School Administrator Efficacy: Assessment of Beliefs About Knowledge and Skills for Successful School Leadership

Abstract

While facing challenges and crises in the leadership of schools, school administrators need to have three vital characteristics: up-to-date knowledge, relevant skills, and sound dispositions. Self-referent dispositions that refer to thoughts and feelings about one's knowledge and skills play a key role in the success of professionals in carrying out day-to-day activities. One self-referent construct is self-efficacy, which pertains to a person's confidence in their knowledge and skills. This chapter discusses social cognitive theory, in general, and self-efficacy, in particular, to describe how the self-efficacy construct is relevant to school administrators’ ability to lead schools.

Citation

McCollum, D.L. and Kajs, L.T. (2007), "School Administrator Efficacy: Assessment of Beliefs About Knowledge and Skills for Successful School Leadership", Donahoo, S. and Hunter, R.C. (Ed.) Teaching Leaders to Lead Teachers (Advances in Educational Administration, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 131-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3660(07)10008-1