CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Rationale

Nowadays, when it comes to valuing student achievement and school overall

permanence, student engagement takes the limelight as a significant factor that

affects the two (Pappa, 2014). In fact, student engagement, which is defined as

the degree and quality of emotional and behavioral involvement in learning

activities, has been identified as a key element in student achievement (Persinski,

2015). Thus, along the years, there has been a conscious effort to positively

influence student motivation for student learning.Past and current literature,

however, connects the student engagement with teacher efficacy (Persinski,

2015).

Teacher efficacy is defined as the extent to which a teacher is confident

enough to his or her ability to promote students’ learning (Bandura, 1994).

According to Hattie (2012), teacher efficacy has the greatest impact on student

achievement—even higher than factors like teacher-student relationships, home

environment, or parental involvement.

A study maintained that teachers with a high sense of efficacy believe that

unmotivated students can be taught, given the extra effort and appropriate

techniques (Mojavezi & Tamiz, 2012). The same researchers contest that

self-efficacy has indeed a positive influence on students’ motivation and

achievement.

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 It has been observed, however, that teacher efficacy can be influenced by the

type of leadership their administrators have, particularly the transformational type

of leadership.

Transformational leadership is a leadership style in which leaders encourage,

inspire, and motivate employees to innovate and create change that will help

grow and shape the future success of the company (White, 2018). Similarly,

Anderson (n.d.) defines transformational leadership as a type of leadership

where a leader works with subordinates to identify needed change, create a

vision to guide change through inspiration, and execute the change in unison with

committed members of a group.

Previous research has found that transformational leadership contributes to

teacher outcomes, including teacher beliefs about their individual and collective

capacity and collaborative culture (Demir, 2008). On this note, it can be observed

that transformational leadership is a factor that influences teacher efficacy which,

according to research, affects student learning.

Despite the many studies conducted on the effect of teacher efficacy on

teachers and students, nothing has been conducted that explicitly defines the

relationship between teacher efficacy and student engagement, particularly in the

Philippine setting. Considering how research shows that teachers with a higher

sense of self-efficacy provided more support for student learning and created a

more positive classroom environment (“Best Teachers, n.d.”) and student

engagement has been identified as a key element in student achievement

(Persinski, 2015), the researcher finds the conduct of determining the significant

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relationship between teacher efficacy and student engagement and how the two

are influenced by transformational leadership a must. Moreover, the result of

this research can lead to a more significant pool of knowledge, especially under

the context of Philippine education on how to enhance the overall performance of

the country’s education.

Research Objective

This study seeks to identify the mediating effect of transformational

leadership in the relationship between teacher efficacy and student achievement.

Specifically, it seeks to:

1. Identify the level of the teacher efficacy of the Junior High School

Teachers of Cateel, Davao Oriental to:

1.1 Efficacy in student engagement

1.2 Efficacy in instructional strategies

1.3 Efficacy in classroom management

2. Measure the level of the engagement of the Junior High School students

of Cateel, Davao Oriental according to:

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

3. Determine the significant relationship between the following:

3.1 Teacher efficacy and transformational leadership

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 3.2 Transformational leadership and student engagement

3.3 Teacher efficacy and student engagement

4. Determine a mediating effect of transformational leadership on the

relationship between teacher efficacy and student engagement.

Hypothesis

The null hypothesis that is to be tested at 0.05 level of significance are:

Ho1: there is no significant relationship between teacher efficacy and

transformational leadership, transformational leadership and student

engagement, and teacher efficacy and student engagement.

Ho2: there is no mediating effect of transformational leadership on the

relationship between teacher efficacy and student engagement.

Review of Related Literature

This section provides a summary of studies and related literature that

highlights the discussion on transformational leadership, teacher efficacy, and

student engagement.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership plays an important role in promoting and

managing school development by influencing subordinates both directly and

indirectly (Demir, 2008).

Leithwood and co-researchers (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2006; Leithwood & Sun,

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2012) studied about transformational leadership in educational organizations,

built on the work of Bums and Bass. Leithwood (1994) used the transformational

and transactional leadership concepts to formulate the eight-dimension model for

establishing school goals, providing intellectual stimulation, demonstrating high

performance expectations, and developing structures to foster participation in

school decisions. This paradigm incorporates the following dimensions: (1)

developing a widely shared vision for the school, (2) Building consensus about

school goals and priorities, (3) holding high performance expectations, (4)

modeling behavior, (5) providing individualized support, (6) providing intellectual

stimulation, (7) building school culture and (8) building collaborative structures.

Each o f these dimensions are further described as follows:

Developing a widely shared vision for the school. Behaviors on the part of the

leader aimed at developing, articulating, and inspiring others with his or her vision

of the future.

Building consensus about school goals and priorities. Behaviors on the part

of the leader aimed at promoting cooperation among staff and assisting them to

work toward common goals.

Holding high performance expectations. Behaviors on the part of the leader

that demonstrates the leader’s expectation on staff as professionals and for high

performance.

Modeling behavior. Behaviors on the part of the leader that models good

professional practice.

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 Providing individualized support. Behaviors on the part o f the leader

indicates respect for staff and concern about their personal feeling and needs.

Providing intellectual stimulation. Behaviors on the part o f the leader that

challenges staff to re-examine some of the assumptions about their work and

rethink how it can be performed.

Building school culture. Behaviors on the part of the leader that aims at

developing school norms, values, beliefs and attitudes among staff and

promoting mutual caring and trust among staff.

Building collaborative structures. Behaviors on the part of the leader that

aims at providing opportunities for staff to participate in decision-making about

issues that affects them and to which their knowledge is crucial.

Principals with strong transformational leadership abilities can enable

teachers to feel more committed to school improvement and willing to be

innovative in their instructional practices. Marks and Printy's (2003) research

suggest that the difference between transformational and instructional leadership

is indistinct since each overlap, striving for the ultimate goal of improving

instruction for all students. They believe in a more integrated approach in which a

principal elicits high levels of commitment and professionalism from the teachers

and works interactively with teachers in a shared instructional leadership

capacity.

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Teachers Efficacy

Research shows that teachers with a higher sense of self-efficacy provided

more support for student learning and created a more positive classroom

environment (“Best Teachers, n.d.”).

Self-efficacy in education has seen an increase in empirical studies

conducted in an attempt to identify its effect. Teacher efficacy is defined by

Tschannen-Moran, Hoy, & Hoy (1998) as the degree of teacher belief that one

has the ability to effectively influence the academic performance and social

development of students within their classrooms, especially with those students

who are lacking in personal motivation or academic interest. In addition,

Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001) constructed a 24 items for assessing

three dimensions: (1) efficacy in student engagement, (2) efficacy in instructional

strategies, and (3) efficacy in classroom management. The Teachers’ Sense of

Efficacy Scale (TSES, Tshannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) was used to

measure teachers’ competence beliefs.

Teacher efficacy research began with the RAND Corporation studies in 1976.

Researchers for the RAND Corporation analyzed factors that contributed to

success in raising reading scores in selected Los Angeles minority schools. One

of the results of this study was the conclusion that a teacher’s sense of efficacy

had an effect on student achievement. The researchers determined that a

teacher’s sense of being able to reach or impact their students, as well as their

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commitment and morale, helped to determine how much children learn (Armor et

al., 1976; Tschannen-Moran, Hoy & Hoy, 1998).

Student Motivation

Nazar (2001) defiones motivation as moving or changing. On the other hand,

Najati, as cited by Hamjah (2010) defines motivation as a form of encouragement

or spiritual support. Similarly, Aqil, as mentioned by Hamjah (2010), states that

motivation is an inner drive and behavioral guidance based on physiological

factors, attitudes and ambitions to achieve something. Further, Zuccolo (2006)

explains that motivation is a form of encouragement that makes consistent

behavior clear to achieve a goal.

Baron (2004) explains that motivation is a process that results in an inner

drive to control behavior in achieving goals. Human behavior must be motivated,

and it is the motivation that drives people to make every effort to achieve the

greatest success and avoid failure (Ryckman, 2004).

Uno (2010) describes the important role of motivation in learning and learning,

namely: determining things that can be used as a learning booster, clarify the

learning objectives to be achieved, determine the range of control of learning

stimuli, determine learning diligence.

Theoretical Framework

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 This study is based on the theory of learning outcomes by Gagne. Gagne’s

theory states that learning is influenced by three main components, namely:

external conditions, internal conditions, and learning outcomes (Riswanto, 2017).

This conditions include teacher efficacy (Robih, Suratman, & Soesatyo, 2017),

student engagement (Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2008), and the type of leadership of

school leaders (Shatzer et al., 2013).

Conceptual Framework

Presented in Figure 1 is the conceptual framework of the study with the

following variables: teacher efficacy as the independent variable, student

engagement as the dependent variable, and transformational leadership as the

mediating variable.

To measure the efficacy of the Junior High School Teachers of Cateel

Vocational High School, the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) will be

utilized. The said scale contains 24 questions measuring three dimensions of

teachers’ efficacy: (1) efficacy in student engagement, (2) efficacy in instructional

strategies, and (3) efficacy in classroom management.

To gauge the principal’s transformational leadership, the Nature of School

Leadership Survey Questionnaire will be used. The Nature of School Leadership

Survey is composed of 50 questions intended to measure the eight dimensions of

principals’ transformational leadership: (1) developing a widely shared vision for

the school, (2) building consensus about school goals and priorities, (3) holding

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high performance expectations, (4) modeling behavior, (5) providing

individualized support, (6) providing intellectual stimulation, (7) building school

culture and (8) building collaborative structures, based on the transformational

leadership model as proposed by Leithwood (1994).

Mediating Variable

TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP

Path A Path B

TEACHER EFFICACY
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Path C

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework Showing the Variables of the Study

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 Developing a widely shared vision talks about behaviors on the part of the

leader aimed at developing, articulating, and inspiring others with his or her vision

of the future. Building consensus about school goals and priorities deals with

behaviors on the part of the leader aimed at promoting cooperation among staff

and assisting them to work toward common goals. Holding high performance

expectations are behaviors on the part of the leader that demonstrates the

leader’s expectation on staff as professionals and for high performance. Modeling

behavior deals about behaviors on the part of the leader that models good

professional practice.Providing individualized support talks about the behaviors

on the part of the leader indicates respect for staff and concern about their

personal feeling and needs. Providing intellectual stimulation are behaviors on

the part of the leader that challenges staff to re-examine some of the

assumptions about their work and rethink how it can be performed. Building

school culture points outs behaviors on the part of the leader that aims at

developing school norms, values, beliefs and attitudes among staff and

promoting mutual caring and trust among staff. Building collaborative structures

identifies behaviors on the part of the leader that aims at providing opportunities

for staff to participate in decision-making about issues that affects them and to

which their knowledge is crucial.

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Significance of the Study

This study hopes to identify whether transformational leadership significantly

related to teacher efficacy. This hopes to be hopeful to the learners, teachers,

and the administrators.

For the learners, this study will help them identify how factors such as the

leadership of the school’s administrators and the teachers’ efficacy can influence

their performance in school.

Moreover, through this study, the teachers will know for themselves how their

efficacy can affect student motivation which influences student learning.

Lastly, for the administrators, this study will help them determine how their

leadership style can affect their teachers’ efficacy and student motivation which

both consequently affect student learning. After all, it is the responsibility of a

school head to ensure effective learning for all students through the employment

of appropriate educational strategies.

Scope and Limitations

The study is a quantitative descriptive-correlational study where the

respondents will involve a total of 150 public Junior High School teachers of

Cateel, Davao Oriental which will be selected through stratified random sampling

technique. Three adapted questionnaires will be used to gather the data which

are subject to reliability and validity tests.

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