Based on research in the fields of SCT, particularly self-efficacy theory, the present study will examine the self-efficacy beliefs of RE teachers in relation to their
intrinsic spirituality, the implicit theories they hold about their students’ ability in RE, and the collective efficacy of their RE teams. The theoretical concepts are described below.
2.6.1 Self-efficacy for teaching RE.
Self-efficacy is defined as the belief in one’s capability to take the necessary steps and expend the necessary effort to complete a specific task (Bandura, 1977a). SCT, of which self-efficacy is a component, is a theoretical framework for
understanding human motivation and behaviour in terms of relationships between individuals, their cognitive processes and their environments. Wood and Bandura (1989, p. 362) argued “behaviour, cognitive, and other personal factors and environmental events operate as interacting determinants that influence each other bi-directionally”. Oman (2013) described the important role that SCT, in particular social learning and imitation, plays in the psychology of religion. He wrote that “social learning must be considered among the major candidates for explaining why and how people become spiritual or religious, and why their spirituality or religion assumes a particular form” (Oman, 2013, p. 187). Bandura (2003) used the term ‘spiritual modelling’, as an aspect of social learning, to identify the processes by which individuals may seek to imitate or embody the values and beliefs of a spiritual model. In the context of high school RE, teachers may be spiritual models (although not always). Arguably, in order to achieve the aims of RE, the stronger the self-efficacy of the RE teachers, the more likely students learn from their ‘spiritual models’, as the “task of creating learning
environments conducive to development of cognitive skills rests heavily on the talents and self-efficacy of teachers” (Bandura, 1997, p. 240).
Self-efficacy is specific for particular domains (Bandura, 1997). Self-efficacy for teaching RE is defined in the context of this research as the beliefs RE teachers hold about their capability to achieve the aims of the RE curriculum and bring about learning and growth in faith in their students.
By focusing on the role that cognition plays in motivation and behaviour, Bandura (1997) presented a model which hypothesised particular cognitive processes leading to self-efficacy beliefs. He identified four factors which can influence and shape self-efficacy. The first and most powerful of these is enactive mastery experience. Remembering and reflecting on previous successes (or failures) in a similar setting likely contributes to one’s belief in one’s capability to be successful in subsequent attempts. In RE classrooms, teachers are likely to have strong self-efficacy for teaching RE when they have experienced success and have attended to evidence that their efforts resulted in effective learning by students. RE teachers who experience difficulties in achieving their classroom goals may develop weak self-efficacy for teaching RE.
The second source of self-efficacy beliefs is vicarious experiences, or the
attending to another’s mastery (or lack of mastery) in goal directed behaviour (Bandura, 1997). When RE teachers observe another RE teacher of comparable ability teaching RE and experiencing success, they are likely to learn from the teacher’s modelling, reflect on what they have observed and anticipate being successful, too. Likewise, observing failure could affect self-efficacy beliefs.
The third source of self-efficacy beliefs in a specific domain is verbal or social persuasion (Bandura, 1997). As individuals attend to the messages given to them about the performance of a task, they likely shape their beliefs about their capabilities for that task. This can be in the form of feedback, encouragement, or discouragement.
Persuasion can be positive or negative and the strength of its effect is partly determined by the nature of the relationship between the ‘persuader’ and the person being
persuaded. It is conceivable that, in a team of RE teachers, the stories teachers tell about teaching success, about challenges and failures, likely have an impact on teachers’ individual beliefs about their capabilities to achieve the aims of the RE curriculum. In an RE team with a culture of mutual support and encouragement, with strong and
positive leadership, individual teachers likely develop their self-efficacy for teaching RE through verbal persuasion. Another source of persuasion in RE teaching may be the students themselves. Teachers of RE who attend to the feedback students give them about their experience of being taught RE will likely influence their beliefs about their capability, that is, their self-efficacy.
The fourth source of self-efficacy is physiological and emotional arousal (Bandura, 1997). The positive feelings that come with success may be expected to enhance the belief in one’s efficacy to perform that task in the future. Remembering the affect associated with a task, whether positive or negative, will likely reinforce the belief, positively or negatively, in one’s self-efficacy for that task. The affective arousal RE teachers may experience when receiving feedback from students about their learning and growth because of their intervention, or the joy they feel seeing children thrive in a learning experience will likely influence how self-efficacy beliefs develop for those teachers. Such arousal states may be expected to shape and reinforce strong schemas about success in relation to teachers’ efforts and may give rise to strong self-efficacy beliefs. When teachers experience arousal states associated with perceived failure in the RE classroom, it can also shape schemas about teaching RE and thus, self-efficacy for teaching RE.
Bandura (1997) explained that personal efficacy beliefs are “linked to distinct realms of functioning” and are “differentiated across major systems of expression within activity domains” (p. 36). The activity of teaching RE to high school students is a
complex pursuit made up of numerous subtasks which require a distinct, though overlapping, set of knowledge, skills and dispositions (Bandura, 1997). Individual teachers are likely to possess this set of knowledge, skills and dispositions to different degrees, thus giving rise to different beliefs about their self-efficacy in each of these tasks related to teaching RE. Further, the role of RE teacher, as defined by curriculum and church documents (e.g., Bishops of NSW and the ACT, 2007) requires RE teachers to be responsible for more than the delivery of curriculum. There are expectations that RE teachers will be responsible for the prayer, liturgy, social justice, retreats, and engagement with the local Catholic Church (e.g., Catholic Education Office Melbourne, 2005), and that the role of RE teacher carries with it a transcendental purpose. The Melbourne Catholic Diocese has defined the goal of RE as helping students achieve “a deepened relationship with God, right relationships with others, a greater love of the Church, and empowerment to work to create a just world” (Catholic Education
Melbourne, 2018, para. 2). The Diocese of Brisbane, in its RE policy, states that through “religious education centred on Communion, the young person will develop as a
member of the faith community”. Teaching RE is therefore complex and multifaceted, and there is likely to be a significant variation in the self-efficacy of teachers for teaching RE.
Bandura (1997) defined collective efficacy as the shared belief of members of a team of the capability of the team to achieve a goal. A team may be defined as two or more individuals who are interdependent in their tasks and identify as a team (Cohen & Bailey, 1997).
Collective efficacy can be mediated by group structure, the nature of the task, and the level of interdependence required of team members (Johnson, 2012). It is also significant that, in highly functioning teams, members generally attend to the
complementarity of their own skills and attributes with those of their team mates (Katz- Navon & Erez, 2005). Katz-Navon and Erez (2005) found that when tasks demanded high levels of cooperation, and a combined effort to coordinate skills, collective efficacy became more apparent and more easily distinguished from measures of individual self- efficacy, indicating the importance of task interdependence for the emergence of
collective efficacy. It is posited that the collective efficacy of the RE team will likely be related to the self-efficacy of individual RE teachers within that team, because the work of RE teachers is complex, and the coordination of learning in a high school requires teams to operate effectively, and with a shared purpose.
2.6.3 Implicit theories of ability in RE and faith.
Attribution beliefs are an important subset of cognition relating to self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997). Attribution theory (Hsieh & Kang, 2010; Weiner, 1985) posits that beliefs about the causes or sources of one’s successes and failures may affect future cognition about that type of achievement. By ascribing causal relationships
(attributions) between internal and external experiences and outcomes in goal related behaviours, individuals make assessments to explain reasons for success or failure.
Dweck (2002) and Hong, Chiu, Dweck, Lin, and Wan (1999) argued that individuals develop schemas about intelligence or other aptitudes, which are implicit or latent, and are built on the belief that intelligence or other personal attributes are either fixed or malleable (Dweck, 1975, 1986, 1991, 2000, 2002; Rattan, Good, & Dweck, 2012). These beliefs have been found to relate to motivation and achievement (Dweck, 2002). In an educational setting, Dweck (2002) found that teacher beliefs about whether ability and intelligence were fixed (entity) or malleable (incremental) affected student self-efficacy beliefs, students’ persistence, resilience in the face of failure, and their achievement. Dweck (2002) argued that implicit theories relate not only to intelligence, but also to any ability or aptitude, such as sporting ability, skill as a manager, musical ability or parenting. In such settings, teachers may develop schemas which determine, in part, whether they believe they have the capability to bring about change in themselves, or to influence change in their students, based on whether they believe the aptitude on which they are focusing, including RE ability or faith, is a fixed entity or malleable quality. Bandura (1997) has called self-efficacy the ‘exercise of control’; implicit theories are theories about whether aspects of nature or the environment are
controllable. It is likely, therefore, that implicit theories of RE teachers about whether they can effect change in their students will influence their self-efficacy beliefs.
2.6.4 Intrinsic spirituality.
Hodge (2003) built upon the earlier work of Allport and Ross (1967) and Hill and Pargament (2003) by developing a conceptual framework for the analysis of intrinsic spirituality. Hodge (2003) acknowledged that earlier measures were biased towards theistic definitions of religiosity and were grounded in a Protestant world view. In establishing the terms for a more generalisable construct of religious motivation,
Hodge replaced theistic language with spirituality. Hodge drew on the work of Cascio (1999, p. 130) who defined spirituality as “an ‘intrinsic phenomena [sic],’ as a personal, experiential connectedness with Transcendence or Ultimate Reality that is expressed in one’s beliefs and behaviours” (2003, p. 42). This is not dissimilar to Pargament’s (2013a) definition of spirituality as a ‘search for the sacred’. By building on earlier empirical research into religious motivation, the conceptualisation developed by Hodge focused on intrinsic spirituality as a motivator and sought to remove the duplication and bias of earlier models. Hodge’s (2003) model combines the strength of an empirically tested construct (Allport and Ross’s (1967) intrinsic-extrinsic religious orientation) with a conceptualisation of the “degree to which individuals find their ultimate purpose for life in their spirituality” (Hodge, 2003, p. 55). The model is applicable in an Australian, Catholic, educational context, as it focuses on whether individuals (in this case RE teachers) have spirituality as a broad yet primary motivator in their lives. This is in keeping with the work of Piedmont and Wilkins (2013, p. 180) who explained spirituality as representing “a fundamental, inherent quality of the individual. Such a construct is referred to as a motive”. In the Catholic school setting, intrinsic spirituality may be considered among the most important motives of professional teachers of RE.