What kind of individual support activities in interventions foster pre-service and beginning teachers’ self-efficacy? A meta-analysis

During the early stages of the teaching profession, pre-service and beginning teachers often participate in individual support activities intended to develop their teacher self-efficacy. These individual support activities (modeling, feedback on lesson plans or lessons, and reflection) are provided as part of an intervention by a mentor, cooperating teacher, instructor, or supervisor. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the effectiveness of these interventions and the individual support activities for pre-service and beginning teachers’ self-efficacy. We found a medium-sized overall effect of interventions on teacher self-efficacy based on 28 studies (49 effect sizes) in our meta-analysis. Providing feedback on lesson plans amplified the intervention effect (large effect). However, this moderator effect slightly missed the significance level of .05. The moderator effect of providing feedback on lesson plans was stable after controlling for mastery experiences and methodological moderator variables. Implications for future interventions regarding teacher self-efficacy for early career teachers are discussed.