Teacher Knowledge Survey

You are invited to participate in a research study entitled: Teachers’ Knowledge and Self-Efficacy for Teaching Foundational Reading Skills

Principal Investigator: Dr. Andrea Fraser, Faculty of Education, Mount Saint Vincent University, andrea.fraser10@msvu.ca

Investigator: Dr. Jamie Metsala, Faculty of Education, Mount Saint Vincent University, jamie.metsala@msvu.ca

Purpose and Objective of the Research:
The purpose of this research is to examine changes in teacher knowledge of foundational word reading skills and self-efficacy for the teaching of these skills. The research questions are: In this time of policy change, do teachers increase in their knowledge of foundational reading concepts and in their self-efficacy for teaching these to young students? Does teacher self-efficacy change as a function of increasing knowledge? That is, do teachers who gain more knowledge show higher self-efficacy for teaching foundational reading skills? Are changes in knowledge accounted for by professional learning opportunities and do system or self-directed learning activities account for more of the variance in increasing knowledge? Do demographic and experience factors (ex.: years teaching, professional learning) account for variance beyond knowledge increases in teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching early reading?
Procedures:

• Teachers will be recruited to complete an online survey two times (Time 1: Winter 2023/2024; Time 2: Winter 2024/2025) on knowledge of foundational reading skills and self-efficacy
• Participants will create a unique ID for the purposes of data analysis.
• Participation in this research may cause some inconvenience to you in the time commitment required to complete the survey.

• Please feel free to ask any questions regarding the procedures and goals of the study or your role.

Potential Risks:

• There are no known or anticipated risks to you by participating in this research. You will have two weeks after the completion of each survey to withdraw your data without any questions asked.

Potential Benefits:

• The potential benefits of your participation in this research include a contribution to the body of evidence relating to teacher knowledge of foundational reading skills, alongside teacher self-efficacy, situated within a Canadian context. These benefits are not guaranteed.

Confidentiality:

• The findings of this research will be used for scholarly publications and may also be presented at educational conferences and the broader learning communities.
• There are some limits to the confidentiality of your participation in this study as you will be asked to provide your email address upon completion of the initial survey (Winter 2023/24). Your email address will only be used to send the follow-up survey in Winter 2024/25. You will create a unique ID by which your data will be analyzed. Email addresses will be stored separately from the data so that it will not be possible to associate a name with any given set of responses.
• Affiliation with a school, regional centre, or other identifying details will not be shared in order to maximize confidentiality.
• This survey is hosted by SimpleSurvey. SimpleSurvey is cloud-based data collection software. Data are stored in Canada and hosted on servers that comply with Canadian laws for the protection of personal information.

Storage of Data:  

• Anonymized data will be entered into an electronic file suitable for statistical analyses. Electronic files will be stored on password-protected computers on the Mount Saint Vincent University campus in the locked offices/lab of the research team.
• Data will be stored for a period of seven years and subsequently destroyed.

Right to Withdraw: 

• Participation in this survey is voluntary.
• Whether you choose to participate or not will have no effect on your position (e.g., employment) or how you will be treated.
• You may request withdrawal of your data for any reason up to two weeks after the completion of each survey. Should you wish to withdraw, advise Dr. Andrea Fraser via email. If you wish to have your data withdrawn, please include your unique ID in the email communication.
• To ensure that you continue to consent to participate in this research, you will be reminded before each contact about your option to withdraw from the study with no explanation needed. If you agree to continued participation in the study you will indicate consent prior to completion of the second survey.

Follow up:

• To obtain results from the study, please contact the researcher at andrea.fraser10@msvu.ca

Questions or Concerns:

• Contact the researchers using the information at the top of page 1.

• This research project has been approved on ethical grounds by Mount Saint Vincent University Research Ethics Board. Any questions regarding your rights as a participant may be addressed to that committee through the Research Ethics Office: ethics@msvu.ca