Development of a Pre-Service Teachers' Self-Efficacy Instrument Regarding Teacher Health Education Standards

BACKGROUNDWhereas many education programs expect students to use national standards in various content areas, few studies have been conducted that examine pre-service teachers' confidence in demonstrating their use of the professional teacher standards. PURPOSEThe purpose of this project was 2-fold: (1) To develop the Pre-service Health Education National Standards Self-efficacy (PHENSS) Scale; and (2) To establish the instrument's ability to draw inferences from PHENSS Scale scores. METHODSThe final instrument consisted of 29 items and 4 demographic items. Validation was established using qualitative and quantitative procedures. After the instrument had been validated, pre-service elementary education and pre-service secondary health education teachers were recruited to complete the instrument at 2 different times. RESULTSItems were grouped to form 7 subscales (a subscale for each standard) and were analyzed to determine test-retest reliability and internal consistency. All scales were found to be statistically significant (p.05). Cronbach's alpha for the 7 subscales ranged from .73 to .96, and =.94 for the entire instrument. CONCLUSIONThe instrument, which assessed self-efficacy toward implementing Professional Teacher Standards in Health Education, was found to be both valid and reliable.