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European Journal of Social Sciences Studies ISSN: 2501-8590 ISSN-L: 2501-8590 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/soc Volume 2 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1059115 TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHERS’ AGE AND INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES, CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT Jonida Leshai University of Shkodra, Albania Abstract: Recently self-efficacy studies focus on the educational context, with a particular focus on teacher profession. The main purpose of this study was to explore teachers’ selfefficacy beliefs with respect to age. All data were collected through Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk-Hoy, 2001). Participants in this study were located in three cities in Albania. The analysis of data was based on the response of 850 teachers. In terms of the three subdimensions of the self- efficacy scale, the results indicated that with age increases even self-efficacy in student engagement, in instruction strategies and in classroom management. Keywords: teachers, self–efficacy beliefs, age, instructional strategies, classroom management, student engagement 1. Introduction There are a number of factors that could affect the success of a school system, but the researchers suggest that teachers themselves are a very important contributor (Hattie, 2009). Therefore, such issues with regard to teacher self-efficacy beliefs have not only the goal to explore the relationship of these beliefs with different variables, but also suggest how to improve teachers’ performance in a way that it can impact on further success of the schools and in the educational system in general. Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 217 Jonida Lesha TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHERS’ AGE AND INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES, CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT The social cognitive theory of Bandura highlight the trend of triadic reciprocity between behaviour, the environment, and personal factors (including the emotional state, cognitive state and the physiological state of an individual), rejecting determinative concepts that emphasize that human behavior is influenced by particular factors. According to Bandura (1986), each of the three above mentioned factors can affect one another in two ways directions. Self-efficacy beliefs construct is suggested to influence the purpose of an individual, choices for different activities, and the determination to achieve something (Bandura, 1997). Bandura suggests that self-efficacy beliefs are formed through four main sources: 1. Mastery experiences that refers to experiences of performance; 2. Vicarious experiences that refers in to observing other models, and comparing with other people; 3. Verbal persuasion it refers to feedback about performance; 4. Physiological states which refers to emotional and biological states. In the field of education, the efficacy of a teacher can be conceived as an individual’s ability to plan, organize and carry out activities that aim at achieving educational goals (Slaavik & Slaavik, 2009). Other studies have defined the self-efficacy beliefs as the belief that the learners have in their own abilities, which subsequently results in the improvement of the results of the students (Tschannen-Moran &Hoy, 2002). According to Bandura 997 , teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs are linked not only with the ability to achieve successful teaching but also their effectiveness is in some cases determined by the efficacy in classroom management where learning can occur, where the resources are ranked as it is needed, and where there is parental involvement in the academic activities. Various studies have concluded that teachers with high selfefficacy beliefs have a very positive impact both in the classroom setting and in pupils. Teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs affect not only the teacher’s strategies Allinder, 994 , teacher’s goals Mujis & Reynolds, but also teachers’ attitudes towards change. From the literature review on the age –related effect of teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, there are many studies that have come to conclusions that are different from each other. Bandura (1995) suggested that age may not be related to self-efficacy because people differ from how they manage their lives. However, other research has found that age influences the levels of self-efficacy that a teacher experiences. Ghanizadeh and Moafian (2009) found that the older the teachers are, the higher is their confidence in self-efficacy, and this study investigated the relationship between selfefficacy scores and pedagogical success. Another research found that teachers who are young have stronger self-efficacy beliefs and more expectations (Edward& Robinson, 2012; Smit & Bosscher, 1998). Bandura (1994) acknowledged that age does not play a European Journal of Social Sciences Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 218 Jonida Lesha TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHERS’ AGE AND INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES, CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT role in self-efficacy, but his research indicates that there are differences in self-efficacy beliefs during the life of an individual by the period in which they are in their lives and how they manage the situations which they face during these periods. Each period of life brings with it a number of challenges. Success and failure during these periods shape the self-efficacy of people and cause such beliefs to grow or decrease at the same time. However, many researchers such as Hicks (2012), Jenks (2004) and TschannenMoran (2007) etc., have concluded that there is no statistically significant relationship between age and self-efficacy. However, it should be noted that empirical researches that study the relationship of teachers age and self-efficacy beliefs are not numerous. Also, there are a few studies in Albania that investigated the construct of self-efficacy beliefs. For viewing / downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/soc/index.php/EJSSS/article/view/251 . European Journal of Social Sciences Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 219