in the measurement tool. Up to early 60’s usually achievement was viewed as students’ reproduction of declarative knowledge of basic facts. Very little reference was made to possible cognitive processes because it was thought that these basic facts were necessary to build further abstract rules (Hativa and Goodyear 2001). Usually complexity of inference was not required from the student. Although it is true that basic facts are necessary for abstract reasoning. Behaviorists are based on “programmed instruction” did not accept abstract processes in the way we do today. Cognitive psychology declared achievement as unobservable psychological process instead of the study of behavior. In cognitive psychology achievement means study of memory storage and its retrieval because achievement is a construct that shows different stages of knowledge acquisition. The achievement, as end product, is the knowledge in response to mental models built after practices over a long time. According to Hamre and

21 Hamre and Pianta (2001) vision of cognitive development plays a vital role in reasoning and knowledge acquisition. For a reasoning task and knowledge acquisition, individual has to integrate external knowledge and background. Consuming limited resources. Academic achievement is an important means during which learner learns about their competencies, talents, and abilities which are central part of developing career aspirations (Henson 2001). This stems from the fact that every person is expected to perform well in all cultures. 2.5 Teacher-Student Relationship, Academic Achievement and Self- Efficacy Some researchers have studied behaviors and interactions of both students and teachers in teaching-learning process in classrooms and student academic performance (Koth, et al., 2008; Montague & Rinaldi, 2001; Hamre & Pianta, 2001;Wright, et al, 1986) while some researchers examined teaching practices and teacher beliefs to predict academic performance of students (Caprara et al., 2006; Pianta, Steinberg, & Rollins, 1995). ).Within Classroom there is positive association between students’ academic success and teacher instructional practices, classroom interactions and teacher beliefs (Koth et al., 2008; Mashburn et al., 2008; Caprara et al., 2006; Pianta et al., 2002). Hamre and Pianta (2001) explored that student’s reaction in response to teachers’ relationship is based on student experiences shaped by the teacher in school in addition to teaching-learning process. If students perceive that they have close and positive relations with teacher, they are more motivated to succeed. Teacher provides opportunities for students to achieve their required activity level, provide behavioral support to form peer relations, teach communication skills, and teach coping skills.

22 Mashburn et al, (2008) studied that schools appointed same teachers who create strong teacher-student relationships to help the students improve their learning over time. Toste, Heath and Dallaire, (2010) recommended that such type of relationship is necessary and significant for students’ academic success. Students negate the overall negative experiences if they felt a strong mutual relationship with their teacher in the school (Toste et al., 2010). Cooke (2011) has explored that students show different and significant outcomes in school if they have positive and mutual teacher-student relationship experiences. Such type of relationship provided a common ground to teacher in order to guide, help, direct students and monitor students’ behavior (Pickens, 2010). Terry (2008) has the view that for most of the students a fundamental question ‘Does my teacher like me?’ is the best predictor of student’s achievement. Lenhart (2010) explored that there is a relationship between students’ learning scores and teacher pedagogical content knowledge. Norton (2013) studied that teachers must have confidence in their specific subject area to retain self-efficacy in a classroom. Ignat and Clipa (2010) self-efficacious teacher think they can do with their abilities in certain conditions in order to reach desirable objectives and according to Friedman (2000) teachers with low sense of self-efficacy, making them less confident in their ability to make a difference professionally as he/she perceive issues such as student mischief in a less controllable manner than those with a high sense of self-efficacy. Success or failure on specific tasks or feedback greatly impacts teachers’ self-efficacy. Teachers’ self-efficacy impacts not only students’ personality but students’ achievement in tremendous ways (Schunk, 2012). Bandura (1986) studied motivation, and phobias linked with self-efficacy concepts and explored that, individuals’ ideas and self-perceptions are products of their derivations from their interactions with their environments. Bandura and Albert (1977) refers to this as

23 “perceived self-efficacy” that effects self-determination and academic achievement. Ross (2001) explored a positive relationship between teacher efficacy and academic performance and similar relationship between teacher efficacy and working conditions. Milner (2002) states that efficacious teachers participate in peer coaching, team teaching, mentoring and interact more frequently with peer coaches and assumed a stronger role in school decision making. He also found a negative impact on efficacy when poor teachers receive job promotions and continues to decline till teachers believe that performance evaluations are not related to the actual work they do in their classrooms. Adediwura and Bada (2007) noted the effect of teachers’ knowledge, attitude and teaching skills on students’ academic performance of students of secondary schools in Nigeria. The study of Adediwura and Bada (2007) explored significant relationship between students’ academic performance and their perception about teachers’ knowledge of subject matter, attitude towards work and teaching skills. Allinder (1995) found that efficacious teachers set more audacious goals than their counterparts with lower teaching efficacy. Smylie (1996) explored positive relationship between teachers’ sincerity that student learning outcomes are strengthened by effective instruction and their teaching efficacy. Similarly, Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001) supported Smylie (1996) by noting that efficacious teachers are more likely to try new instructional strategies than the teachers with low teaching efficacy. Goddard (2002) claimed that faculties with collective efficacy have a positive effect on the students’ academic performance. In short, teachers who possess stronger perceptions of self-efficacy tend to persistence, enthusiasm, and confidence. Teachers having high self-efficacy show warmth and responsiveness to all students, especially those with lower academic abilities. Teachers with strong self-efficacy rely more heavily on their own judgments, motivation, self-

24 reflection, capability, experience rather than on the principal for guidance regarding the learning atmosphere. Teachers’ self-efficacy and perceived efficacy has a positive effect on students’ performance and achievement in the classroom (Akinsola, 2008; Ashton & Webb, 1986; Tracz & Gibson, 1986; Dembo & Gibson, 1985; Gibson & Dembo, 1984). According to Bandura (1997), “The task of creating learning environments, conducive to development of cognitive competencies rests heavily on the talents and self-efficacy of teachers” (p. 240). Moreover, learning environments the teacher’s ability to carry out certain actions that will result in a desired outcome. Efficacious teacher believes him or her ability to influence the choice of activities to complete the tasks when facing obstacles. Additionally, professional development of teachers impacts their efficacy when the acquired knowledge and skills are significant to the classroom situation by creating motivation to engage students in learning environment for a much greater time (Gibson & Dembo; 1984, Ashton & Webb, 1986). According to Dembo and Gibson (1985) personal teaching efficacy and teaching efficacy are two distinct dimensions of self-efficacy. Personal teaching efficacy (PTE) refers to teacher’s personal beliefs about the necessary skills and capability to improve student learning even with the most difficult or unmotivated students. On the other hand, teaching efficacy refers to beliefs about external factors such as home environment, socioeconomic status, stimulate improvement, teacher’s ability to bring about change or parental involvement beyond the teacher’s control because most of a students’ performance and motivation depends on his/her home environment. Gibson and Dembo (1984) identified teaching efficacy correspondence to Bandura’s outcome expectancy concept. Rural or small schools shave the potential to limit teachers’ teaching self-efficacy. Lack of materials and professional development opportunities keep teachers from maximizing their professional self–efficacy because such

25 factors contribute to rural or small school inequalities and potentially hold back teachers from meeting their maximum self-efficacy potential (Certo & Fox, 2002). A positive relationship has been identified between teacher efficacy and their students’ self-esteem, motivation, selfdirection and attitudes about school. According to Ross (2001) those teachers who reflect upon their impact by their beliefs and practices on student learning have a tendency to take responsibility for student academic performance and student learning outcomes because such teachers accept sole responsibility for students’ deficiencies in learning rather than blame environmental factors, such as limited English proficiency. Ross (2001), argued that efficacious teachers’ ability is acquired, rather than an innate trait towards students’ social development in terms of their classroom success. 2.6 Teachers’ Commitment and Teacher Performance of Secondary Schools To education researchers, the degree of teacher’s commitment is one of the most important aspects of the students’ performance and quality of school. Commitment is referred to as the degree of affective and positive bond between the teacher and the school rather than passive type of loyalty where teachers stay with their jobs, but are not really involved in their work. Teachers’ commitment reflects their degree of internal motivation, enthusiasm, and job satisfaction. It reflects teachers derive from teaching and the degree of efficacy and effectiveness they achieve in their jobs. To this effect, teacher commitment has been identified as the most critical but important factor for the future success of students and secondary schools in terms of their performance. Cheng (1993) has the view that committed teachers perform well and their ability to innovate and to integrate new ideas into their own practice has an important influence on students’ achievement and their attitudes toward achieving educational goals. Acom (2007) argues that cooperation, voluntarism, and belongingness are

26 significantly different from others in terms of being commitment drivers and this is the case in private secondary school also. Ejuu (2005) empirically report that there is no significant difference in self-esteem, an integral part of self-efficacy, among the male and female teachers in secondary schools in Uganda, but commitment as an important factor in teacher performance (Namutebi, 2006; Mutchler, 2005). 2.7 Factors Affecting Teachers’ Professional Self-Efficacy and Students’ Academic Achievement 2.7.1 Gender Researchers have suggested a beneficial relationship between teacher gender and achievement, especially for girls (UNESCO 2000). A recent UNESCO and advocacy brief (UNESCO 2006) argue in favor of hiring more female teachers in developing countries, and states that doing so will have two positive outcomes. Their presence will lead to an important in both girls’ enrolment and girls’ learning achievement. Large sample-based study in the US shows that those students who taught by woman perform better than those taught by man (While 2005). In accordance with Krieg, based on finding from the Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ), a recent UNESCO Education for All report notes that woman teachers have appositive effect on students’ achievement (UNESCO 2005). Similarly, a study from Pakistan (UNESCO 2000) finds that children in female teachers’ classrooms tend to perform better. Singer (1996) found the female teachers at the elementary level were more enthusiastic about committed to teaching than their male counterparts. Morris (2004) found that female elementary school teachers have more positive attitude towards teaching profession and this directly impact students’ performance while (2005) found elementary students learn best from female teachers. Marsh, Martin, and

27 Cheng (2008) found the gender of a teacher had no impact on student achievement at the middle and high-level schools. Students that had female teachers performed the same as students with male teachers. Other researchers have found no relationship between teachers’ gender and student outcome, for instance, Driessen (2007) found that teacher gender has no effect on student’s achievement. 2.7.2 Locality Ajayi (1988) found in his study a significant difference in academic achievement of students of urban and rural teachers. According to him location where schools are established have effect on students’ performance. He further concluded that academic performance of students must have been related with facilities allowed to urban schools and the same were not available in rural setup. Omisade (1985) also observed a positive relationship between location of schools and student’s performance in examination in Oyo State. He concluded that students of in urban area performed better in examination then students belonging to rural areas. Making a critical analysis of locational factor, Hallak (2007) pointed out that qualified teachers refuse appointment in isolated villages and this is indicated a common issue in rural areas schools. In the words of Adepoju (2001) he observed that teachers with higher training are posted to large cities. This and more other studies conducted on the variation in the quality of teachers in urban schools compared to those in rural are affect students’ academic achievement. More specifically in the developing county context, a UNESCO-sponsored study country (Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Pakistan) on female teachers in rural primary schools found that female teachers were perceived as more effective in earlier grades by administrators, children also saw them as more open and comfortable to interact with than male teachers (UNESCO 2000). From the review of literature on locational influence on

28 students’ performance are not same. Findings of various researches indicated that urban students perform better in examination whoever other found that students belonging to rural areas (in spite of all issues) perform better. Many of researchers claim that no such setup (rural or urban) can claim superiority over the other because their students’ performance is same (Owoeye- Joseph & yara, 2010). 2.7.3 Subjects Areas Traditionally the science subjects (including mathematics, physics, and chemistry information technology) have been perceived as a difficult subject, while conversely the areas subjects (including languages, art, humanities subjects such as history) consider as an easy subject at school level (Macinnes, 1998). Marsh et al., (2008) found students outperformed in science field as compared to arts subjects. These subjects include reading, mathematics and science. Whitehead (1996) has also explained the traditional perspective that it might be expected that those students who are weak in their studies would prefer arts subjects and intelligent students might opt for sciences, Epsiten, Elwood, Hey, & Maw (1998), found a significant difference in achievement score of students in science subject and humanities subjects. In his study he found that those students who belong to the science subject teachers achieved high score in physics and mathematics subject and on the other hand students of arts subjects’ teachers performed significantly better in verbal aptitude, English language. Teacher Efficacy for Instructional Strategies In the teaching profession, teacher’s content knowledge is first and foremost. A major aspect of a highly-qualified teacher is to be knowledgeable and competent in content of the subject taught i.e. Teachers must prove that they have sufficient subject knowledge of the subject they teach. Angela (2013) explored that lack of subject knowledge leads to