Prospective teachers' self-efficacy in responding to conspiracy theories in the classroom: evidence from an experimental study

Schools are important social contexts for both students and teachers and play a critical role in students' political socialization. When controversial issues such as conspiracy theories are voiced in the classroom, teachers are particularly important actors, as they are often the ones who must immediately and professionally respond to them. While existing research highlights that teachers often feel insufficiently prepared to respond to conspiracy claims made by students, the role of their self-efficacy beliefs has not been studied yet, even though it is an important prerequisite for successful action. In a pre-registered experiment ( N = 397), we therefore investigated whether exposure to a conspiratorial (vs. non-conspiratorial) student statement reduces pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and whether this effect is associated with emotional responses. Exploratory analyses showed that the pre-service teachers in the conspiracy condition reported lower self-efficacy than those in the non-conspiracy condition. In the pre-registered parallel multiple mediation model, this association was mediated jointly by heightened anger and anxiety, and reduced calmness (total indirect effect), however the specific indirect effects were not significant. In exploratory single mediator models, all emotions mediated the effect of conspiracy exposure on self-efficacy. Exploratorily, we also analyzed open-text responses from 329 pre-service teachers describing how they would respond in such a situation. Despite lower self-efficacy in the conspiracy condition, pre-service teachers still reported intended response strategies consistent with pedagogically recommended approaches, such as engaging students in discussion, acknowledging rather than singling out students, and promoting critical thinking. Overall, these findings highlight schools as important contexts in which the interpersonal consequences of conspiracy beliefs unfold and underscore the need to better prepare teachers to respond adequately to such statements.