Self-efficacy, stress and job satisfaction among pre-service, novice and experienced English teachers: a study of their occupational health

BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate English teachers' self cacy for student engagement, classroom management, structional strategies and literacy instruction, as well determine whether teacher stress and job satisfaction affect their occupational health (in terms of self-efficacy). In addition, this is one of the first studies to examine differences in self-efficacy among pre-service, novice experienced in-service teachers in a Chinese society, where English is positioned as a foreign language. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE 271 English teachers (90 pre-service, 181 in-service) mean teaching experience of 5.57 months for per-service and 98.51 months for in-service participated in this quan-titative research study. As the targets could not be proached randomly, the English teachers were approached individually though referral sampling, informing them the purpose of the study and obtaining their consent. RESULTS It was found that both pre-service and novice in-service teachers possess the lowest self-efficacy. Moreover, teach- ers' stress from the classroom predicted their self-efficacy for student engagement and classroom management nega- tively. On the other hand, teachers' job satisfaction predicts their self-efficacy for student engagement, instructional strategies and literacy instruction positively. CONCLUSIONS Implications (based on the findings) are discussed in order to provide insights for schools and education departments to strengthen the teachers' capability of teaching and their occupational health.