The teacher efficacy construct and its relationship to attributional dimensions (causal attributions) and attributional style

Teacher efficacy has proven to be an important variable in the study of the educational climate and student achievement. Teacher efficacy is defined as a two-dimensional construct. The dimensions are a competency belief that one has the capacity to affect educational outcomes and an expectancy belief that teaching is effective. This paper attempts a better understanding of the construct of teacher efficacy by analyzing it through the framework of attributional theory and learned helplessness.; Attributional theory assigns causes to outcomes. According to Bernard Weiner's model, perceived causes of outcomes are ability(aptitude) which is defined as an internal-stable attribute, effort which is defined as an internal-unstable attribute, task difficulty which is defined as an external-stable attribute, and chance(luck) which is defined as an external-unstable attribute. Learned helplessness is a perception that outcomes are uncontrollable according to Martin Seligman.; This paper investigated the construct by using the responses from three questionnaires: Teacher Self-Efficacy Instrument(Hillman); Attributional Style Questionnaire (Peterson et al.); and the Teacher Efficacy Scale(Consortium on Chicago School Research).; The responses were statistically examined using a correlation, a biserial correlation, and multiple regression.; The findings were that both the efficacy and expectancy construct correlated negatively with the attribute of luck.; It was found that high levels of efficacy correlated with high levels of expectancy. A further finding was that efficacy and expectancy accounted for approximately 12% of the variance in each other.; Also found was a confounding of the variable of ability. Ability correlated significantly with effort, task difficulty, and luck. It was determined, therefore, that ability was interpreted equivocally by the respondents and not as a stable-internal variable.