Establishing and Enhancing Student Self-efficacy

Achievement and Excellence is not an Accident, it is Crafted
Self-efficacy is an extraordinarily powerful and self-empowering construct, especially when students realise they are in charge of their beliefs, their motivations, their thoughts, their behaviours, the choices they make and the achievements they accomplish. Achievement and excellence are not accidents, it is crafted by the actions of the individual. Self-efficacy helps with the crafting.

Belief
Self-efficacy, according to Albert Bandura tends to “determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes.”
1. Cognition
Cognition, according to Bandura refers to the “[t]thinking processes involved in the acquisition, organization and use of information.”
2. Motivation
Motivation is about self-activated action. This is about drive and passion! In terms of learning and classroom performance, Bandura points out that a student’s “[l]evel of motivation is reflected in the choice of courses of action, and in the intensity and persistence of effort.”
3. Affect
The affective emotional process, according to Bandura is about having the capacity of being able to regulate “emotional states and elicitation of emotional reactions.”
4. Selection
In terms of selection, Bandura points out that students who have a strong sense of self-efficacy are willing to select and take on difficult tasks. They view these difficult tasks as challenges to be accomplished and mastered rather than threats to be shunned.

Helping to Develop Self-efficacy
Bandura points out that a student’s self-efficacy can be developed in a number of ways. One “effective way of creating a strong sense of efficacy is through mastery experiences.” This is about teachers continually supporting, encouraging and advising students - at all of their development ages - to persist until they master a task. This could be as relevant as working with a student to help them understand what 1 plus 1 is; how this result can be achieved; and then for the student to be able to use this knowledge to provide an example of their understanding. All of which, of course, is specific to their developmental age. Achieving this goal requires persistence on the part of the student the ongoing mentoring and encouragement on the part of the teacher.

Persistence and Self-efficacy
Further to this, research unambiguously informs that persistence has the potential to lead to task completion. As such, the intrinsic and extrinsic process of engaging in and working towards the application of end-of-task accomplishments, is the process that assists in the further development of a student’s analytical thinking; their (strength of character) emotional potential (i.e., their capacities of perseverance and resilience); as well as providing advancements in their knowledge and associated skill acquisition capacities. All of which have the combined potential to further develop the confidence and the self-belief of the student. With this taking place, there is now the added intrinsic potential for students to then be willing to take on tasks and to work at these tasks until they have been mastered; to which Bandura adds: “[s]uccesses build a robust belief in one's personal efficacy.”

Encouragement and Objective Advice
When ongoing encouragement and advice is taking place, this process needs to be objectively authentic. If the student is working hard, the effort of the student needs to be recognised: “I can see that you are working hard.” Plus, when, not if mistakes are being made, this also needs to be acknowledged. If the student is discouraged or if the student is actually choosing to not put in the necessary effort, this also needs to be recognised and discussed. For example: “I can see that you are not working, I can see that you have stopped writing.” All of this is about presenting objective truths. The purpose of this process is to help the student to realise that whatever behaviour they choose to present is not only their choice, it is also their responsibility; which also means their choices will always lead to consequences.

Insights and Wisdom
This is where the insights and wisdom of teachers, in association with their pedagogical insights, skills and knowledge arise that may then objectively help the student to realise what consequences may arise as a result of the student’s choices. If the student is informed that they are responsible for their choices and the consequences of their choices, this will be the authentic proof, to the student, that they are responsible for what they think, do, say, choose and learn; and the outcomes that will be taking place.

Authentic Power and Great Responsibility
The aim here is to help the student deeply understand the authentic power they have in relation to their personal effort, their learning, and their choices. With great power, there is great responsibility. As Anita Woolfolk points out: the “responsibility and the ability to learn [remains] within the student, [no one can actually] learn for someone else.” And it is William Glasser who points out that it is the student’s intrinsic motivation and personal attitude that has the most influence over what the individual will do and achieve.

It is the Student
The intention, the action and the engagement in learning is a journey of the self, by the self, through the self, for the self. The others in the life of students, such as their family, their significant others, their teachers, their mentors, their peers, and their friends, the only authentic thing they can do is continue to provide encouragement, information, support, and advice. Ultimately and universally, it is the student who must undertake the action of wanting to learn.

Information, Choices, Consequences
As Responsibility Theory points out, the next stage is to inform the student about the authentic and meaningful power they have over their thoughts, behaviours and learning. In this situation (where the student may be refusing to work, the student is not told what to do), as in “get on with your work or else.” The student needs to be informed about the authentic and real power they have, which they control, and which they can use and apply immediately. This power takes place, and is understood because the students in the RT classrooms are regularly informed, and reinforced, that they’ve “got the power over what they think, do, say, choose, and learn.” In addition to this, the RT students are also regularly informed that all choices (for which the student is responsible) will always lead to consequences. “Your choices, your consequences,” is one of the RT mantras.

The Power of Insight and Self-regulation
This RT process also fits in with the premise of self-regulation as noted by Albert Bandura: self-regulation is about students being able to “[e]xercise … influence over one’s own motivation, thought processes, emotional states and patterns of behavior.” This self-regulation insight is further emphasised, owned and controlled when students willingly and joyfully declare, one of all of the following: “I’ve got the power!” “I’m working hard.” “I’m an excellent student.” All of which can lead to understanding the power of: I think, therefore I am my consequences.

Dr Ragnar Purje (PhD; M.Ed.; M.Ed.(Guid.&Couns.); M.Ed.(Lead.&Man.); B.A.(Psych.); B.App.Sc.(P.E.); Grad.Dip.Ed.; Grad.Dip.Sp.Sc.; Grad.Dip.Ex.Sp.Sc.; Grad.Cert.(Comm.); Grad.Dip.(Health Couns.); Cert.IV in Assess.&Workplace Training) is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at CQUniversity in the School of Education and the Arts. Dr Purje works with Professor Ken Purnell specialising in classroom behaviour management strategies. Dr Purje is the author of Responsibility Theory®. For presentations, Saxton Speakers Bureau represents Dr Purje.