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A student's beliefs about their ability to succeed at a given task.
By definition, self-efficacy is the judgement that a person makes about their own capability to achieve a future task. With regard to learning, self-efficacy is a student's belief about their ability to succeed at a given task, be that an assignment, test or even the subject as a whole. In essence, self-efficacy is a perception or belief - a student's faith in themselves to get learning done. It's their self-confidence in their own capacity to learn.
Self-efficacy is an essential mindset for learning because, although indirectly, a student's beliefs about their abilities have significant influence effects on academic performance. Moreover, researchers have found that self-efficacy is malleable, that is, not fixed. This means that it can be developed and improved over time. Self-efficacy also tends to vary according to the nature, familiarity and magnitude of a task, and is usually domain-specific. In other words, self-efficacy tends to be domain (learning area) and often task-and-situation specific. This implies that a student might display high levels of self-efficacy in mathematics but considerably lower levels of self-efficacy in, say, English.
A student's beliefs about themselves and their abilities are believed to be rooted in their past success or failure experiences at school. Researchers have found that students who experience success have more confidence in their ability and expect greater levels of future success. The opposite is true too: students who experience repeated failure tend to lose confidence in their ability. This can result in what some refer to as 'learned helpless' which is the opposite of agency. For these reasons, it is essential that a student's success or failure is interpreted through a Growth Mindset. Students with a 'Growth Mindset' attribute their success or failure in a learning task to their effort, not their raw intelligence. In other words, they belief that their ability is not fixed but rather that that it can grow over time with practice.
Self-efficacy, therefore, is closely associated with effort, perseverance and resilience.
Firstly, student's with high self-efficacy, expend more effort towards achieving their learning goals because they believe that effort and leads to success. Having said this, students with low self-efficacy tend to avoid learning tasks which they perceive to be too hard for them. Therefore, believing one can be successful seems to be a prerequisite to putting in sustained effort.
Secondly, beliefs about success are related to academic perseverance because students who believe they can succeed at a task are more likely to give more effort to complete it and persist longer than a student who does not. In other words, students will persist in learning activities if they believe that they can do them.
Finally, students with higher levels of self-efficacy have a greater likelihood of bouncing back (resilience) when faced with adversity. In fact, students with high self-efficacy often enjoy challenges and can tolerate failure because they have high confidence.
In summary, self-efficacious beliefs are extremely important to foster in our students because they manifest in how much effort they put in; how long they persist with a task; and how much resilience they have (when they fail).
Biblical principle
If self-concept is about love (acceptance) then self-efficacy is about faith. Paul writes to the Philippians that he "...can do all this through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13). In this passage Paul explains that whatever circumstance he was in, whether he had plenty or was in lack, that he would be content to rest in God's ability. In fact, Paul says that this belief in God's ability was his 'secret' for provision, contentedness and success in his mission. In the same way, we can be confident in our God-given ability to learn and have a can-do attitude towards complex and challenging tasks.
Self-Efficacy Strategies
Strategy 1:
Mastery Experience
The experience of repeated success or mastery experiences in learning related tasks is the most important source of a student's self-efficacy beliefs.
A key strategy to facilitate mastery experiences is the use of scaffolding.
Scaffolding includes teaching concepts progressively (precept upon precept); deconstructing learning into smaller achievable steps; and giving adequate time to master each step.
Each step also needs to ensure an optimal level of challenge which requires a corresponding amount of effort.
Strategy 2:
Peer Modelling
The second most important way of boosting a student's self-efficacy is through vicarious experience (cf. Winne & Hadwin, 2010).
Peer modelling is when students observe, hear or read about peers successfully doing the same task that they are asked to complete.
The best peer models are those that make errors at first and express doubt about their self-efficacy (coping models). Teachers can use coping models by guiding a student to successfully complete a task while others observe.
The model can then be asked about how they overcame failure and developed mastery.
Strategy 3:
Effort Attribution
Effort attribution is important because when students associate effort with success they tend to try harder which in turn boosts their sense of control.
Teachers can reinforce this association by deliberately praising their students' effort, not talent or ability, or their choice of learning strategies.
Another strategy is to provide frequent positive feedback which emphasises progress and next steps.
Teachers can also use verbal persuasion to encourage their students to do their own best work consistently and not to compare their work to others.
Strategy 4:
Cooperative Culture
Classrooms that emphasise cooperation and a sense that 'everyone can achieve the learning goals' are much more supportive of self-efficacy than classrooms which emphasise competition where only a limited number of students will earn good grades.
Teachers can foster a cooperative classroom culture by positioning learning as a 'team sport' where all students work together to conquer a learning challenge. This culture is advanced further by encouraging students to build on each other's responses to help each other achieve multiple solutions to problems.
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Self-Concept
Self-Efficacy
Self-Relevancy
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