The social dimension of teaching: trust and teachers' efficacy beliefs

Educational research increasingly highlights teachers’ trust in other school members to support school functioning. Besides, teachers’ efficacy beliefs are considered to be crucial in their functioning. To enhance teachers’ effectiveness, an understanding of the sources of their efficacy beliefs is therefore vital. This study investigates whether teachers’ trust in students, parents, colleagues, and the principal relate differently to various facets of teachers’ efficacy beliefs. Multilevel analyses of data of 2091 teachers across a representative sample of 80 secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium) demonstrate different relationships between teachers’ trust in different reference groups at school and their sense of efficacy for instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement. Our results also indicate that teachers’ efficacy beliefs are not affected by characteristics of the school context, such as faculty trust. Our findings suggest that school policies that focus on trust-building could increase teacher effectiveness

Where is sociology in teacher efficacy research? The influence of the school composition

The last two decades, considerable research has been intrigued by the study of teacher efficacy and its influence on students’ motivation and achievement. Studies have indicated that teacher efficacy influences teachers’ effort to encounter classroom difficulties and the academic performances of students (Fackler & Malmberg, 2016). Since most authors use a pedagogical or psychological approach to investigate the concept of teacher efficacy, there is a lack of sociological research that handles this concept. A more sociological view can be clarifying as it is known that the school context affects both teachers and students (Fackler & Malmberg, 2016; Goddard & Goddard, 2001; Knoblauch & Hoy, 2008; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2017). Through pedagogical and psychological research, we know which teacher characteristics affect teacher efficacy, nevertheless, classroom or school characteristics are largely overlooked in studies on teacher efficacy (Knoblauch & Hoy, 2008; Labone, 2004; Yoon, 2002). Yet, school characteristics are easier to alter than teacher characteristics. Knoblauch and Hoy (2008) report that teachers’ sense of efficacy is not uniform across school settings. For example, teachers can feel more efficacious in calm, rural schools and less efficacious in dense urban schools (Knoblauch & Hoy, 2008). Fackler and Malmberg (2016) confirm that in teacher efficacy research, most of the unexplained variance is between schools. Those differences between schools are still a ‘black box’ and research concerning teacher efficacy is urging for more studies that include school characteristics. Goddard and Goddard (2001) believe that it is important to understand the relationship between several school contextual variables and teacher efficacy. So far, very few studies concerning teacher outcomes include external obstacles, such as the socioeconomic student composition of the school (Fackler & Malmberg, 2016; Van Houtte, 2011). Those contextual factors, and possible effects on teacher efficacy, obviously need further research. We already know that students are affected in several ways by the socioeconomic composition of the school (Sellström & Bremberg, 2006; Van Eycken, 2018), but we know little about how this composition can affect teachers and their self-efficacy. The socioeconomic composition seems a possible predictor of teacher efficacy in a few studies (Auwarter & Aruguete, 2008), where teachers in schools with a high proportion of low-SES students score lower on self-efficacy. The ethnic diversity of schools affects teacher efficacy as well, since teachers experience a more diverse classroom as more demanding (Knoblauch & Hoy, 2008). Other studies suggest that gender (composition) matters since low-efficacy feelings appear when teaching, especially, low-SES boys (Auwarter & Aruguete, 2008). Teaching mostly low-SES students has a negative effect on teacher efficacy and the effect will be even stronger when teaching mainly low-SES boys. Auwarter and Aruguete (2008) suggest an interaction between gender composition and socioeconomic composition for teachers’ sense of efficacy, and an interaction between socioeconomic composition and the individual SES of the teacher for their sense of efficacy as well, however, they only tested this for teacher expectations. Since not many studies have encountered compositional effects to analyze teacher efficacy, scholars are increasingly urging for more focus on composition, such as schools’ socioeconomic student composition and gender composition (Fackler & Malmberg, 2016). Moreover, teacher outcomes are often overlooked in research concerning effects of school composition (Van Houtte, 2011). In response to this gap, this study will combine individual teacher characteristics and school characteristics based on aggregated student characteristics. This study will focus on the effect of the socioeconomic student composition and gender composition on teacher efficacy, controlling for ethnic composition of the school. To reveal the influence of those contextual factors, a multilevel approach will be used

Trust in school: a pathway to inhibit teacher burnout?

Purpose: This paper considers trust as an important relational source in schools by exploring whether trust lowers teacher burnout. We examine how trust relationships with different school parties such as the principal relate to distinct dimensions of teacher burnout. We further analyze whether school-level trust additionally influences burnout. In doing this, we account for other teacher and school characteristics. Design: We use quantitative data gathered during the 2008-2009 school year from 673 teachers across 58 elementary schools in Flanders (i.e. the northern Dutch-speaking region of Belgium). Because teacher and school characteristics are simultaneously related to burnout, multilevel modeling is applied. Findings:. Trust can act as a buffer against teacher burnout. Teachers’ trust in students demonstrates the strongest association with burnout compared to trust in principals or colleagues. Exploring relationships of trust in distinct school parties with different burnout dimensions yield interesting additional insights such as the specific importance of teacher-principal trust for teachers’ emotional exhaustion. Burnout is further an individual teacher matter to which school-level factors are mainly unrelated. Implications: Principals fulfill an important role in inhibiting emotional exhaustion among teachers. They are advised to create a school atmosphere that is conducive for different kinds of trust relationships to develop. Actions to strengthen trust and inhibit teacher burnout are necessary, although further qualitative and longitudinal research is desirable. Originality/value: This paper offers a unique contribution by examining trust in different school parties as a relational buffer against teacher burnout. It indicates that principals can affect teacher burnout and prevent emotional exhaustion by nurturing trusting relationships in school

Does socio-economic disadvantage lead to acting out? A reinvigoration of an old question

Research into socio-economic determinants of school deviance is inconclusive. Recently, scholars argued that economic deprivation, rather than SES background, affects delinquency. Using multilevel analyses on data of 9,174 students across 111 schools in 4 European cities (2013-2014), we investigate the association of SES and economic deprivation with school-deviant behavior. Furthermore, we study the role of academic self-efficacy. Lower-SES and deprived students might perceive goal blockage with regard to study-related goals, leading to deviant coping – that is self-efficacy as mediator – or self-efficacy might condition SES and deprivation effects – that is self-efficacy as moderator. Results showed that deprivation relates to school-deviant behavior. This association was not mediated, nor moderated, by academic self-efficacy. The relationship with SES was moderated by academic self-efficacy. We conclude that deprived and lower SES-students are prone to break school rules, the latter more so when feeling less competent at reaching academic goals

Situating Ghent in the ISCY study: the implications of the Flemish tracking system for equity and excellence

Belgium occupies a distinct position in PISA 2012 scores. First, the Belgian educational system belongs to the international top in terms of performance. The top students in Belgium score second highest of all ISCY countries on mathematics. However, Belgian 15-year olds are also among the worst performing students on these tests, scoring only slightly better than students from France, Iceland, Norway, Spain, and USA. No wonder then, that Belgium has the highest level of inequality in achievement of all countries taking part in the ISCY-study, as shown by the spread on the PISA results. The aim of the current paper is to offer explanations for this peculiar position of Flanders by searching for system influences on student performance. First, we will discuss the specificities of the Flemish educational system. Thereafter, we will argue that the Flemish tracking system is one of the most important reasons for the existence of the large performance gap

Speaking Turkish in Belgian primary schools: teacher beliefs versus effective consequences

In this mixed-method study, we explore teachers’ beliefs concerning the use of the Turkish language by Turkish children in Belgian primary schools, and we compare these findings with the effective consequences of language maintenance. The qualitative analyses revealed thatteachers have very negative views about the use of the Turkish language, as they believe that speaking the mother tongue is detrimental to academic achievement. These adverse teacher beliefs are not only shaped by the assimilationist policy context in Belgium, but they are also (re)produced and reinforced by interactions between teachers and the Turkish middle-class. Nevertheless, the quantitative analyses with a data of 435 Turkish pupils in 48 schools have shown that there is no evidence that speaking Turkish, at home or at school, harms pupils’ academic achievement. However, the negative school culture about the Turkish language causes feelings of rejection and reduces the sense of school belonging for pupils who speak Turkish more frequently at schoo

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality