Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Teaching during a Pandemic: A Survey of Hybrid and Virtual K-12 Teachers

The abrupt spread of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the quick closure of school buildings across the world in the Spring of 2020. With the pandemic still looming in the Fall of 2020, schools across the country were forced to continue offering virtual, or sometimes hybrid, modes of instruction. This quantitative study, rooted in Bandura's (1977) theoretical tenets of self-efficacy, surveyed teachers at the end of the 2020-2021 school year utilizing the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001). Participants in this research were required to have taught at least one course in a hybrid or virtual format during the 2020-2021 school year. This research examines teachers' perceived self-efficacy when teaching in hybrid or virtual formats during the pandemic, with a specific focus on the factors of student engagement, instruction, and classroom management. These three factors are related to one another, then overall efficacy beliefs are stratified between teachers' years of experience and grade levels taught. The findings indicate high positive significant correlations between all three factors of engagement, instruction, and management when compared to one another. The findings also show no statistically significant difference between the perceptions of novice and veteran teachers, and between elementary and high school teachers, when compared to each of the three factors. Of note are the relationships most close to statistically significant--between teachers' grade levels taught and their perceptions of their efficacy with student engagement. Most specifically, the relationships between grade levels taught and motivating students who show low interest in school work, helping students value learning, and assisting families in helping their children do well in school, resulted in the closest to statistically significant, and are analyzed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]