Teacher and school predictors of middle school educators’ self-efficacy for instructing in culturally diverse classrooms

Abstract

Despite increasing student diversity in U.S. schools, there is a dearth of large-scale quantitative research revealing predictors of teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching in culturally diverse (CD) classrooms. This study addresses this gap by identifying key predictors of U.S. middle school educators’ CD teaching self-efficacy using large-scale multi-site data from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). We analyzed unweighted responses from 2,560 teachers across 165 schools using mixed-effects multilevel modeling. Survey items reflected teachers’ demographics, professional learning experiences, beliefs, and school-level diversity practices. Final results indicated that educators’ teaching experience, percentage of English learners (ELs), in-service training focused on culturally diverse (CD) learners, frequency of collaborative professional learning, CD-focused teaching preparation, CD-specific professional development (PD) need, and school’s diversity practices significantly predicted CD teaching self-efficacy. Except for teaching experience and PD need, all significant predictors showed positive associations with the outcome. Findings suggest that fostering CD teaching self-efficacy may require more than general teaching support, which should be equally given to educators, regardless of teaching experience and number of ELs taught. Further, sustained CD-focused in-service PD, collaborative professional learning, and school’s diversity practices are crucial. This study concludes with important implications for research, practice, and policy.