Teaching Efficacy: Unravelling Multidimensionality across Diverse Educational Contexts

Teaching efficacy plays a crucial role in both teacher and student outcomes. Despite its importance, there are issues with the measurement and statistical representation of teaching efficacy. This study evaluated several measurement models of teaching efficacy, identifying the bifactor exploratory structural equation model (B-ESEM) as the best-fitting solution. We assessed its measurement invariance across five countries (Brazil, Mainland China, Singapore, USA, and Slovenia) and examined its criterion validity with respect to job satisfaction with the environment and the profession. The B- ESEM demonstrated strong measurement invariance, confirming that teaching efficacy, as measured by both general (G) and specific (S) factors, is interpreted similarly across different cultural and linguistic contexts. This contrasts with prior studies which used traditional confirmatory factor analysis that found only weak or partial invariance, highlighting the advantages of using B-ESEM to eliminate country- level biases. Criterion validity results indicated that general (G) teaching efficacy was systematically positively linked with job satisfaction and there was one single S-factor that was linked with job satisfaction: efficacy for student engagement was positively associated with satisfaction with the work environment, but not with satisfaction with the profession. These findings offer implications for theoretical refinement and applied research. Future research should explore longitudinal designs and continue employing advanced statistical methods to reflect the multidimensional nature of teaching efficacy.