“Collective teacher efficacy refers to a staff’s shared belief that through their collective action, they can positively influence student outcomes, including those who are disengaged and/or disadvantaged. Educators with high efficacy show greater effort and persistence, a willingness to try new teaching approaches, set more challenging goals.”
(Donohoo, 2017)
Efficacy is developed through four main sources of influence: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and affective states (Bandura,1994). Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE) develops when teachers have experiences that build their collective belief that they can have an impact across their school/district. When teachers believe that their collective efforts truly make a difference, student performance improves, confidence and commitment increase, and parent-teacher relationships are enhanced. According to John Hattie (2018), Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE) has an effect size of 1.57.
The focus of this module is to provide school and district leaders with a clear understanding of CTE, its powerful impact on student learning, and strategies they can use to establish and sustain Collective Teacher Efficacy. Through the experiences found in developing a) collaboration and social networks, b) teacher leadership, c) teacher voice in decision making, and d) collaborative teacher inquiry, school leaders can promote and sustain CTE.
Course Outcomes
District and building leaders will understand the following.
- What constitutes CTE
- The impact of high and low teacher efficacy
- Four sources of efficacy
- Mastery experience
- Vicarious experience
- Social persuasion
- Affective state
- How to develop CTE capacity by implementing the following.
- Providing opportunities for teachers to experience self-efficacy
- Creating opportunities for teachers to network and collaborate professionally
- Providing feedback to determine and evaluate impact
- Designing school structures and promoting professional development that support the development of teacher leadership
- Establishing a climate that values teacher voice in decision making
- Implementing supports that promote collaborative teacher inquiry
Reflective Questions
- Do all teachers at your school have a combined belief that they have a major impact on learning?
- Do teachers celebrate successes and encourage each other?
- What does teacher collaboration look like in your school/district?
- How are teacher leadership, teacher voice in decision making, and collaborative teacher inquiry facilitated in your school/district?
