Development and psychometric validation of the TC-CIS Scale for measuring self-perceived teaching competencies in the instruction of controversial issues

Journal title CADMO
Author/s Delfín Ortega-Sánchez, Carlos Pérez González
Publishing Year 2025 Issue 2025/1
Language English Pages 18 P. 22-39 File size 229 KB
DOI 10.3280/CAD2025-001003
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This study presents the development and psychometric validation of the Teaching Competencies in Controversial Issues Instruction Scale (TC-CIS), designed to measure perceived self­efficacy and institutional support in the didactic treatment of controversial issues. A cross-sectional instrumental design was applied to a sample of 684 Spanish social and experimental sciences teachers. Following an item development process based on a literature review and expert judgment (BW = 0.95; AC2 = 0.95), the 10­item scale underwent Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The resulting bifactorial model demonstrated an excellent fit (?²/df = 1.15; CFI = 0.998; TLI = 0.997; RMSEA = 0.015; SRMR = 0.018), with factor loadings ranging from 0.79 to 0.87 and a low correlation between factors (r = 0.02). Internal reliability was high (a_total = .86; ? = .86; FC = .96), and convergent validity was satisfactory (AVE = .67). Moreover, configural, metric, scalar, and strict invariance were confirmed across gender, age, origin, educational stage, and prior training (?CFI = 0.01). However, predictive validity analysis indicated a limited discriminatory capacity regarding teachers’ formative intention (AUC = 0.572). It can be concluded that the Teaching Competencies in Controversial Issues Instruction Scale (TC­CIS) provides a brief, robust, and culturally stable measure of teaching competencies for addressing sensitive or controversial issues in Social and Experimental Sciences classrooms, although its predictive power needs further specification and its applicability in international contexts should be explored.�

Keywords: teaching competencies, controversial issues, psychometric validation, pedagogical self­efficacy, Social and Experimental Sciences education.

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Delfín Ortega-Sánchez, Carlos Pérez González, Development and psychometric validation of the TC-CIS Scale for measuring self-perceived teaching competencies in the instruction of controversial issues in "CADMO" 1/2025, pp 22-39, DOI: 10.3280/CAD2025-001003