Taking a step towards understanding interactions between teacher efficacy in behavior management and the social learning environment: a two-level multilevel analysis

Behavior management in the classroom is well known for being a challenge and a source of stress for preservice and experienced teachers alike. This means it may not only impact teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, but teachers’ efficacy perceived by their students too, engendering effects on the social learning environment and vice-versa. This article aims at taking a step towards a better understanding of which aspects of the social learning environment preservice teachers and their students take into account when positioning themselves on behavior management efficacy. It then goes onto exploring how students’ perception of teacher efficacy in behavior management varies across classes and how it interacts with the social learning environment through a two-level model analysis. Results showed that the social learning environment’s dimensions are associated with the perception of teacher efficacy by students. On one hand, students perceive that efficacy in behavior management is linked to the social learning environment and therefore expect that an efficient teacher in this area will be able to create a healthy relationship with appropriate rules and class organization. On the other, when it comes to preservice teachers, findings seem to show the importance of the training program and how it supports self-efficacy beliefs throughout first teaching experiences as results go in the direction of confirming that these beliefs stabilize fairly early on, because unlike the students, the preservice teachers seem to take other aspects than the learning environment into account while evaluating their self-efficacy regarding behavior management. Finally, this research adds yet another element to the observation that effective behavior management within the classroom requires a positive relationship between teachers and their students. In addition, the way rules and organization are taken into account by students demonstrates the need for a proactive approach in which teachers’ expectations are clear.

     

Learning in multiple contexts: are there intra-, cross- and transcontextual effects on the learner’s motivation and help seeking?

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the majority of 15?C19-year olds follow vocational education programmes within a dual-track system, spending most of their time in a company and going to school only 1?day each week. With their separate aims, content and sociological organisation, the company and the school can be considered as two distinct contexts within which apprentices have to acquire the various skills and competencies of their future occupation. In this paper, the development of apprentices?? learning intentions and motivation to learn, subjective competence, perceived utility of what is learned and estimated learning place attractiveness (study 1) as well as their readiness to seek help in these different contexts over the year of training (study 2) is analysed using both longitudinal and cross-sectional data. The findings show significant differences in apprentices?? motivation, their beliefs and their readiness to seek help in the different contexts throughout the training. Moderate (cross-different contexts, same time) as well as transcontextual (different contexts, different times) influences can also be seen. These results emphasise the importance of a careful delimitation of contexts when studying the impact of contextual factors on learners?? motivation and behaviours; they also suggest that motivation within one of these contexts can indirectly affect the learner??s motivation within another of these contexts. It is therefore likely that, by using these various dynamics appropriately, educators might temporarily sustain learners?? motivation in an unappreciated context by having recourse to a better accepted one.