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Technology teachers’ teaching engineering self-efficacy: an investigation of Chinese high school general technology teachers

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Abstract

This study reports an investigation of the teaching engineering self-efficacy among Chinese high school general technology teachers. The teaching engineering self-efficacy scale (TESS) was the measurement tool. 557 qualified questionnaires were analyzed, and the results showed that: (1) TESS can be used to assess teaching engineering self-efficacy in the Chinese context after confirmatory factor analysis. (2) Technology teachers don’t really believe that they are capable of teaching engineering. Teachers are especially pessimistic about their ability in engineering pedagogical content knowledge. (3) There are school area differences in teaching engineering self-efficacy. Teachers’ teaching engineering self-efficacy in the town is the lowest. (4) There are training frequency differences in teaching engineering self-efficacy. Teachers who participated in more than 6 training events have higher teaching engineering self-efficacy than other teachers, and teachers with no training have the lowest teaching engineering self-efficacy. (5) There are educational level differences in teaching engineering self-efficacy. Teachers with a less than bachelor’s degree have the lowest teaching engineering self-efficacy, and teachers with a master’s degree have higher teaching engineering self-efficacy than teachers with a bachelor’s degree.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Education Science "14th Five-Year Plan" Annual Project of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (number GS017XKT2109) and the Startup Foundation for Introducing Talent of Nanjing University of Posts and Communications under Grant (number NYY221023).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210023, Jiangsu Province, China

    Yanyan Zhang

  2. School of Management, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210023, Jiangsu Province, China

    Du Ni

  3. School of Education Science, Nanjing Normal University, No.122 Ninghai Road, Gulou District, Nanjing, 210097, Jiangsu Province, China

    Jianjun Gu

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  1. Yanyan Zhang
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  2. Du Ni
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All authors contributed to the study conception, design and material preparation. The first author and the third author analyzed the data; all authors wrote the paper; all authors have approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Jianjun Gu.

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Zhang, Y., Ni, D. & Gu, J. Technology teachers’ teaching engineering self-efficacy: an investigation of Chinese high school general technology teachers. Int J Technol Des Educ 34, 673–690 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-023-09832-y

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