An investigation of science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs regarding the teaching of socioscientific issues

The aim of this study is to determine the self-efficacy beliefs of science field teachers (science, physics, chemistry, and biology) regarding the teaching of socioscientific issues (SSI) and to examine whether these beliefs differ significantly according to various variables (gender, age group, subject area, years of professional experience, type of school, educational level taught, educational background, and faculty of graduation). The study employed a descriptive survey model, and data were collected from a total of 227 teachers working across Turkey during the 2023–2024 academic year. The data were obtained using a scale developed by the researcher, which consists of a single-factor structure titled "Self-Efficacy for Teaching Socioscientific Issues." During the scale development process, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, and the reliability coefficient was calculated as Cronbach's Alpha =.975. Since the data did not show a normal distribution, non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H) were used in the analyses. The findings revealed that teachers' self-efficacy levels regarding SSI teaching were generally at a moderate level. This result highlights the need for in-service training and support mechanisms to enhance teachers' self-efficacy and thereby improve the quality of SSI teaching. According to the analysis by variables, a statistically significant difference was found only in terms of gender, in favor of female teachers. For other variables (age group, subject area, years of professional experience, type of school, educational level taught, educational background, and faculty of graduation), no statistically significant differences were found in self-efficacy levels.