Preschool teachers’ self-efficacy belief in managing preschoolers in large class sizes

Abstract:

The purpose of the study was to examine how preschool teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs help in managing preschoolers in large class size. The study was based on the pragmatism paradigm where concurrent triangulation mixed method design was used to analyzed data simultaneously. At the quantitative phase, the research adapted Gay and Deihli (1992) way of determining the sample. Almost a quarter (24.6%) of the population which was equal to 216 was proportionately shared among the three (3) metropolises. In the qualitative phase, 12 preschool teachers who were supervising more than sixty (60) preschoolers in classroom from the study areas were purposively sampled. The study revealed that trained or untrained preschool teachers with self-efficacy does not guarantee their ability to manage preschoolers in large class size. However, it was also asserted teachers with high a self-efficacy belief is able use defense mechanism to help manage preschoolers in large class size.

Keywords: Preschool Teachers, Self-Efficacy Belief, Preschoolers, Large Class Size, Ghana, Early Childhood Education.