Class- and subject teachers’ self-efficacy and emotional stability and students’ perceptions of the teacher–student relationship, classroom management, and classroom disruptions

Teacher self-efficacy and emotional stability are considered crucial resources for coping with classroom demands. We examined how class and subject teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and emotional stability are related to teachers' and students' perceptions of the teacher–student relationship, classroom management, and classroom disruptions. In a sample of eighty-two swiss german 5th and 6th grade classes, 1290 students, their class teacher (N = 82), and a selected subject teacher (N = 82) filled out a questionnaire assessing classroom disruptions, teacher–student relationships, and classroom management. In a first step, we conducted t-tests on whether class teachers and subject teachers differ in their self-efficacy beliefs and emotional stability. In a second step, we explored by correlation analyses the relations between teacher self-efficacy in classroom management and emotional stability and the teachers’ and students’ perceptions of classroom disruptions, teacher–student relationships, and classroom management. In a third step, we examined by stepwise multiple regression analyses to what extent psychological variables predict teacher perceptions after controlling for students’ ratings, representing rather “objective” classroom features. In class teachers, high self-rated emotional stability and self-efficacy are associated with a more positive appraisal of teacher–student relationships and classroom management skills (compared with student ratings). By contrast, in subject teachers, high self-efficacy beliefs are associated with a more favorable perception of classroom disruptions, teacher–student relationships, and classroom management, from both the teachers' and students' perspectives. The results of the present study show a distinctive pattern for class teachers and subject teachers. In class teachers, high self-rated emotional stability and self-efficacy are associated with a more positive evaluation (compared to student ratings) of the teacher–student relationship and classroom management skills but not teacher perceptions of student misbehavior. On the contrary, subject teachers' firm self-efficacy beliefs are associated with more favorable perceptions of classroom characteristics, both from the teachers' and students' perspectives.