Date of Award
5-2019
Document Type
Action Research Project
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Education
Department
Education, Montessori
First Advisor
Maggie McCaffrey
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to increase the self-efficacy of a first-year teacher, with a focus on increasing the subject’s comfort with the autonomy required of the position. The subject teaches in a Montessori classroom of preschool-aged children (designed for 3-6 year olds, serving 3 year olds) at a young school in an urban environment. This was done through interventions that focused on factors of vicarious experience and social persuasion, as informed by Albert Bandura’s research. Data was collected through surveys that measured self-efficacy, satisfaction with life and job satisfaction, and through daily physical, mental, and emotional scales. Written reflection was evaluated through charting positive, neutral, and negative language. Interventions resulted in a significant increase in self-efficacy, with the influence of social persuasion having the largest impact on all factors. Future research might consider collective efficacy’s connection to social persuasion, and how a novice teacher’s sensitivity to social persuasion and vicarious experience may shift towards other factors that influence efficacy, with greater work experience.
Recommended Citation
Trower, Lucy. (2019). Building Self-Efficacy as a First Year Primary Montessori Teacher. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/maed/307