International Islamic University Malaysia’s (IIUM) Islamic Education Teacher Trainees’ Self-Efficacy during Teaching Practicum

Abstract

This sequential exploratory mixed-methods study explores the self-efficacy (SE) of Islamic Education (ISED) teacher trainees in three domains (i.e., curriculum design and implementation, teaching and classroom assessment) as they experienced a four-month teaching practicum at various schools in Malaysia. The survey sample comprised 56 ISED undergraduates, aged 21 to 30, who were in their final year of teacher training at the Kulliyyah of Education, IIUM. They completed a two-part Likert-type questionnaire with 23 items measuring their confidence levels in specific aspects of the three SE domains. The interview participants were four ISED trainees randomly selected from the survey sample. The survey data were analysed using descriptive statistics, while the interview data were scrutinised for recurring themes on trainees’ SE beliefs and teaching practicum challenges. Consistent with many previous studies, the results indicated high levels of self-efficacy among the ISED teacher trainees, particularly in technology usage (89.3%) and collaborating with colleagues and administrators (85.7%). Five broad areas of self-efficacy improvement were identified, namely higher-order teaching, differentiating instruction, classroom management, learning assessment and lesson evaluation. The study recommends the use of lesson study and increasing the contact hours for microteaching to further develop teacher trainees’ instructional competencies, thereby increasing their levels of self-efficacy in teaching ISED as a school subject.