Secondary Sheltered Content Teachers’ Self-Efficacy: A Qualitative Case Study

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2023

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Public schools in the United States are becoming more diverse. Teacher self-efficacy affects abilities to accommodate instruction to teach diverse learners. The problem is the lack of understanding of secondary content teachers' self-efficacy when teaching English Learner (EL) students in a sheltered class when teachers have little or no training in instructing ELs. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceived self-efficacy of secondary content teachers who teach sheltered content courses for ELs and the type of professional development (PD) they need to improve their self-efficacy in the classroom. Leaders seek to develop PD to equip teachers with strategies to teach effectively. Providing teachers an opportunity to describe PD needed to improve self-efficacy when teaching sheltered courses helped to fill a gap in research literature. Bandura's self-efficacy theory and transformational leadership theory served as the research framework. In the study, 15 volunteer secondary content teachers teaching mainstream and sheltered classes in a Midwest suburban school district participated in an online questionnaire and in-person focus group to describe perceived self-efficacy and potential PD to improve self-efficacy in sheltered classrooms. The data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six steps to thematic analysis. Themes were identified using manual coding and include mainstream and sheltered preparedness, sheltered and mainstream rewards, and professional development. The study found secondary content teachers have lower self-efficacy when teaching sheltered classes to and seek support from administration through ongoing PD and sheltered teacher cohorts. Recommendations include school leaders providing continuous support and PD opportunities for content teachers teaching sheltered classes.

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