Teacher self-efficacy. Perceived teacher self-efficacy was measured by eight items of the German teacher self-efficacy scale (Schmitz & Schwarzer, 2000; Schwarzer & Hallum, 2008). Only items that were related to working with students were
considered. Except for one negatively stated item, all items were formulated in terms of higher teacher self-efficacy. A sample item reads ‘‘I am sure that I can come into good contact with offending students if I try hard enough.’’ The internal consistencies were a = .76 in the pre-service teacher sample and a = .77 in the teacher sample (a = .78 in the total sample).