Adjustment of the Teacher Self‐Efficacy Scale in Vocational Education: Exploring Its Links to Academic Performance

Teacher self‐efficacy refers to teachers' beliefs in their capacity to influence student learning and engagement. A strong sense of self‐efficacy has been identified as a key factor associated with instructional practices and the quality of teacher–student relationships. The present study focuses specifically on vocational education and training (VET) pathways, and aims to examine the impact of teachers' sense of self‐efficacy on the academic performance of VET students. In addition, this study evaluates the suitability of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) for use with VET teachers. Data from a survey of 285 vocational education and training teachers were analyzed. The findings indicate a redefined questionnaire structure, revealing a new item distribution. Moreover, the results show that teachers' sense of self‐efficacy significantly predicts students' academic performance. However, when considering the newly identified factors, certain dimensions exhibit contrasting influences on students' academic performance. Thus, Efficacy in Promoting Engagement and Adaptation positively influences students' academic performance, while Efficacy in Questioning and Explaining is associated with a negative impact. This study sheds light on the relation between teacher self‐efficacy, individual and contextual factors, and student academic performance in vocational education.