The New Year often comes with a discussion of New Year’s Resolutions. These personal goals are often aimed at changing behavior or promising to do something differently during the upcoming year. When we make these goals, we must believe in our ability to succeed in achieving them, or else we will not be able to accomplish them. Believing in our ability to achieve the desired outcome or reach a goal is an important Social-Emotional Learning Skill called Self-Efficacy. 

Self-efficacy falls under the area of CASEL competency of Self-Awareness. Self-efficacy is related to whether a student believes that s/he has sufficient control over his/her environment to succeed. High self-efficacy reflects confidence in the ability to exert control over one's motivation, behavior, and environment and allows students to become effective advocates for themselves. 

Self-efficacy is often confused with Self-Confidence or Self-Esteem. Self-confidence is general and refers to a person's overall belief in themselves in all contexts, while Self-Efficacy is dependent on the situation. A student may have high self-efficacy in sports, but not academics or high self-efficacy in reading, but not math. Self-esteem refers to your respect for your value and worth. Self-efficacy often predicts one’s self-esteem. 

Students are reporting that they struggle to believe they can succeed in achieving academic outcomes. Students report concerns about being able to do the hardest work assigned in their classrooms, remembering what they have learned in the next year, and understanding complicated ideas that are discussed in class. 

To learn how to increase and support your child’s self-efficacy access the RSU 16 Social Emotional Learning Resource Center. 

Having high self-efficacy is a good thing. People with a strong sense of self-efficacy:

• Develop a deeper interest in the activities in which they participate

• Form a stronger sense of commitment to their interests and activities

• Recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments

• View challenging problems as tasks to be mastered versus a threat

• Are more optimistic and confident

Poor self-efficacy, on the other hand, can have several adverse effects. People with a weak sense of self-efficacy:

• Avoid challenging tasks

• Believe that difficult tasks and situations are beyond their capabilities

• Focus on personal failings and negative outcomes

• Quickly lose confidence in personal abilities

• Less resilient and give up easily

• Experience more depression

Fortunately, self-efficacy is a skill that you can foster and strengthen. Here are some ways to help build self-efficacy in children from the NASP Communique Handout, Self-Efficacy: Helping Children Believe They Can Succeed.

Challenge negative thoughts. We can teach children to identify and challenge negative thoughts that undermine their belief in their ability to master a task. Adults can teach children and youth to challenge negative thinking by helping them to first identify the negative thought and then to use evidence to prove why the negative thought is inaccurate. Replace the negative thought with a positive, truthful idea.  

Teach goal setting. Teaching children how to set realistic goals and strategies for persisting in achieving those goals when they encounter obstacles helps them to experience greater mastery in life. Helping children to increase their pathways thinking (thinking that helps identify or create many paths to a goal) and agency thinking (thinking that helps keep motivation up while pursuing a goal) helps them experience greater hope and more success in achieving the goal.  

Notice, analyze, and celebrate successes. We can increase self-efficacy by teaching youth to identify successes and to accurately assess their contribution. For example, parents or teachers can work with children to keep a “success journal” in which they record successes and list the skills, talents, and strategies that they used to bring about positive outcomes. This not only helps children build positive self-perceptions, but it also creates positive emotion, which in turn leads to more creative thinking and enhanced problem-solving.

Use process praise. Process praise, in which children are praised for their efforts and the strategies they used to bring about a success (e.g., “You did well because you kept at it and tried different ways to solve the problem.”), can lead to greater mastery, persistence, and achievement than simply praising children for being smart (e.g., “You did well because you’re just so smart!”). Emphasizing effort and strategy helps children focus their attention on variables they can control: how hard they try and the strategies used.  

Provide opportunities for mastery experiences. Give children opportunities to control their environment. Creating opportunities for children to make decisions, use and practice their skills, and try different paths to achieve their goals will help build self-efficacy. This requires genuinely knowing the child’s strengths and being able to link those to their goals.  

Be honest and realistic. When a child fails or has a setback, don’t pretend it didn’t happen. It is far better to acknowledge the struggle (“That must have been really hard. I can see why you are disappointed.”) and identify specific strengths he might use next time (“You pass the ball really well. Passing might be more effective than shooting from so far away.”). When we help children to pay attention to their skills and strengths and help them to figure out how to use them more fully, we are teaching them self-efficacy. And, acknowledging the reality of the situation conveys that you genuinely understand what the child has experienced and helps her see herself as someone who can cope with a challenge.