A Quantitative, Cause-Comparative Design Study of Teacher Self-Efficacy Based on Classroom Environment and Professional Development

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative design study is to determine if there is a difference in teacher self-efficacy scores between teachers who participate in professional development on inclusion and teachers who do not participate in professional development on inclusion and to determine if there is a difference in teacher self-efficacy scores based on the classroom environment. Identifying teacher self-efficacy is important as it will help determine what teachers need professional development in to better serve students with disabilities. The researcher used the Teacher Sense of Efficacy (TSES) scale to identify teacher self-efficacy scores. A convenience sampling procedure was used to identify schoolteachers with at least one year of experience and the sample size consisted of 144 teachers. The statistical analysis procedure was a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to reveal if there was any statistical differences in teacher self-efficacy scores between teachers who participated in professional development on inclusion and to determine if there was any statistical differences in teacher self-efficacy scores based on the classroom environment. The results from the data analysis confirmed that the null hypothesis could be rejected as there was a statistically significant difference in teachers self-efficacy scores between teachers who participated in professional development on inclusion and teachers who did not participate in professional development on inclusion. The results from the data analysis also confirmed that the null hypothesis could be rejected as there was a statistically significant difference in teachers self-efficacy scores based on classroom environment. Future research is recommended to include a larger sample size, examination of other demographic factors, and a qualitative research type to explore teachers’ thoughts and feelings at a deeper level.