Abstract
This study’s goal was to examine the relationship between the personal capability beliefs of new elementary-level science teachers in Denmark and their teaching environments for their association with teaching success and science teacher retention. Results suggest that pre-service training can increase the self-efficacy of elementary teachers of science as they enter the profession. In addition, the higher the teacher’s assessments of their teaching environments were, the greater the positive changes in their self-efficacy were from pre-service until the end of their first year of teaching. Importantly, there is a positive relationship between these changes in self-efficacy during the first year of teaching and whether teachers continue to teach science. This knowledge may help identify new teachers who are more likely to drop teaching science from their teaching load and therefore enable schools to provide the support needed to ensure the viability and retention of new science teachers. The study encourages those who have found that higher teaching self-efficacies are associated with greater success
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References
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Andersen, A.M., Dragsted, S., Evans, R.H., SØrensen, H. (2007). The Relationship of Capability Beliefs and Teaching Environments of New Danish Elementary Teachers of Science to Teaching Success. In: Pintó, R., Couso, D. (eds) Contributions from Science Education Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5032-9_10
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