Autoeficácia docente e suas fontes em contextos educacionais inclusivos

Abstract

The overall objective of this thesis was to analyze the characteristics of teachers and the context and relate these aspects to sources of self-efficacy and teaching effectiveness in inclusive educational settings. To answer this objective, four studies were conducted, with different methodological designs, but thematically related. The first study aimed to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of The teacher's efficacy for inclusive practices (TEIP) for the Brazilian context. The TEIP is an instrument that contains 18 questions and is used to measure teacher self-efficacy for teaching in inclusive classrooms. Five methodological steps were carried out: translation, synthesis of translations, back translation, committee review, and pilot testing. The target audience of the pilot study consisted of 15 Basic Education teachers from the mesoregion of the state of Pará - Brazil. After all the evaluations, the scale proved to be easy to apply, with good levels of acceptance and understanding. The second study was carried out from a systematic literature review, and its objective was to describe, based on the theoretical assumptions of psychometric validation, the instruments used in research on teacher self-efficacy and educational inclusion. Articles were searched in the CAPES, ERIC and Scielo databases in the period between 2015 and 2019, from the search terms in Portuguese and English. The survey resulted in 20 articles, 14 of which presented instruments for measuring self-efficacy and educational inclusion. The results showed the predominance of instruments with psychometric style. This indicates the need to use a combination of instruments with different styles, quantitative (psychometric) and qualitative (impressionistic), allowing a broader look at the self-efficacy of teachers in inclusive educational settings. The third study investigated the relationship between sources of self-efficacy and variables related to teachers' characteristics and teaching context. A total of 193 basic education teachers participated, working in regular public, private, and confessional regular classes located in the cities of Belém and Castanhal - Pará, northern region of Brazil. The instruments for data collection were a characterization questionnaire and the Sources of Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (Efaed). The statistical analysis techniques involved in this study were Factor Analysis (FA) and Correspondence Analysis (ANCOR). The results indicated that the sources of self-efficacy associated with the variables age, gender, time in the teaching profession, and work with students targeted for special education were highly significant. Regarding the teaching context, teachers from state public schools showed low scores in each of the four sources of self-efficacy. The fourth study aimed to describe the association of teachers' self-efficacy in inclusive educational practices with variables of the teaching context and teachers' characteristics. A total of 193 basic education teachers of both genders participated in this research, 77.72% being female and 22.28% male. This sample was accessed in private, confessional and state public schools located in the cities of Belém and Castanhal - Pará. For data collection the instruments were applied: Characterization Questionnaire and the Scale of self-efficacy of teachers in inclusive educational practices. The techniques of data analysis were Factor Analysis (FA) and Correspondence Analysis (ANCOR). Among the results found, it was verified the associations between the variables investigated, which suggests that when judging their own ability in inclusive educational practices, the teacher considers some factors present in the context and in their teaching trajectory that exercises the pedagogical action. The results were discussed in the light of the Social Cognitive Theory. It is believed that investing in practical teacher training allied with theoretical training in inclusive education, as well as developing and/or strengthening teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and their sources for inclusive practices, can contribute to the improvement of teaching outcomes in the context of inclusive education.