Ontmoediging of overtuiging?

By means of multiple regression analyses this thesis investigates whether the presence of special needs students has effect on the degree of self-efficacy of teachers in regular secondary education. To test its ability to increase the self-efficacy of teachers the strategy of ‘Professional Capital’ by Hargreaves and Fullan (2013) is included as an interaction variable. For the quantitative research, data is obtained from the 2013 OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). Only data about Dutch institutions is used to gain insights on the effects of the newly implemented policy change ‘Passend Onderwijs’ in the educational system of the Netherlands. In this study, it is found that the self-efficacy of teachers increases when the percentages of special needs students in classes rise. Additional qualitative research reveals that teachers gain self-efficacy when they can differentiate their classes between a group of ‘normal students’ and a group of special needs students. Another statement describes a reversed causality; teachers with a high self-efficacy rate more often get classes with a substantial percentage of special need students. Concerning the indicators of professional capital, all three have a significant effect on the self-efficacy of teachers. As interaction variables, only decisional capital has a significant moderating effect. Qualitative research confirms these results as explaining decisional capital has the biggest effect of all the three indicators of professional capital, due to the enormous gain in self-efficacy of teachers when they make the right decisions directed to special need students. Overall these findings indicate that in this study the positive effect of all three indicators of professional capital on the self-efficacy of teachers who have special needs students in their class cannot be justified.