Review on the mediating role of individual teacher efficacy and collective teacher efficacy in the relationship between school leadership and student achievement

In spite of the agreed-upon importance of individual teacher efficacy and collective efficacy on student outcomes and the significant influence of school leaders on teachers, there is still a lack of a comprehensive framework for understanding the links among leadership behavior, individual teacher efficacy, collective efficacy, and student outcomes. The research exploring the relationship between leadership and individual teacher efficacy or collective efficacy often focuses either on the link between leadership and individual teacher efficacy or the link between leadership and teachers’ collective efficacy. For the relationships among individual teacher efficacy, collective efficacy, and student achievement, research was done separately on the two links. The purpose of this research is to fill the blank spot by intensively reviewing related studies on these links and propose a comprehensive framework to these relationships. This review presents a clear and direct relationship among individual teacher efficacy, collective efficacy, and student achievement, especially between collective efficacy and student achievement. Leadership traits and behaviors significantly affect individual teacher efficacy and collective efficacy. This review discusses how to promote teacher efficacy at the individual level and how to improve collective efficacy at the organizational level. Future research directions are proposed.