Teaching styles of biology educators: The influence of demographics and self-efficacy on pedagogical approaches

Teachers play an important role in the holistic development of learners. Consequently, they are lifelong learners who need to professionally develop themselves to ensure excellent classroom learning experiences. Teachers’ perceived teaching styles, demographics, and self-efficacy may contribute to the overall teaching performance. This article explored the perceived teaching styles of biology teachers and their correlation with teacher demographics and self-efficacy beliefs as contributing factors to teaching approaches and preferred teaching styles among learners. Adopting a descriptive research design, the researcher gathered data from 94 respondents using a profile sheet, teaching styles inventory, and teachers’ sense of efficacy scale. Employing an inferential statistical tool, through a Chi-square test, the findings indicate that there is a significant correlation between teaching styles and the demographics and level of self-efficacy of teachers. The sex, years of teaching, professional development trainings, institutions, and level of self-efficacy contribute to learner- or teacher-centered teaching approaches. Meanwhile, the learners preferred learner-centered teaching styles. Moving forward, interventions on identifying biology teachers’ pedagogical approaches as a factor for the decision-making of pedagogical enhancements, focusing on the gaps in the teaching practices, and aligning their teaching style to their subject matter and the demands of the learners.