Preservice Teachers’ Reflections on Their Teaching Self-Efficacy Changes for the First Professional Experience Placement

Oct 15, 2026

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Professional experience plays a vital role in the formation of teaching self-efficacy (TSE), shaping how preservice teachers interpret their ability to enact specific teaching tasks. This qualitative study examines how 18 preservice teachers described changes in their TSE during their first professional experience placement. Face-to-face interviews were analyzed in NVivo, showing most participants reported increases after placement completion. Three trajectories and variations across classroom management, student engagement, instruction, and flexibility emerged, with implications for targeted early support.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages16

Reading Time40 min

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Abstract

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Australian Journal of Teacher Education | Volume 46 Issue 10 | Article 4 | | --- | --- | | 2021
Preservice Teachers’ Reflections on Their Teaching Self-Efficacy Changes for the First Professional Experience Placement
Kang MA
Yancheng Teachers University
Michael S. Cavanagh Macquarie University
Anne McMaugh Macquarie University
Follow this and additional works at: [https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte)
Part of the Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, and the Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons | | Recommended Citation MA, K., Cavanagh, M. S., & McMaugh, A. (2021) . Preservice Teachers’ Reflections on Their Teaching SelfEfficacy Changes for the First Professional Experience Placement. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 46(10) . Retrieved from [https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss10/4](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss10/4) [This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.](This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.)[ ](This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.)[https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss10/4](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss10/4) Preservice Teachers’ Reflections on their Teaching Self-Efficacy Changes for the First Professional Experience Placement Kang Ma Yancheng Teachers University Anne McMaugh Michael Cavanagh Macquarie University Abstract: Professional experience plays a vital role in the formation of teaching self-eficacy (TSE), a construct which has attracted much attention from teacher education researchers. This study investigateshow 18 preservice teachers (PTs) reported changes in their TSEfor their first professional placement. Data were collected viaface-to-face interviews with each PT and analysed in NVivo. Results show the majority of interviewees reported an increase in their TSE after completing the placement. Also, three patterns ofindividual TSE change were identified: beginning with a low level ofTSE before quickly rising to a higher level at the end ofthe practice, experiencing growth from a medium starting level, and either decrease or increase from an initial high level ofTSE. Variations ofTSE in subdomains including classroom management, student engagement, instruction, and flexibility were also found. Teacher educators could facilitate PTs ’ TSE development by providing extra assistance at the beginning of their placements, especially with their classroom management skills. Introduction Teaching self-efficacy (TSE) refers to teachers’ personal beliefs about their ability to carry out specific teaching tasks. It has been positively correlated with teachers’ job satisfaction, professional commitment, and persistence in the face of adversities in teaching (Zee et al., 2018) . TSE could also influence students’ academic performance, either directly (Miller et al., 2017) or via influencing teachers’ behaviours (Lazarides et al., 2018); for example, highly self-efficacious teachers tend to teach complex content to students more frequently (Zee et al., 2018) . Cultivating robust TSE has been considered an important part of teacher education (Klassen & Durksen, 2014). The professional experience placement is the first authentic opportunity for preservice teachers (PTs) to teach in school contexts and has been claimed as the most vulnerable period for TSE (Hasselquist et al., 2017) . Professional experience placements are, therefore, important contexts in which to investigate changes of PTs’ TSE. The present study investigates changes in the TSE of a group of 18 PTs for their first professional experience placement. The study is qualitative and uses retrospective one-onone interviews, in contrast to the predominantly used pre-and post-measurements design of previous studies of TSE (Klassen & Durksen, 2014; Pfitzner-Eden, 2016) . Such a qualitative study is “vital …[for] charting how TSE beliefs change over time”(Wyatt, 2015, p. 140) and providing a “more compreh

FAQs

What does the study examine about preservice teachers during their first placement?

It investigates how 18 preservice teachers reported changes in their teaching self-efficacy (TSE) during their first professional experience placement.

How were data collected and analyzed?

Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with each preservice teacher and analyzed in NVivo.

What main patterns of TSE change were identified?

Most interviewees reported TSE increases after completing the placement, and three distinct individual change patterns were identified, including trajectories from low to higher levels, growth from medium levels, and either decrease or increase from an initial high level.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Franzy