Teachers' self-efficacy, personality, and teaching effectiveness: A meta-analysis

Considerable research has been conducted based on the assumption that teachers' psychological characteristics are associated with teaching effectiveness. However, the evidence for this assumption is limited: most research on the topic has been limited to investigations of the links between teachers' self-reported characteristics and other within-teacher, self-reported outcomes. The purpose of this study was to systematically analyze the research exploring two psychological characteristics (self-efficacy and personality) and measures of teaching effectiveness (evaluated teaching performance and student achievement). Analysis of 43 studies representing 9216 participants reveals a significant but small effect size of (r) over bar = .10 between overall psychological characteristics and teaching effectiveness. The strongest effect found was for self-efficacy on evaluated teaching performance ((r) over bar = .28). Implications for practice and future research are discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.