Adapting the Teacher Responsibility Scale and the Teacher Efficacy Scale among in-service and pre-service teachers

Abstract

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Hungarian adaptations of Lauermann and Karabenick’s (2013) Teacher Responsibility Scale and Teacher Efficacy Scale among in-service and pre-service teachers. The two instruments have four sub-scales each of which focuses on the following areas: student motivation, student achievement, teacher-student relationship, efficacy of teaching. In-service teachers (n=166) completed the scales online, while pre-service teachers (n=121) completed paper-and-pencil versions. Validity was examined with the help of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis; the original factor structures were confirmed in both sub-samples. Reliability was adequate both in the sample of in-service (Cronbach’s α = 0.67–0.94) and pre-service teachers (Cronbach’s α = 0.69–0.88). For both questionnaires, the lowest mean scores were obtained for the student motivation and the student achievement sub-scales in both sub-samples, which is in line with international results. Two-sample t-test confirmed significant differences between the replies of in-service and that of pre-service teachers for the efficacy of teaching sub-scale of the Teacher Responsibility Scale and for the student achievement and the efficacy of teaching sub-scales of the Teacher Efficacy Scale. In all cases, higher mean scores were measured in the sample of pre-service teachers. Results confirm that the adapted instruments are suitable for measuring in-service and pre-service teachers’ sense of responsibility and self-efficacy, and may be used in further research as well as in pre-service and in-service teacher training courses.