Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
12-2025
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6080-887X
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Teresa Starrett
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Daniel J Bishop
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Tim Slater
Abstract
Traditional educational leadership practices have historically emphasized weakness-based approaches to leadership regarding teacher interventions. Emerging research grounded in positive psychology suggests that strength-based interventions may offer a more effective pathway for supporting educators. The purpose of this action research study was to examine the influence of character strength awareness on teacher self-efficacy. Guided by a strength-based leadership framework, the researcher investigated whether intentional character strength interventions could positively impact teachers’ perceptions of their instructional effectiveness. The study employed an action research design with 14 K–12 teachers from a rural public school district in Texas. Participants completed the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) and the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) prior to the intervention. Teachers then participated in an 8-week strength-based intervention using the VIA Institute on Character’s Start with Strengths program, which focused on increasing awareness and intentional use of individual character strengths. Following the intervention, participants completed the TSES again to
measure changes in self-efficacy. Results indicated a notable increase in overall teacher self- efficacy following the intervention. Gains were observed across all three TSES subdomains
including student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management, with the most significant growth occurring in classroom management. These findings suggest that increased character strength awareness may serve as a meaningful catalyst for enhancing teachers’ self-efficacy.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Knox, Ashton Lynn, "Leading With Strength: The Relationship Between Character Strength Awareness and Teacher Self-Efficacy" (2025). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 985.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/985