Biology Teachers' Self-Efficacy In Regard To School-Based Curriculum Development

Concerns on teacher's self-efficacy in regard to school-based curriculum development (SBCD) should be a trend in teacher's self-efficacy (TSE) research and the need of teacher's professional development in the background of SBCD simultaneously.This study,adopted methods of questionnaire investigation and interview,aimed to survey and analysis the actuality and influential factors of biology teachers'self-efficacy in regard to SBCD in China.Based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory,combined with the particularity of biology curriculum and situation-analyzing of SBCD, the questionnaire named"biology teachers'self-efficacy in regard to SBCD"compiled in the study had 34 assignment-contexts of 6 components,including efficacy for environment analysis (EEA), efficacy for strategy participant (ESP),efficacy for support obtaining (ESO),efficacy for resource development (ERD),efficacy for curriculum development (ECD),and efficacy for overcoming difficulties(EOD).The questionnaire,omitting 3 assignments after factor-analysis,had good reliability and validity.The results showed that the investigated biology teachers'self-efficacy in regard to SBCD is low and lopsided in different areas,scores of EEA was the highest and ESO was the lowest.There was prominent difference in EOD and ECD between different areas but no prominent difference between teachers with different sex,grade,educational levels and professional post.Factors influenced biology teachers'self-efficacy in regard to SBCD mainly included outside of environments and inside of teachers themselves.The outside ones are support of school leaders and mechanism for encourage,the quality of students,accepting direct or substituting experience,interpersonal relations and pressure from eleven-plus.The inside ones are teachers'conventional concept of education,character,abilities,efforts,cognition of the necessary of SBCD,success belief,attribution as well as burnout.This was the first empirical research to the middle school biology teacher's self-efficacy in the background of SBCD in China.Teacher's self-efficacy in regard to SBCD and its latitudes first mentioned here was an extension of TSE research.At the end of the study,suggestions on how to upgrade the middle-school biology teachers'self-efficacy in regard to SBCD and the validity of SBCD in China were put forward.It needs the policy of SBCD carried out in word and deed,corresponding mechanism for encourage established,harmonious workshop built,teacher research advocated,developing curriculum in different arrangements to make the biology teachers in middle school be more self-assured and active in SBCD.