The effects of professional development experience on teacher self-efficacy: analysis of an international dataset using Bayesian multilevel models

This research investigates the relationship between professional development experience and teacher self-efficacy in the United States, using an international dataset, TALIS: 2013. Based on social cognitive theories and adult learning theories, this research hypothesizes that teacher self-efficacy can be enhanced by learning experience by participating in PD. To analyze the data, Bayesian Hierarchical Linear Modeling is used with a prior distribution derived from the results of analysis of international dataset. This study finds that more PD experience was significantly associated with an increased teacher self-efficacy, even after controlling for important individual and school-level characteristics. However, these associations do not hold for the most common types of PD, such as courses/workshops and conferences/seminars. In addition, rural school teachers are more likely to benefits from PD than teachers in large cities. Finally, factors of effective PD and policy implications are discussed.