efficient if situated in teachers’daily practice, and“in concert with good quality
materials may be the most efficient method for mitigating elementary teachers’lack
of academic preparation in science”(p. 1151).
In his pioneer work into self-efficacy beliefs, Bandura ( 1997 ) identified four
sources that can influence and/or these beliefs: mastery experience, for example,
successful teaching episodes in the past which are direct results of the individual’s
own effort and abilities; vicarious experience, like observing a mentor or teaching
colleague successfully accomplish a task; social (or verbal) experience, such as
feedback from others that praises and acknowledges an individual’s teaching per-
formance; and physiological states, for example, feelings of excitement or antici-
pation that are aroused by the prospect of a teaching activity. The instances above
denote positive influences and are likely to build high levels of self-efficacy—the
converse, when such experiences are a negative influence, is likely to result in low
self-efficacy beliefs. Bandura ( 1997 ) thought that enactive mastery was the most
influential source because it provided the most convincing evidence for the indi-
vidual that he/she could succeed or not at the task. The more successful this
experience, the more likely the person will repeat or extend the experience and each
successive proficient performance is confirmatory and becomes a new source of
self-efficacy—a cycle of self-reinforcement.
With this understanding Velthius et al. ( 2015 ) advocate professional develop-
ment that includes opportunities for primary teachers to gain experience from all
four of Bandura’s sources of influence, as they are coached and assisted during
implementation of what they have learned to their own classrooms. Their
school-based strategy, featuring a teacher design team (TDT) comprising three
teachers with varying levels of experience and interest, showed promising increases
in the teachers’self-efficacy, especially where support of implementation by the
expert facilitator resulted in authentic task-specific mastery experiences. A TDT is a
group of teachers collaborating together to design and enact classroom programmes
from a common science curriculum. Expectations are that the teachers themselves
lead the changes, make the necessary connections between the reform intentions
and their own practices in their classrooms, develop and use new curriculum
materials to influence teacher practice and ultimately engage in curriculum rede-
velopment school-wide. Teacher interaction and work in the team is expected to
contribute to their professional learning by raising their awareness of diverse
pedagogical approaches, deepening their science content knowledge and changing
the way they interact which contributes to organisational levels at the
school-cultural and school-structural levels. Velthius et al. ( 2015 ) noted the teachers
in their study learned only the science knowledge and pedagogy needed to improve
their own practice—their learning was highly contextual. The expert facilitator at
times acted as a trigger causing teachers to reflect on their practice from another
perspective or maintain their focus, and for some teaching when necessary.
54 Conquering Content: A Key to Promoting... 801