The importance of teachers’ beliefs has been demonstrated over many years of research. This work builds on the scholarship of psychologist Albert Bandura, who demonstrated that teams that believed in their potential to create change would end up with better results. In 2011, researcher Rachel Eells introduced the term collective teacher efficacy to the education space, and researcher John Hattie continues this work today, most notably in his book Visible Learning.

Collective teacher efficacy refers to the shared belief among a group of educators that they can influence student outcomes and increase achievement for all students. Research has demonstrated that this belief is one of the most influential factors in raising student achievement. As developed by Bandura, four major factors help in building self-efficacy. Applied to educators, these determinants are:

  • Mastery experiences – Having successful past experiences will boost a teacher’s sense of efficacy, while failures will erode it. This factor is the most powerful source of efficacy.
  • Vicarious experiences – Observing a peer teacher succeed at a task can strengthen beliefs in one’s own abilities: “If they can do it, so can I.”
  • Verbal persuasion – This takes place through credible communication and feedback to guide the educator through a task or motivate them to make their best effort.
  • Emotional and physiological states – A positive mood can boost one’s beliefs in self-efficacy, while anxiety can undermine it. Reducing stressful situations and lowering anxiety can help build self-efficacy.

To catalyze the movement from belief to behavior, AVID, the non-profit organization that I work for, has developed a common language and structure for establishing equity and access, based on a framework of actions known to accelerate success for all students.

We have found that once collective teacher efficacy is established, the next step is collective educator agency, where educators take action according to their shared beliefs.

In working with 8,000 schools in 47 states, we’ve learned that when educators believe in their ability to act and that their action will bring about the desired outcome, they become even more efficient and effective. With collective educator agency, they take intentional actions grounded in the belief that together, they can support all students in being academically successful. They are able to break down barriers, open access to essential learning experiences, and increase opportunity knowledge for all students.

This transformation begins with leaders at the site level and ideally expands to teachers and staff both within the school as well as across the system. For collective educator agency to take hold, schools don’t necessarily have to be organized into unified systems. However, beliefs, expectations, and actions among educators do need to be aligned first, with site and district leaders being integral to this happening on campus or within a district.

Read the full article about educator agency by Dr. Dennis Johnston at Getting Smart.