Date of Award
8-16-2024
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
Educational Studies
First Advisor
Todd Lilly
Abstract
This qualitative collective case study documented three early childhood educators’ participation in a professional learning community (PLC) focused on promoting children’s social–emotional skills. Particularly, it illuminated the impact of a PLC on the direct care staffs’ self-efficacy related to the promotion of the specified skills. Self-efficacy strongly predicts a person’s willingness to persist through challenges, attempt a new task, and exert sufficient effort toward completion. Self-efficacy is highly influenced by social factors including peer observations and discourse (Bandura, 1977). PLCs are a form of professional development that focuses heavily on social interactions such as communication, collaboration, and group goal setting with an objective to increase overall student achievement (DuFour, 2004). Thematic analysis of pre- and post-intervention interviews, recordings of the PLC meetings, and journal activities, surfaced increased evidence of self-efficacy, including application of knowledge, expressions of perceptions of abilities, and achievement of desired goals between initial and final data collection.
Rights
© 2024, Tiffany Drahota
Recommended Citation
Drahota, T.(2024). The Impact of a Professional Learning Community on Direct Care Staffs’ Self-Efficacy in Promoting Social—Emotional Learning Skills. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/7766