Teacher preparation and the COVID-19 disruption: Understanding the impact and implications for novice teachers

The COVID-19 pandemic required many school districts and teacher preparation programs to make major changes to student teaching placements. Preservice students who completed student teaching during the academic year 2019- 2020 are now employed as first year teachers, yet the impact these changes had on teachers' self-efficacy is not clear. First-year teachers (N=162) responded to a survey which included items from the teachers' sense of self-efficacy scale (TSES) to understand how teacher self-efficacy differed based on disruptions to student teaching placements and current teaching modality (hybrid, virtual, in-person). Participant responses to quantitative survey items were analyzed using a two-way MANOVA, while a qualitative survey item was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results from the two-way MANOVA show a significant interaction at the p<.05 level between current teaching modality and change in student teaching placement on overall teacher self-efficacy (p=.003), student engagement (p=.005), and instructional strategies (p=.001). Thematic analysis resulted in 11 themes sorted into positive, neutral, or negative impact categories with the greatest number of themes in the negative impact category. Overall, the results add to the knowledge base about the importance of student teaching to teacher self-efficacy. Implications for higher education faculty, policymakers, and school leaders are discussed.