THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER SELF-EFFICACY AND THEIR TEACHING PRACTICES

The teacher's perception of their teaching self-efficacy includes a whole set of beliefs about their own ability to teach and to exert a positive effect on student learning. Several studies have concluded that teacher self-efficacy is linked to behaviours he/she shows in the classroom. In general, teachers with high self-efficacy beliefs show more openness to new ideas, establish a better climate of trust in the classroom, plan their lessons better, show more enthusiasm for teaching, and are more committed to their profession. In this paper we present the results of a study aimed at analysing teachers' beliefs about their teaching practices and study the influence they have on these variable beliefs such as years of professional experience or educational training, among others. We applied Prieto's College Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale [1], to 71 lecturers at the University of Deusto (Spain) and the Catholic University of Temuco (Chile). The results reveal that lecturers have a positive self-efficacy perception in the teaching dimensions analyzed and tend to act consistently with what they think in relation to their beliefs. With regard to the variables analyzed, nationality and teaching training showed significant differences in self-efficacy beliefs.