Social Constructivist Theory: Preservice Training for Teachers

According to South Wales Echo (2014),they received 26,000 calls from teachers struggling to cope. This indicated that teachers were stressed by rigorous academic targets, bad pupil behavior, and long working hours. In this effect, observations also revealed that students are well- equipped with theories but when face with classroom realities, emotional problems occur, thus, teaching performance is affected.

On the other hand, West Visayas State University has a reputation of producing high caliber educators. With this reputation, the Division of Special Education is also tasked to do its job by equipping students a strong pedagogical knowledge which does not end there, the field needs special educators who do not only understand the nature of students with disabilities but also one who can be self-efficacious that can quickly recover and maintain to be committed to their goals if setbacks occur (Schwarzer, 1994).

In adherence to this commitment, the subject Inclusive Education which covers teaching children with special needs in the general classes, exposed the preservice teachers to the reality of handling students with special needs. Inclusive education is offered to the fourth year BSPED and one of the requirements was to assist students with disability for ten hours. It is in this premise, that the researchers conceived this study to investigate if the course requirements given to the preservice teachers can help them become competent special educators in the future. Further, it is the belief of the researchers that self-efficacy should be developed while they have their preservice training because this will affect their future teaching competence.

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... (1999). Assessment of perceived general self-efficacy on the Internet: Data collection in cyberspace. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 12, 145-161.

Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized Self-Efficacy scale. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston, Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35-37). Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON.

We risk losing more teachers to stress. (2014, Mar 26). South Wales Echo. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1509935291?accountid=141440

Anastas, Jeane W. Research Design for Social Work and the Human Services. Chapter 5, Flexible Methods: Descriptive Research. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999; McNabb, Connie.Descriptive Research Methodologies. Powerpoint Presentation; Shuttleworth, Martyn. Descriptive Research Design, September 26, 2008. Explorable.com website.