The Summer School is a two-week program supported by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) of the Republic of Austria that seeks to address the immediate educational disadvantages caused by the Covid-19-pandemic (BMBWF, 2022). It aims to promote students’ self-confidence and social skills by establishing opportunities of positive learning experiences. During the Summer School, students predominantly receive individual support and feedback for the subjects “German language”, “mathematics”. Participants of the Summer School are usually students with lacking German language skills and/or who performed poorly in the past school year. The program is conducted by teachers and student teachers. The latter group benefits from the Summer School by experiencing two weeks of “teaching practice” with associated classroom management to prepare them for the teaching profession (BMBWF, 2022).

According to the utilization-of-learning-opportunities model (e.g., Weinert & Helmke, 1997), there are many different variables and their interplay are accountable for learning success. Basically, the model aims to illustrate the multiple, multicausal, or even interdependent relations of variables in regard to learning success. Since learning success is evidently also influenced by affective dispositions of teachers and students, this research area was focused for this study. Student-related affective-motivational characteristics have been proven to influence school learning. Self-efficacy expectations might directly influence student behavior, but also influence goals, affective dispositions or perceptions in the social environment (Bandura, 2006; Bandura, 1997). Consequently, the question arises why some students remain confident and maintain their child-like optimism in coping with performance goals in school, while other students develop an anxious or even helpless attitude (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). At the student level, research has shown that teachers' self-efficacy expectations are positively related to student achievement and motivation. At the teacher level, self-efficacy expectations of teachers have been found to positively influence their own commitment to their work, the goals they set for themselves, and the level of job satisfaction they experience (Pfitzner-Eden, Thiel & Horsley, 2014). International studies have shown that the degree of self-efficacy among teachers varies across countries. Vieluf et al. (2013) were able to illustrate that teachers from Austria are in the upper range (higher values of self-efficacy) in the OECD compared to teachers from Iceland, Denmark, Ireland and Australia. In different studies with Austrian student teachers and teachers, Bach (2022) was able to show the connection between self-efficacy and professional experience. Interestingly, the self-efficacy expectation of student teachers after practical teaching experience is significantly higher than among experienced teachers. It is even higher for so-called teaching assistants, who are used to provide support in regular and extracurricular settings in Austria and make an important contribution to inclusive teaching.

Based on the available study results, the following research questions have emerged that require clarification in regard to the Summer School program.
- FF1: Which general and specific results on self-efficacy and teacher goals characterize Austrian Summer School teachers?

o H1: Professional teachers have higher self-efficacy expectancy scores than student teachers.

o H2: Teachers with ten or more years of professional experience have higher self-efficacy expectations than teachers who have less than ten years of professional experience.

o H3: Primary (elementary) school teachers have significantly higher self-efficacy expectations than teachers in secondary education.

- FF2: Are there discernable clusters of teacher characteristics in the data set?

To implement the objectives, various questionnaire instruments were developed, consisting of reliable, standardized scales and subscales. The study includes three different instruments, two of which were addressed to students. Another was addressed to teachers of the Summer School and is the focus of this presentation. In total, the online teacher questionnaire consists of 63 items organized in nine scales and subscales. Seven scales are taken from the German “Fragebogen zur Erfassung von Lehrerzielen (FELZ)” (Questionnaire to capture teacher goals) based on the work of Rüprich & Urhahne (2015). The concept is based on the idea that teachers’ teaching goals influence students’ learning success. The questionnaire aims to represent teachers’ content-related goals and relate them to their experience and behavior (Rüprich, 2018). 33 items of the questionnaire are taken from the German inventory “Kompetenzentwicklung bei schulpraktischen Lerngelegenheiten (KliP)” (Competence development in practical school learning opportunities) (Gröschner & Schmitt 2012), which addresses the assessment of teachers’ pedagogical competencies. The self-assessment of competence can be seen as part of a person's own individual competence profile experience of self-efficacy (Gröschner & Müller, 2013). In addition, all 12 items of the “Scale for Teacher Self-Efficacy” (STSE) inventory (Pfitzner-Eden, 2016) were integrated into the instrument. The STSE measures teachers' self-efficacy expectations using the subscales Instructional Strategies; Classroom Management and Student Motivation. Cronbach's alpha (α) provides satisfactory values for the subscales FELZ (α = .92), KLiP (α = .95), Scale E (α = .78), and STSE (α = .90). Teachers and student teachers from the states of Vienna, Vorarlberg and Upper Austria who taught in the Summer School were invited to participate in the survey immediately following the program’s conclusion. The teacher questionnaire could be accessed only electronically via the SoScisurvey platform. Access was granted through a QR code. A total of 362 teachers and 153 student teachers participated in the survey. The vast majority of student teachers (88%) stated that they participated in the Summer School voluntarily, that is, the measure did not constitute a compulsory internship. 70% of the professional teachers (n=254) have been teaching for less than 10 years. Nearly 24% of the teachers (n=89) have been in the teaching profession between 10 and 29 years. Almost 50% of the teachers work on primary school level (n=190), another 33% at a middle school (n=127), and 10% at general secondary schools (n=40).

Overall, teachers of the Summer School score high on self-efficacy compared to findings of other studies that were previously outlined. The standard deviations can be classified as small to medium. The mean for teacher self-efficacy (STSE total scale) is slightly higher compared to the study by Bach (2022). However, there are differences in relation to the group of teachers, professional experience and type of school. Self-efficacy is significantly higher among teachers (M=4.16, SD=0.53, n=362) compared to student teachers (M=4.06, SD=0.54, n=153), t(513)=1.969, p=.025. Teachers with ten and more years of professional experience (M=4.11, SD=0.53, n=268) have significantly higher self-efficacy scores than teachers under ten years of professional experience (M=4. 28, SD=.49, n=96), t(362)=-2.630, p=.004. Teachers at elementary schools (M=4.21, SD=0.51, n=190) show significantly higher self-efficacy scores than teachers at secondary level (M=4.11, SD=0.54, n=173), t(361)=1.821, p=.035. In addition, a K-means cluster analysis was conducted which identified two groups. There are approximately the same number of subjects in both clusters (nModelEducators =235, nAmbitious=282). Based on the identifiable differences, the following clusters could be detected: the “Model Teachers” and the “Ambitious”. On average, “Model teachers” consistently scored higher on teachers´ goals as well the self-efficacy expectations compared to “Ambitious teachers”. The sample illustrates that Austrian Summer School teachers are highly motivated, almost idealistic to fulfill this challenging task.

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