Early career teachers’ thinking styles and teacher expectations: teacher self-efficacy, discipline, and grade level as moderators

The primary goal of this study was to examine a key but understudied link between early career teachers' expectations (as outcomes) and their thinking styles (as teacher factors). A second goal was to explore whether teacher self-efficacy, discipline, and grade level would moderate this relationship. We collected self-report data from 390 school teachers (47 male and 343 female), with an average of 1.22 years of teaching experience (SD = .77) in English and mathematics across primary, middle, and high schools in China. Results showed that higher scores on creativity-generating Type I thinking styles predicted higher teacher expectations. Relationship self-efficacy and grade level moderated this relationship: High relationship self-efficacy weakened the effect of the legislative style on teacher expectations, whereas low relationship self-efficacy strengthened it; the legislative style's impact was the weakest among high school teachers but was the strongest among middle school teachers. No moderating effect of discipline was found. Implications for teacher training and professional development are discussed.