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The present scoping review synthesises research evidence from 136 studies on teacher professional development (PD) characteristics and teacher self-efficacy in K-12 STEM teaching contexts. The findings highlight the importance of incorporating innovative and multidimensional PD training approaches that address the specific challenges of teacher self-efficacy so as to enhance the overall quality of STEM teacher PD. The findings also highlight the impact of STEM teacher PD on teacher self-efficacy, identify frequently used instruments in teacher self-efficacy research, and synthesise the empirical evidence of PD’s contributions to sources of self-efficacy. Moreover, the present study identified a lack of PD tailored specifically for beginning STEM teachers, indicating the importance of providing continuous support for beginning and secondary STEM teachers so that they can promote their self-efficacy and increase STEM teacher retention. Additionally, this review highlights the need for future PD programmes to address diverse educational settings, considering school contexts and offering varied PD topics, to more effectively support STEM teachers’ challenges, needs, and self-efficacy. Recommendations to improve STEM teacher self-efficacy and information for improving PD for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers are discussed in the paper.
Zhou et al. (Fri,) studied this question.