Exploring predictors of teacher efficacy among elementary and secondary school teachers in Seoul using Sparse group lasso: focusing on differences across school levels

Teacher efficacy, a key factor in teacher professionalism, enhances both teachers’ intrinsic motivation and students’ academic achievement and school adjustment. However, the level of teacher efficacy in Korea is among the lowest in the world. In order to create conditions and provide policy support to increase teacher efficacy, this study categorized teacher efficacy into three subdomains: teaching strategies, life guidance, and learning motivation. It explored the predictors of each subdomain, distinguishing between elementary and secondary school teachers due to their different tasks and roles. To this end, we applied Sparse group lasso regression analysis, which explores predictors by considering both group and individual variable selection in a penalized regression model. We used data from the first year of the Seoul Teacher Longitudinal Study 2020. The results showed that the predictors of teacher efficacy varied by school level and sub-domain of teacher efficacy. Based on these findings, policy implications for improving teacher efficacy were proposed.