The mediating role of self-efficacy on the relationship between high school teachers’ knowledge about homosexuality and their supportive behaviours for homosexual students
Cilj ovog istraţivanja bio je ispitati kakvo je znanje srednjoškolskih nastavnika o homoseksualnoj orijentaciji te istraţiti u kakvom su odnosu njihovo znanje, njihova samoefikasnost u radu s homoseksualnim učenicima i čestina uključivanja u podrţavajuća ponašanja. Ispitivanje je provedeno on-line upitnikom na 267 srednjoškolskih nastavnika metodom snjeţne grude. Koristili smo Skalu znanja o homoseksualnoj orijentaciji, Skalu samoefikasnosti u radu s homoseksualnim učenicima i Skalu podrţavajućih ponašanja. Rezultati pokazuju kako nastavnici imaju umjereno znanje o homoseksualnoj orijentaciji te su sigurni u neke ispravne odgovore, ali vrlo često odabiru odgovor „Ne znam“. Oni sudionici koje zanima dodatan edukativni materijal imali su i veće znanje i manji broj odgovora „Ne znam“ u odnosu na one koje nije zanimao edukativni materijal. Nadalje, znanje, samoefikasnost i podrţavajuća ponašanja meĎusobno su značajno pozitivno povezani. Što nastavnici imaju veće znanje o homoseksualnosti, češće se uključuju u podrţavajuća ponašanja za homoseksualne učenike, a ta je veza posredovana većom samoefikasnošću u podučavanju o homoseksualnim temama. Ovakvi rezultati ukazuju na vaţnu ulogu znanja i samoefikasnosti u čestini uključivanja u podrţavajuća ponašanja za homoseksualne učenike koji su tijekom srednje škole u vrlo ranjivoj fazi i potrebna im je socijalna podrška. Izloţene su i praktične implikacije i ograničenja ovog istraţivanja.The goal of this study was to examine high school teachers’ knowledge about homosexuality and determine if there is a relationship between said knowledge, self-efficacy and the frequency in which they display behaviors supportive for homosexual students. The study was conducted online on 267 participants, using a snowball method. We used the Knowledge of Homosexual Orientation Scale, the Self-efficacy in Working with Homosexual Students Scale and The Supportive Behaviors Scale.The results show that high school teachers’ knowledge about homosexual orientation is moderate. They are certain in their answers to some questions, but they also frequently tend to choose the “I don’t know” answer instead of the wrong one. Additionaly, the ones that chose to read the educational material at the end of the survey tended to have higher knowledge and less “I don’t know” answers to the questions. Furthermore, knowledge, self-efficacy and supportive behaviors are in a significant positive correlation. Teachers who demonstrated better knowledge about homoseksuality have also been more involved in supportive behaviors towards homosexual students, but that relationship is partly moderated by their greater self-efficacy .in teaching about homosexuality. These results show us that both knowledge and self-efficacy have an important role in how often high school teachers display supportive behaviors for homosexual students, who are very much in need of a social support. Limitations and practical implications are discussed
