Teacher self-efficacy: validating a new measurement scale to capture the elusive construct

Stuart Woodcock; Nelly Tournaki; John Ehrich

doi:10.1002/berj.4163

Teacher self-efficacy: validating a new measurement scale to capture the elusive construct

Stuart Woodcock^*, Nelly Tournaki, John Ehrich

^*Corresponding author for this work

Macquarie School of Education

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Teachers’ beliefs in their ability to positively impact students’ learning outcomes has become a strong indicator of teachers’ motivation and behaviour towards the instructional strategies they employ. However, measuring the broader concept of teacher self-efficacy is still somewhat problematic as current scales are dated, have measurement problems, and are not theoretically sound. This paper proposes a new theoretically and rigorously developed scale of teacher self-efficacy that meets current teaching standards and is validated and tested through two phases. This new teacher self-efficacy scale will hopefully greatly facilitate and advance this elusive theoretical construct.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2229-2255
Number of pages	27
Journal	British Educational Research Journal
Volume	51
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4163
Publication status	Published - Oct 2025

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

measurement
social cognitive theory
teacher beliefs
teacher self-efficacy

Access to Document

10.1002/berj.4163Licence: CC BY-NC

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 696 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

@article{b6bffce7eb6b45089b6df269d452b016,

title = "Teacher self-efficacy: validating a new measurement scale to capture the elusive construct",

abstract = "Teachers{\textquoteright} beliefs in their ability to positively impact students{\textquoteright} learning outcomes has become a strong indicator of teachers{\textquoteright} motivation and behaviour towards the instructional strategies they employ. However, measuring the broader concept of teacher self-efficacy is still somewhat problematic as current scales are dated, have measurement problems, and are not theoretically sound. This paper proposes a new theoretically and rigorously developed scale of teacher self-efficacy that meets current teaching standards and is validated and tested through two phases. This new teacher self-efficacy scale will hopefully greatly facilitate and advance this elusive theoretical construct.",

keywords = "measurement, social cognitive theory, teacher beliefs, teacher self-efficacy",

author = "Stuart Woodcock and Nelly Tournaki and John Ehrich",

note = "Copyright the Author(s) 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.",

year = "2025",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1002/berj.4163",

language = "English",

volume = "51",

pages = "2229--2255",

journal = "British Educational Research Journal",

issn = "0141-1926",

publisher = "Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Teacher self-efficacy

T2 - validating a new measurement scale to capture the elusive construct

AU - Woodcock, Stuart

AU - Tournaki, Nelly

AU - Ehrich, John

N1 - Copyright the Author(s) 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2025/10

Y1 - 2025/10

N2 - Teachers’ beliefs in their ability to positively impact students’ learning outcomes has become a strong indicator of teachers’ motivation and behaviour towards the instructional strategies they employ. However, measuring the broader concept of teacher self-efficacy is still somewhat problematic as current scales are dated, have measurement problems, and are not theoretically sound. This paper proposes a new theoretically and rigorously developed scale of teacher self-efficacy that meets current teaching standards and is validated and tested through two phases. This new teacher self-efficacy scale will hopefully greatly facilitate and advance this elusive theoretical construct.

AB - Teachers’ beliefs in their ability to positively impact students’ learning outcomes has become a strong indicator of teachers’ motivation and behaviour towards the instructional strategies they employ. However, measuring the broader concept of teacher self-efficacy is still somewhat problematic as current scales are dated, have measurement problems, and are not theoretically sound. This paper proposes a new theoretically and rigorously developed scale of teacher self-efficacy that meets current teaching standards and is validated and tested through two phases. This new teacher self-efficacy scale will hopefully greatly facilitate and advance this elusive theoretical construct.

KW - measurement

KW - social cognitive theory

KW - teacher beliefs

KW - teacher self-efficacy

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105002119203

U2 - 10.1002/berj.4163

DO - 10.1002/berj.4163

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105002119203

SN - 0141-1926

VL - 51

SP - 2229

EP - 2255

JO - British Educational Research Journal

JF - British Educational Research Journal

IS - 5

ER -

Teacher self-efficacy: validating a new measurement scale to capture the elusive construct

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this