The science teaching efficacy belief instruments (STEBI A and B): A comprehensive review of methods and findings from 25 years of science education research

The state of science education is currently undergoing transformation. Students’ science interest and achievement levels are waning despite the increasing importance of scientific literacy. Globalisation and technological advancement have raised the bar for employment. Therefore it has become imperative to assess the existing body of science education research. Science education, like all forms of education, is innately difficult to evaluate as achievement outcomes are difficult to quantify and variables remain complicated to account for and control. Amidst a plethora of measures, teacher efficacy has been shown to have positive relationships with teacher resilience, reported use of student centred teaching strategies and student outcomes. The Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instruments A and B (STEBI-A/ STEBI-B) were published 25 years ago as valid and reliable measures of the science teaching efficacy of both pre-service and in-service teachers. Both instruments have become pillars in science education research with a combined citation rate of over 1,400. The value of the STEBI instruments cannot be overstated as both allow for research comparisons across teaching contexts (in-service and pre-service), historical contexts (25 years of research) and national contexts (more than 10 contributing nations). The purpose of this Springer Brief is to provide a comprehensive review of the both the STEBI methods and findings through the use of a clearly defined analytic framework. A systematic review of literature yielded 107 STEBI-A research items and 140 STEBI-B research items. The STEBI instruments have been used in a wide range of qualitative, cross sectional, longitudinal and experimental designs. Analysis of the findings of the papers reveal that in-service and pre-service programs that use innovative practices such as cooperative learning, inquiry based investigation and nature of science instruction can produce positive growth in participants’ science teaching efficacy beliefs. The personal science teaching efficacy beliefs of pre-service and in-service teachers showed greater mean scores and higher growth than their outcome expectancies. The implications of the findings in this review are discussed fully in the article.