Constructing self-efficacy as a teacher: A Lesson Study Conducted among Preservice Student Teachers

Understanding how teachers’ self-efficacy develops during the early phases of becoming a teacher is important, since it has a great impact on motivation in decision-making situations, attitudes toward students, the selection of teaching strategies, and classroom management methods. The purpose of this research was to explore, through a lesson study cycle and its phases, how student teachers’ self-efficacy manifested in different stages of Finnish pre-service teachers’ mathematics practicums. The study aimed to answer the research question: “How does student teachers’ self-efficacy manifest in mathematics teaching practicums in different phases of the lesson study cycle?” Qualitative analysis focused on student teachers’ reflections on their self-efficacy as mathematics learners, their self-efficacy beliefs in reflective discussions, and their self-evaluation before and after their teaching practicums. The data analysis focused on how self-efficacy appeared in each phase of the lesson study cycle. The analysis was based on theory-led qualitative content analysis and analysis of teachers’ self-efficacy and methods, which led to an analytical framework derived from the lesson study. The findings suggested that student teachers’ self-efficacy develops first through goal setting and secondly through content competence overlapping with classroom management and perceptions of pupils’ competence. This research should help supervising teachers to understand the meaning of student-teacher self-efficacy and how student teachers’ self-efficacy can be supported and constructed in different competence areas and phases of teaching practicums.