Lecturers’ Pedagogical Strategies and Pre-service Teachers’ Teaching Self-Efficacy at Kyambogo University

Abstract

This research analysed how lecturers’ pedagogical strategies influence pre-service teachers’ teaching self-efficacy at Kyambogo University under the new lower secondary curriculum. The pedagogical strategies used by lecturers, examined in relation to teaching efficacy, were student-centred, namely support, collaboration, self-regulation, personalisation, and authentic teaching. Anchored in the positivist paradigm, a correlational research design was adopted, with a sample of 368 final-year pre-service teachers who had completed their initial school practice. Data was  collected through a structured questionnaire. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS was used to analyse the data. The analysis indicated that collaborative and self-regulated teaching strategies had a positive and significant influence on the criterion variable, whereas authentic teaching had a positive but insignificant influence. However, support teaching and personalised learning had a negative negligible influence. The conclusion was that collaborative and self-regulated learning, which positions learners as active agents through peer interaction, autonomous goal-setting, and reflective engagement, plays a particularly vital role in helping pre-service teachers internalise confidence in their teaching abilities. However, superficial and inconsistent use of supportive, personalised, and authentic learning strategies hinders their teaching efficacy. The study recommends that lecturers should actively employ collaborative and self-regulated teaching strategies. The study also recommends re-evaluating the use of supportive teaching and personalised learning in relation to pre-service teachers’ self
efficacy.