The Relationship Between Teacher Self-Efficacy and Principal Leadership Behaviors

More than 30 years ago, the concept of teacher efficacy, teachers’ confidence and belief in their ability to promote students’ learning (Protheroe, 2008), was first discussed as an imperative in educational outcomes. The impact of school leadership on teacher efficacy was soon discovered as a component to overall teacher effectiveness (Gallante, 2015). While many studies of each factor have been conducted in isolation, few studies have directly examined the relationship between teacher efficacy and principal leadership behaviors (Blase & Blase, 1999). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between principals’ leadership practices and teachers’ efficacy. In this mixed-methods study, 144 teacher participants from schools located in an urban school district responded to a 36-item survey instrument and participated in an interview to measure and assess teacher effectiveness and efficacy, as well as the leadership behaviors of their principals. The survey instrument administered to teachers included the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale—Short Form (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk-Hoy, 2001) combined with the Principal Leadership Questionnaire (Jantzi & Leithwood, 1996). Teacher participants completed this questionnaire to measure their respective principals’ leadership behaviors. Results revealed a statistically significant relationship between the teachers’ efficacy and principals’ leadership behaviors. These findings offer new insights to teachers, principals and other school leaders. Additionally, those who support principals will also gain new leadership practices to positively impact teacher efficacy.