Journal International about Education

RELATION OF CHARACTER STRENGTHS TO PERSONAL TEACHING EFFICACY IN KOREAN SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS

A. Background Of Study

Many factors that may affect personal teaching efficacy (PTE) of special education teachers have been discovered. However, little is known about the relationship between character strengths (CS) and PTE in them. This study aimed to investigate CS in relation to PTE in Korean special education teachers. Character Strengths Test-Short Form (CST-SF) and Teacher Efficacy Scale-Personal (TES-P), respectively, assessed the CS and PTE of 111 Korean special education teachers. Results showed that four dimensions of the CST-SF (interpersonal, restraint, intellectual, and theological strengths) were significantly related to PTE, indicating that teachers with high CS were likely to experience greater PTE. Regression analysis indicated that the areas of interpersonal and restraint strengths significantly predicted PTE. The results have implications for the development of effective programs for special education teachers as well as the formalization of special education teacher recruitment policies.

B. Problem Question

1.     What Is Definition of Personal Teaching Efficacy (PTE)?

2.     How many factors that affected PTE?

3.     How important Character Strength in Teaching Profession?

C. Research Methodology

1. Participants

111 Korean special education teachers holding full-time positions in three schools participated on a voluntary basis; 27 males and 84 females, ranging in age from 23–59 years with a mean (SD) of 33.1 (7.30) years. The participants’ teaching experience in special education ranged from 1–29 years, with a mean of 6.8 years.

2. Measures

The Character Strengths Test is a well-performing, 240-item self-report questionnaire. The scale consists of 4-point Likert-style items for measurement of the degree to which respondents endorse each of the 24 strengths of character in the Values in Action (VIA) classification. Individuals are asked to report on the degree to which statements reflecting each of the strengths apply to themselves. Scales for the CST have satisfactory alphas (>.70) and test-retest correlation (>.70). The short form of the CST (CST-SF; Lim, 2012) was developed to preserve the coverage and structure of the full CST while reducing its length. Correlations between the CST- SF and the full-form primary scales were uniformly high (.80–.92). The internal consistency estimates for the CST-SF scales were also generally high, ranging from .72 to .84. When empirical factor analysis was performed for an assessment of the CST, a four-factor solution (interpersonal strengths, restraint strengths, intellectual strengths, and theological strengths) was found in the Korean population.

When assessing teachers’ efficacy, the Korean version of the teacher efficacy scale-Personal (K-TES-P) for special educators was used. The TES-P was developed by Gibson and Dembo (1984) for use with regular educators, a modified version of which was administered to participants in the current study. Each of the items rated from ‘strongly disagree’ (coded as 1) to ‘strongly agree’ (coded as 6). Although validity and reliability for the modified scale have not been established, the original version of the scale has demonstrated adequate discriminant and convergent validity, as well as internal consistency reliabilities for the TES-P. The internal consistency coefficient of the K-TES-P for the current study is .94.

3. Statistical Analysis

Firstly, bi-variate Pearson correlations were calculated between each pair of measures. Secondly, hierarchical regression analysis were conducted to evaluate whether CS primarily predicted PTE after controlling for gender, age, and years working. During the analysis, age, gender, and years working were entered in the first step and the four factors of the CS were added in the second step.

D. Result

1. Definitions Of  Personal Teaching Efficacy (PTE)

Personal teaching efficacy (PTE), which refers to the teachers’ belief in their ability to bring about change in students, and General teaching efficacy (GTE), which refers to the teachers’ belief that students can be taught despite external factors, such as their family environment. However, the concept of GTE has caused much controversy. The construct of teacher efficacy has a theoretical basis in Bandura’s (1977) concept of self-efficacy. It has been defined as teachers’ belief in his or her capabilities to influence how well students learn, even among those students who may be considered difficult or unmotivated. Several factor analysis revealed teacher efficacy to be bi-dimensional.

2. Factor Personal Teaching Efficacy (PTE)

Several factors that affected PTE fell into three categories:

1.     Environmental and contextual elements (for example, school level, school structure, teacher affiliation, lack of support from administrators or school leadership, and administrator turnover).

2.     Demographic factors such as age, gender, and years of experience.

3.     The teachers’ personality traits. Regarding the last category, extraversion predicts classroom management while conscientiousness predicts instructional strategies as well as student engagement.

3. Character Strength (CS)

Character strengths (CS) have been emerging as an important focus in the teaching profession. Definitions of CS have included pre-existing qualities that arise naturally, feel authentic, are intrinsically motivating to use, and energizing, thereby increasing the probability of healthy outcomes. Previous studies have shown that CS has a connection to personal, social, academic, and occupational functioning. For example, high CS is associated with efficiency in coping with problems and difficulties and with higher levels of subjective well-being.

There exists a positive relation between CS and the academic success of college students. Finally, deploying CS is related to job satisfaction and meaning at work. In the teaching profession, relevant evidence has indicated that CS seems to be one of the personality traits that potentially influence PTE. Although, these previous findings suggest that CS may play an important role in PTE, there have yet been studies that examined the relationship between CS and PTE in teachers. The present study aimed to clarify the associations between the CS and the PTE in special education teachers. Up until now, the focus of PTE research has been centered on general education.

Research indicates that teachers possessing a high degree of PTE are less likely to refer difficult-to-teach students to special education than teachers with a low degree of PTE. Also, research shows that special education teachers with a high PTE tend to spend more time and effort in planning, exhibit greater organization, provide clarity in their instruction, and have greater enthusiasm. Thus, the relationship between CS and PTE must be evident in special education teachers.

             Given the diverse psychosocial environments of schools and the multiple pathways   there for developing strengths, every CS dimension (interpersonal, restraint, intellectual, and theological) is likely to be positively related to PTE. In addition, on a basis of prior findings that conscientiousness and extraversion are the trait most commonly associated with teacher efficacy, the restraint and interpersonal strengths, the dimensions that correspond to conscientiousness and extraversion, might be highly related to the PTE