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Preservice teachers’ self-efficacy: predicting changes over the internship period through attributional styles and implicit theories of intelligence

Selbstwirksamkeitserwartungen von Lehramtsstudierenden: Vorhersage von Veränderungen während des Semesterpraktikums durch Attributionsmuster und implizite Intelligenztheorien

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Abstract

This study focuses on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and its development throughout the course of a school-internship. Based on previous findings, we expected that preservice teachers’ self-efficacy would increase during their internship. Moreover, we argued that this initial development of self-efficacy would be associated with the way the first teaching experiences are attributed to different causes as well as to preservice teachers’ implicit theories of intelligence. To this end, surveys with N = 162 German preservice teachers were conducted at the beginning and at the end of their 17-week internship. Results revealed an increase of self-efficacy throughout the course of the internship. Using a structural equation model, self-efficacy at the end of the internship was significantly predicted by self-efficacy at the beginning as well as by attributing successes to internal, stable, and controllable causes, but not by an incremental theory of intelligence. Implications for further research and teacher education are discussed.

Abstract

Diese Studie adressiert die Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung von Lehramtsstudierenden sowie ihre Entwicklung während des Semesterpraktikums. Basierend auf den Forschungsergebnissen vorheriger Studien wurde ein Anstieg der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung vermutet. Darüber hinaus wurde ein Zusammenhang dieser anfänglichen Entwicklung der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung mit den Attributionsmustern, mit welchen die ersten Unterrichtserfolge erklärt wurden, sowie den impliziten Intelligenztheorien der Studierenden erwartet. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Fragebogenerhebungen mit N = 162 Lehramtsstudierenden aus Deutschland zu Beginn und am Ende ihres 17-wöchigen Schulpraktikums durchgeführt. Dabei zeigte sich ein Anstieg der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung über den Praktikumszeitraum. In einem Strukturgleichungsmodell wurde die Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung am Ende des Praktikums signifikant von der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung zu Beginn des Praktikums sowie von der Attribuierung von Erfolgen auf internale, stabile und kontrollierbare Ursachen vorhergesagt, nicht aber von einer veränderbaren Intelligenztheorie. Abschließend werden Implikationen für die weitere Forschung sowie die Lehrerbildung diskutiert.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychologisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Hauptstraße 47–51, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany

    Kathrin Ding &  Birgit Spinath

  2. Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft, Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg, Keplerstraße 87, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Carsten Rohlfs

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  1. Kathrin Ding
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Correspondence to Kathrin Ding.

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Ding, K., Rohlfs, C. & Spinath, B. Preservice teachers’ self-efficacy: predicting changes over the internship period through attributional styles and implicit theories of intelligence. Z f Bildungsforsch 9, 329–344 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s35834-019-00254-2

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