Teachers' self-efficacy beliefs in teaching food and nutrition subjects in Australian secondary schools
ISSN: 0965-4283
Article publication date: 15 February 2021
Issue publication date: 15 March 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Teachers play important roles in school food and nutrition education. This study aims to explore Australian teachers' self-efficacy beliefs (i.e. belief in their own capabilities to perform specific teaching tasks) in teaching secondary school food and nutrition-related subjects.
Design/methodology/approach
Teachers' overall self-efficacy beliefs in teaching these subjects (overall-SEB) and self-efficacy beliefs in teaching different food and nutrition-related topics (topics-SEB) were explored using a survey among 183 teachers in 2017. Principal components analysis derived three overall-SEB components: “Motivation and accommodation of individual differences”, “Classroom management” and “Communication and clarification” and three topics-SEB components: “Food system”, “Food and nutrition information” and “Food preparation”.
Findings
Overall, higher percentages of teachers were confident or very confident in the majority of items that loaded on “Classroom management” and “Communication and clarification” compared to “Motivation and accommodation of individual differences”. Moreover, higher percentages of teachers were confident or very confident about items that loaded on “Food and nutrition information” and “Food preparation” compared” to “Food system”. The overall-SEB and topics-SEB were higher among more experienced teachers. There were moderate positive correlations between overall-SEB and topics-SEB components.
Originality/value
The exploration of broader aspects of self-efficacy beliefs related to teaching secondary school food and nutrition-related subjects makes this study unique. The findings highlight that these teachers had high self-efficacy beliefs in teaching food and nutrition education, but there are gaps in tailoring the teaching process to meet the diverse needs of students and teaching broader food-related topics.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Ms Kay York, President HEIA and Nikki Boswell, HEIA for their support in recruiting teachers for this survey. They would also would like to thank Mrs Gail Boddy, ex-home economics teacher for providing constructive suggestions for improving the survey questionnaire and Prof. Donna Pendergast, Dean and Head, School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University, Australia for providing advice about the questionnaire content. The authors are also most grateful to the teachers who spent their valuable time in completing this survey. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.Funding: This work was supported by an internal grant from the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Australia.
Citation
Nanayakkara, J., Margerison, C. and Worsley, A. (2021), "Teachers' self-efficacy beliefs in teaching food and nutrition subjects in Australian secondary schools", Health Education, Vol. 121 No. 3, pp. 311-321. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-01-2021-0003
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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