Predictors and consequences of primary teachers' sense of efficacy and students' perceptions of teaching quality in Thailand

Over the past twenty years, policymakers in Thailand have devised a variety of reforms aimed at improving the quality of primary schooling. Initiatives in preservice education, inservice training, teacher supervision, and the distribution of new instructional materials, despite their variety, share a common aim: to improve student achievement by improving the quality of instruction. This chapter conceives teachers' sense of efficacy and students' perceptions of the quality of instruction as important proximal indicators of the success of such reforms. Analyses based on a large, nationally representative sample of teachers and students provides some validation for this idea, showing that these constructs can be reliably measured and that they do significantly predict student achievement. Moreover, the analysis provides some evidence of the success of primary school reform in Thailand.