Exploring the Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Career Commitment among Early Career Agriculture Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in career commitment and perceived efficacy among early career agriculture teachers as well as the relationships between early career agriculture teachers’ perceived efficacy and career commitment. Five areas of selfefficacy were investigated among early career agriculture teachers in five western states: classroom management, instructional strategies, leadership of students, science teaching, and math teaching. Only small effects were found on four of the five self-efficacy variables based on years of teaching experience. Using multiple linear regression analysis, a predictive model for early career agriculture teachers’ career commitment was developed. The final model explained a total of 20% of the variance in early career agriculture teachers’ career commitment. Two areas of self-efficacy were identified as significantly related to early career teachers’ career commitment, teachers’ sense of efficacy in classroom management and science teaching. These findings implicate a need for increased emphasis on classroom management strategies and science teaching strategies throughout agriculture teacher development. Recommendations are made for potential self-efficacy building experiences based on Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy.