Exploring Teacher and School Characteristics Affecting Teacher Efficacy

Using the 5th-year (2002) data from the Jeonnam Education Longitudinal Study (JELS), this study explored the teacher and school characteristics that influence teacher efficacy among middle school teachers. A two-level hierarchical linear model was applied to analyze hierarchical data from 560 teachers across 106 middle schools. The key findings are as follows: At the teacher level, factors such as gender, teaching experience, intrinsic motivation for entering the teaching profession, job satisfaction, participation in teacher study groups, teaching competency, student management competency, school facility conditions, and students' class preparedness significantly influenced teacher efficacy. At the school level, only parental support for education was found to significantly affect differences in teacher efficacy between schools. In contrast, variables such as the highest educational attainment, leadership roles, participation in professional training (e.g., curriculum, teaching methods, assessment methods, counseling), factors disrupting educational activities (e.g., preparing teaching materials, class size, student misbehavior, excessive parental involvement, administrative tasks), disadvantaged student populations, small schools, student internet and gaming addiction, private education expenses, principal through a recruitment process, principal instructional leadership, and school financial support from governments were not significantly related to teacher efficacy. Based on these findings, the study suggests promoting voluntary teacher study groups, strengthening parental education programs, enhancing school-family collaboration, and improving school facility environments to enhance teacher efficacy in middle schools.