How Social and Emotional Learning Beliefs Predict Efficacy and Engagement Beliefs in Practicing and Preservice Teachers

• Author / Creator

  Wagner, Amanda K

• The Prosocial Classroom Model posits teachers’ social emotional competence (SEC) at the forefront of the path that impacts healthy teacher/student relationships, effective classroom management, and effective social-emotional learning (SEL) implementation. Two studies, each using a predictive correlation design examined how teachers’ comfort with and commitment to SEL predicted their teaching efficacy and engagement, two factors conceptualized to contribute to effective classroom management. Study 1 examined practicing teachers and Study 2 focused on preservice teachers. Regression analyses revealed that comfort with SEL was a significant predictor for teaching efficacy and engagement for practicing teachers and predicted efficacy for preservice teachers. Commitment to SEL was a significant predictor for teaching engagement with practicing teachers. Independent samples t-tests revealed the two groups as significantly different with regards to their comfort with and commitment to SEL. Methods to increase teachers’ SEL beliefs, implications for practice, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Preservice teachers
  • Social emotional competence
  • Teaching efficacy beliefs
  • Teaching engagement beliefs
  • Social emotional learning

• Graduation date

  Fall 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3MG7G19H

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.