The self-efficacy of post-primary teachers who teach students with diverse behavioural needs, including those with ADHD

This thesis investigates post-primary teachers' self-efficacy in teaching students engaging in behaviours of concern and ADHD. Self-efficacy is the belief in one's capacity to carry out a specific task. Maintaining and developing a high level of self-efficacy can be difficult for teachers who work in these contexts. The first paper of this thesis is a narrative systematic literature review of post-primary teachers' self-efficacy in teaching students engaging in behaviours of concern. It examines the theoretical frameworks of self-efficacy and teachers' conceptualisation of self-efficacy at the post-primary level within this context. The second paper, a qualitative empirical study, investigates the psychological sources and factors which increase or decrease the self-efficacy of 12 Irish post-primary teachers teaching students with ADHD in mainstream classrooms. The responses from the semi-structured interviews were analysed using Bandura's four sources of self-efficacy grounded in social cognitive theory to reveal factors that increased and decreased teachers' self-efficacy. Bronfenbrenner's ecological model of human development also informed the researcher's approach throughout this thesis. The results from both studies showed that while post-primary teachers used Bandura's four sources of self-efficacy, additional non-psychological sources also played a crucial role in teaching students engaging in behaviours of concern and students with ADHD. These included teachers' knowledge about students, the curriculum, relationships with students, teachers' attitudes, and environmental and school systemic factors.