University teachers' self-efficacy beliefs

This study aimed to provide insight into university teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and to deepen our understanding of its relation with teacher characteristics (e.g., years of experience, discipline and time spent on professional development activities). We investigated self-efficacy beliefs on six teaching domains. In a cross-sectional study 472 university teachers filled out a survey at the end of pursuing a professional development program. The UNIversity Teaching Self-efficacy Scale (UNITSS) instrument was established with an exploratory factor analysis, with reliability scores for the different domains ranging between .74 and .83. The six domains included in the instrument were: creating a positive learning climate, instruction/design, differentiation, student engagement, assessment, and professional development. Results revealed that university teachers felt most efficacious in instruction/design and creating a positive learning climate. Their scores on the other domains were slightly lower. Years of experience and participation in informal professional development activities were related to higher self-efficacy beliefs on all domains. We recommend researchers to investigate the potential to develop university teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and whether this leads to better teaching quality.