A Systematic Research Review on Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Educating Autistic Students
Confident teachers emerge when schools give repeated hands-on practice and loud administrative backing.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Petersson-Bloom et al. (2025) read 57 studies about how confident teachers feel teaching autistic students. They looked for patterns in what helps or hurts that confidence.
The team pulled every paper that measured teacher self-efficacy and autism together. They did not run new experiments; they mapped what is already known.
What they found
Most teachers report low confidence when working with autistic pupils. The big reasons are weak training and little back-up from school leaders.
Programs that let teachers practice real skills, not just listen to lectures, lifted confidence. Support from the principal mattered just as much as the training itself.
How this fits with other research
Kisbu-Sakarya et al. (2021) showed one intensive course raised willingness to teach autistic learners, but attitudes stayed flat. Petersson-Bloom adds that practice-heavy courses plus boss support are needed for real confidence.
Griffith et al. (2012) found a short workshop boosted knowledge yet cut helping intent. The new review agrees: one-shot talks fail; teachers need ongoing, hands-on help.
Hopkins et al. (1977) proved teachers can master behavior skills fast when trained to a clear fluency goal. Petersson-Bloom echoes that message across 57 studies: skill practice and leadership buy-in remain key almost fifty years later.
Why it matters
Low teacher confidence predicts burnout and poor student outcomes. Ask your principal to fund sustained coaching, not a single webinar. Schedule time for teachers to rehearse prompts, visuals, and data sheets with real kids while a coach watches. Back them publicly when they try new strategies. Those two moves—practice plus visible support—show up in every strong study the reviewers found.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Ensuring equitable education for all students, including those with autism, is a core international commitment. The OECD (2018) defines equitable education as providing equal learning opportunities through responsive support tailored to individual needs. From this perspective, inclusive education involves both rights-based and needs-based approaches and emphasizes the importance of quality and adaptability in educational provision. Teachers’ self-efficacy—their perceived confidence and belief in their ability to teach and support autistic students—is a critical factor in achieving these aims. However, despite growing commitments to inclusion, challenges are frequently reported not only by teachers, but also by parents and autistic students, including feelings of exclusion, misunderstanding, and inadequate support within educational settings. This review aims to synthesize existing research on teachers’ self-efficacy in educating autistic students, identify influencing factors, assess methodological approaches, and outline future directions. A mixed-methods systematic review was conducted using a convergent integrated design. Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods studies were synthesized. Searches were carried out in four databases: PsycInfo, ERIC, Education Source, and SCOPUS. Study quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT; Hong et al., 2018), and the review followed PRISMA guidelines. Fifty-seven studies were included. Findings indicate that although many teachers are willing to support autistic students, their self-efficacy is often undermined by limited professional development, structural barriers, and insufficient support. Key facilitators include sustained, practice-oriented professional development and supportive leadership. However, the predominance of self-report methods limits understanding of how self-efficacy translates into classroom practice. Teacher self-efficacy is shaped by both systemic conditions and individual perceptions of the ability to meet diverse student needs. Strengthening self-efficacy is essential to advancing equitable education for autistic students.
Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 2025 · doi:10.1177/23969415251392318