Self-efficacy beliefs among prospective teachers about inclusive geography education: Examining the relationships of general and geography-specific beliefs using structural equation modelling

Abstract Against the background of inclusion, teachers' self-efficacy beliefs about inclusive education are particularly relevant to the implementation of inclusive teaching. The present study focuses on how general and subject-specific (in this case geography-specific) constructs influence the self-efficacy beliefs of prospective geography teachers about inclusive geography teaching. A survey of prospective geography teachers measured self-efficacy beliefs about inclusive geography teaching (SEB-IGT), beliefs about inclusive geography teaching (B-IGT), general self-efficacy beliefs about teaching (SEB-T), and general attitudes towards inclusive education (A-IE). Assumptions regarding the relationships between the SEB-IGT and the other constructs under consideration were conceptualized theoretically and empirically. Structural equation modelling was utilized to assess the hypothesized impacts on the SEB-IGT. The findings revealed that the geography-specific B-IGT exerts the strongest positive effect on the SEB-IGT. It follows that the subject-specific constructs under consideration exert a more important influence on the geography- and inclusion-related SEB-IGT than the more general constructs.