Teachers' Sense of Efficacy and Their Attitudes Towards the Use of Physical Punishment in Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether teachers' sense of efficacy influences their attitude towards the use of physical punishment in schools. There were two groups of participants in the study, pre-service and in-service early childhood teachers. The sample was made up of 78 in-service teachers from two different school districts and 61 pre-service teachers from a Midwestern university early childhood education preparation program. There were multiple significant findings in the study. It was found that the higher the overall teacher efficacy, the more frequently the participant was to agree with positive discipline practices and more likely to use appropriate classroom guidance techniques. However, overall referral to principal for negative discipline (corporal punishment) did not seem to be related to teacher efficacy, thus suggesting that teacher efficacy and teachers' attitude towards physical punishment are unrelated, and may be two different constructs.