Teachers' and principals' sense of efficacy in elementary schools

In recent research on school improvement and effectiveness attention is paid to teachers' sense of efficacy. This research is focused on (a) teachers and (b) instructional tasks. Another restriction is that teachers' sense of efficacy is studied apart from the context in which it affects teacher behavior. This study introduces the Teachers' and Principals' Sense of Efficacy scale in pupil and school oriented tasks. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the context dependency of teachers' and principals' sense of efficacy. The central question is to what extent type of task and a staff member's position in the school organization are related to perceived self-efficacy. Besides, teachers' and principals' perceived school efficacy is introduced as ä context specific construct. In addition mediating effects of gender, work experience, and grade are analyzed. From the results it is concluded that the expansion of the sense of efficacy construct to principals as well as to school oriented tasks enhances its explanatory potential.