Professional Development for Character Education: An Evaluation of Teachers' Sense of Efficacy for Character Education

Y

18

Teacher Characteristics; Elementary Secondary Education; Personality; Teacher Certification; Teaching Experience; Professional Development; Values Education; Self Efficacy; Teacher Effectiveness; Measures (Individuals); School Districts; Student Attitudes; Teacher Attitudes; Scores; Institutional Characteristics; Preservice Teacher Education

1540-9392

Today's teachers and administrators must educate students for character. But, teachers are inconsistently prepared for this challenge. This descriptive study examined teachers' sense of efficacy for character education among pre-K-12 teachers based on their type of character education training. The Character Education Efficacy Belief Instrument (CEEBI) was used to collect data at a southwestern school district of more than 61,000 students and more than 3,500 teachers. By employing analyses of variance (ANOVAs), this study examined the relationship between the teachers' Personal Teaching Efficacy (PTE) and General Teaching Efficacy (GTE) scores and the following teacher characteristics: type of institution from which teacher certification was received, school setting, type of character education training received, and years of teaching experience. The results of this study offer opportunities to understand how to prepare teachers to become character educators. The implications of this study on character education, professional development, pre-service training, and future research are explored. (Contains 2 tables.)

As Provided

10

2012

EJ974354