The meaning and measure of teachers' sense of responsibility for educational outcomes

We provide a critical review of existing teacher responsibility measures, develop the rationale for, and introduce a new Teacher Responsibility Scale (TRS). Evidence from a sample of German pre-service teachers (Study 1) and American in-service teachers (Study 2) supported a multi-dimensional model of teacher responsibility with four subscales that assess responsibility for student motivation, student achievement, relationships with students, and teaching. The study demonstrated that teacher responsibility is conceptually and empirically distinct from self-efficacy, and that the associations between responsibility and self-efficacy vary by the type of educational outcome. Implications for research on teaching and teacher education are discussed.

► Reviewed existing measures of teacher responsibility.
► Discussed conceptual and assessment challenges.
► Introduced a new measure of teacher responsibility.
► Demonstrated discriminant validity.