Teachers’ Self-efficacy in Preventing and Intervening in School Bullying: a Systematic Review

Abstract

Self-efficacy, commonly seen as an important competence for teachers when intervening in bullying, is a heterogeneous construct. Differences in the specific kinds of self-efficacy under review, its assessment, theoretical foundations, and the samples used when researching it generate diverse results that can be hard to integrate. This systematic review surveys existing literature on the extent of teachers’ self-efficacy in managing bullying and its connection to the likelihood that teachers will intervene in bullying, to their intervention strategies, and the prevention measures they employ, as well as students’ bullying behavior and their experiences of victimization. Thirty-six relevant publications based on 33 studies were included. The quality of their results was assessed, and their findings were systematized and are discussed here. Many studies are of low quality because of incomplete descriptions of underlying theoretical as well as methodological foundations. Almost all results are based on descriptive study designs. Consistent findings show that teachers generally feel confident in managing bullying and that teachers who are more confident intervene more often. Findings were mixed on the connections between teachers’ self-efficacy and intervention strategies, and the prevention measures they used, as well as students’ bullying behavior and experiences of victimization. It was also discovered that the connections between teachers’ self-efficacy and their prevention measures, their students’ bullying behavior, and collective efficacy in general have rarely been addressed in the literature.

Evaluating Psychometric Properties of the New Teachers’ Perceptions of Collective Efficacy to Handle Bullying Scale (TCEB)

“…The positive correlation of TCEB with school climate and principal support, and its negative correlation with bullying rates provide evidence of concurrent validity of the scale. Overall, our findings align with previous research [34,43,[57][58][59], which suggests that teachers' collective efficacy to handle bullying impacts school functioning and student bullying behavior. Specifically, our findings indicate that the quality of school climate influences teachers' collective efficacy.…”

“…Previous studies suggest that collective teacher efficacy is an essential whole-school factor related to bullying [31][32][33][34][35][36][38][39][40]43]. However, this construct has been scarcely explored in bullying literature [31].…”

“…In specific, in bullying research, some studies found a negative association between teacher perception of collective efficacy in handling bullying and bullying rates [31][32][33]. A recent systematic review confirms that teachers' perception of collective efficacy is critical in explaining differences in bullying rates [34]. In this regard, some scholars argue that teachers' collective efficacy prevents bullying because it encourages defender teachers and defender students to intervene to stop bullying events [35,36].…”

“…Additionally, most collective efficacy scales to handle bullying have some theoretical inconsistencies with Bandura's theory. For instance, previous scales [34,40,43] measure abilities, locus of control, and willingness to intervene, instead of collective efficacy. Furthermore, some scholars [35,38], based on the Social Disorganization Theory [44,45] assess collective efficacy through the dimensions of social cohesion and social control (willingness to intervene for the shared goals).…”

Facilitating conditions for staff’s confidence to enforce school tobacco policies: qualitative analysis from seven European cities

“…Self-efficacy is also a core determinant in many behavioral theories [ 17 ], and essential for explaining teachers’ practices (e.g., [ 18 – 20 ]). For instance, a recent systematic review showed that teachers with higher self-efficacy intervened in bullying more often than teachers with lower self-efficacy [ 21 ]. Four sources are demonstrated to influence self-efficacy: having successfully performed the task previously, learning vicariously from observing others’ successful performances, being persuaded that one can perform the task, and reducing negative physiological and affective states associated with hesitation.…”