Investigation of the relationship between science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and sources of their self-efficacy: Tokat sample

In this research it has been aimed at examining the relationship betweenscience teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and sources of their self-efficacy. In this research quantitative research approach was employed, while comparative type relational survey method as a type ofdescriptivesurvey method was used. The target population of the research was composed of 155 science teachers who were in-service at state schools located at Tokatprovinceincludingcentral andArtova, Erbaa, Turhal, Pazar and Ziledistricts at 2018-2019 education year's autumn half term. As a data collection tool "Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale" developed by Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk (1998) and adapted to Turkish by Çapa, ÇakıroğluandSarıkaya (2005),and "Sources of Self-Efficacy Inventory" developed byKiefferand Henson (2000) and adapted to Turkish by Çapa-Aydın, Uzuntiryaki-Kondakçı, TemliandTarkın (2013) were used. At the analysis of the data; descriptive statistics containing mean, standarddeviation, minimum and maximum values were calculated in order to answer the research question "What is the level of science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and sources of their self-efficacy?" Pearson momentscorrelation quefficients were interpreted to answer the research question "Is there a significant relationship between science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and sources of their self-efficacy?"Independent samples t-test was appliedin orderto answer the research question "Do science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and sources of their self-efficacy vary according to gender?"Lastly, one way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) was run in order to answer the research question "Do science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and sources of their self-efficacy vary according to year of seniority?" Results of the analysis revealed that science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs were at the level of very sufficient for all sub-dimensions (efficacy for classroom management, efficacy for studentengagement, and efficacy for instructional strategies). Concerning science teachers' sources of self-efficacy, mastery experience and verbal persuasion dimensions were found at the level of generally true for me andvicarious experience dimension was found at the level of mostly true for me;while, physiological and emotional arousal dimension was found to be at the level of sometimes true for me. When the relationship among the dimensions of science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs' and sources of their self-efficacy were examined; the highest relationship was found between instructional strategies and mastery experience dimensions, while the lowest relationship came out at instructional strategies and physiological and emotional arousal dimensions. When the correlations among the dimensions of teachers' self-efficacybeliefs were examined; the highest correlation was found betweeninstructional strategies and studentengagement dimensions; while, the lowest relationship was found between classroom management and student participation dimensions. Finally, when the relationship between sub dimensions of "Sources of Self-Efficacy Inventory" is examined; the highest correlation was found between verbal persuasion and vicarious experience dimensions; while, the lowest correlation was found between physiological and emotional arousal and mastery experience dimensions. As a result of independent samples t-test which was done to test whether science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and sources of their self-efficacy vary by gender, no statistically significant difference was found between men and women. Similarly, results of one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA),which was run to find whether science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and sources of their self-efficacy vary by year of seniority, produced no significant difference among groups. At the end of this research, when the relationship between science teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and sources of their self-efficacywas examined, it wasfounded that therewas no statistically significant difference according to gender and year of seniority. For this result to be examined more detailed, a more in depth examination can be made by using qualitative research method including teachers having different gender and year of seniority. Moreover, research scope may not be limited with Tokat province, in-service science teachers working atmiddle schools in Black Sea Region may be reached and research findings can be compared. Keywords: Science education, teacher education, self-efficacy beliefs, sources of self-efficacy