Leadership Practices and Sense of Efficacy of Cooperating Teachers and Mathematics Self-Efficacy of Pre-Service Teachers

Abstract

Leadership is the process of influencing individuals in order to accomplish a specific goal or outcome. Since leadership is inherent in the roles and responsibilities of cooperating teachers, an understanding of their leadership practices and subsequent effects on pre-service teachers is needed. Self-efficacy judgments are based on different sources of information to produce more confident students. The belief in one’s own mathematical competence (skills and knowledge)is an important factor for being a successful problem solver. This study attempted to evaluate the relationship between the leadership practices and sense of efficacy of cooperating teachers and self-efficacy in Mathematics of pre-service teachers of Southern Luzon State University-Gumaca Campus. Specifically, it sought to determine the level of leadership practices of cooperating teachers; the level of mathematics self-efficacy of pre-service teachers along personal math teaching efficacy and math teaching outcome expectancy; the teacher sense of efficacy of cooperating teachers along student engagement, instructional strategies and classroom management; and the significant relationship between leadership behaviors of cooperating teachers and mathematics self-efficacy of pre-service teachers and between sense of efficacy of cooperating teachers and mathematics self-efficacy of pre-service teachers. This study used descriptive-correlational method of research. The questionnaire checklist was the main instrument adapted to determine the leadership practices of cooperating teachers and sense of efficacy and mathematics self-efficacy of pre-service teachers. The data for this study came from two groups of respondents: the 52 cooperating teachers for field study and practice teaching courses and all the 76 pre-service teachers. The statistical tools employed were Weighted Mean and Pearson r. Results revealed that cooperating teachers almost always practice their leadership skills and behaviors and that they have an average level of sense of efficacy; that the pre-service teachers agreed with their math self-efficacy; and that there was no significant relationship between leadership behaviors of cooperating teachers and mathematics self-efficacy of pre-service teachers and between sense of efficacy of cooperating teachers and mathematics self-efficacy of pre-service teachers.