Teaching Self-Efficacy

Author(s):  
David Morris

Teaching self-efficacy refers to the beliefs that teachers hold about their instructional capabilities. According to Bandura’s social cognitive theory, individuals develop a sense of efficacy by attending to four sources of information: mastery experiences (i.e., performance attainments), vicarious experiences (i.e., observing social models), social persuasions (i.e., messages received from others) and physiological and affective states (e.g., stress, fatigue, mood). Personal and contextual factors also play a role in the development of teaching self-efficacy. Understandings of teaching self-efficacy, its sources and its effects, have been limited by poor conceptualizations and methodological shortcomings. Nonetheless, researchers have provided ample evidence that teachers with a high sense of efficacy tend to be more psychologically healthy and effective than teachers who doubt their capabilities.

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gio Valiante ◽  
David B. Morris

The purpose of this study was to explore the self-efficacy beliefs of male professional golfers (N = 12). Three themes emerged from the qualitative analysis of interview responses. First, enactive mastery experiences were the most powerful source of self-efficacy. Second, golfers maintained high self-efficacy over time by recalling prior success, strategically framing experiences, and enlisting supportive verbal persuasions from themselves and from others. Finally, self-efficacy influenced professional golfers’ thought patterns, outcome expectations, and emotional states. Findings support and refine the theoretical tenets of Bandura’s social cognitive theory.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 272-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Gedeon ◽  
Dave Valliere

Accredited degree programs primarily use graded assignments in the embedded-course method to measure individual-level assurances of learning (AoL). This method is expensive, subjective, retrospective, and difficult to implement for continuous program improvement. The purpose of our research is to explore the use of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) as an individual-level AoL outcome to augment the quality management of accredited entrepreneurship degree programs. Previous research on ESE, arising from intention models and theory of planned behavior, has used the construct primarily for predicting start-up intent or differentiating nonentrepreneurs from entrepreneurs. In contrast, we begin from an educational assessment and social cognitive theory perspective in constructing our ESE scale. The new ESE scale is operationalized by theoretically justifying 8 learning outcomes, testing 70 items based on scales in the extant literature, and extracting 11 factors or subdomains of ESE using principal components analysis to create a parsimonious new 44-item ESE scale. Expanding the ESE construct to 11 subdomains also expands the use of ESE into the fields of educational assessment, AoL, and program accreditation. This enables understanding the links between pedagogy, curriculum, assignments, grades, enactive mastery experiences, and peer feedback to achieve meaningful student transformation through self-efficacy beliefs.


2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen L. Usher

According to A. Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory, individuals form their self-efficacy beliefs by interpreting information from four sources: mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasions, and physiological or affective states. The purpose of this study was to examine the heuristics students use as they form their mathematics self-efficacy from these and other sources. Semistructured interviews were conducted with eight middle school students who reported either high or low self-efficacy and with students’ parents and mathematics teachers. Students relied on information from all four hypothesized sources, which were combined according to various heuristics. Teaching structures, course placement, and students’ self-regulated learning also emerged as important factors related to self-efficacy. Results refine and extend the tenets of social cognitive theory.


Author(s):  
Rebecca Lazarides ◽  
Lisa Marie Warner

A teacher’s belief in his or her own capability to prompt student engagement and learning, even when students are difficult or unmotivated, has been labeled “teacher self-efficacy” in the context of social learning and social cognitive theory developed by Albert Bandura. Research shows that teachers with high levels of self-efficacy are more open to new teaching methods, set themselves more challenging goals, exhibit a greater level of planning and organization, direct their efforts at solving problems, seek assistance, and adjust their teaching strategies when faced with difficulties. These efforts pay off for self-efficacious teachers themselves, who have been found to be affected by burnout less often and are more satisfied in their jobs but also for their students, who show more motivation, academic adjustment, and achievement. While self-efficacy of the individual teacher explains how the individual teacher’s beliefs relate to students’ academic development, collective teacher efficacy helps to understand the differential effect of faculty and whole schools on student outcomes. Consequently, systematically exploring effective techniques to increase teacher self-efficacy is highly relevant to the teaching context. Previous research has suggested four sources related to the development of self-efficacy: mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and somatic and affective states. Although there is ample evidence that teacher self-efficacy and collective self-efficacy are important for teacher and student outcomes, and some intervention programs for teachers in trainings, career teachers, and upon school factors show promising results, there is still a lack of longitudinal and experimental research on the independent effect of each of the four sources on teacher self-efficacy.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-150
Author(s):  
Roberto Tadeu Iaochite ◽  
Samuel de Souza Neto

In the teaching domain, self-efficacy (SE) is related to teachers' judgment about their own ability to achieve learning outcomes and student engagement. SE is formed by four sources of information: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and psychophysiological states. We measured and analyzed SE and its sources for teaching physical education. Student teachers (n = 114) from three universities responded to two Likert scales - Physical Education Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale and Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale Sources - and a social demographic questionnaire. SE for teaching was classified as moderate, and vicarious experiences and social persuasion were the main sources of information. Results were discussed for future researches related to teaching practices in undergraduate programs as well as in-service teacher training.


Author(s):  
Dale H. Schunk ◽  
Ellen L. Usher

Social cognitive theory is a theory of human behavior that emphasizes learning from the social environment. This chapter focuses on Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which postulates reciprocal interactions among personal, behavioral, and social/environmental factors. Persons use various vicarious, symbolic, and self-regulatory processes as they strive to develop a sense of agency in their lives. Key motivational processes are goals and self-evaluations of progress, outcome expectations, values, social comparisons, and self-efficacy. People set goals and evaluate their goal progress. The perception of progress sustains self-efficacy and motivation. Individuals act in accordance with their values and strive for outcomes they desire. Social comparisons with others provide further information on their learning and goal attainment. Self-efficacy is a critical influence on motivation and affects task choices, effort, persistence, and achievement. Recommendations are made for future research.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089976402199165
Author(s):  
Yinglin Ma ◽  
Mary Tschirhart

Our study uses a social cognitive theory lens to examine the development of AmeriCorps’ members’ context-specific self-efficacy (self-efficacy to perform community service). The analysis uses panel survey data from 189 Ohio State AmeriCorps members collected at the beginning and end of their service terms in 2017–2018 or 2018–2019. Using a random-effects model, the results indicate that generally self-efficacy increased from beginning to end of the service term. Perceptions of having performance accomplishments, having positive role models, and receiving useful feedback significantly increased self-efficacy to perform community service, while experiencing service stress diminished self-efficacy development.


Author(s):  
Dale H. Schunk ◽  
Ellen L. Usher

Social cognitive theory is a theory of psychological functioning that emphasizes learning from the social environment. This chapter focuses on Bandura's social cognitive theory, which postulates reciprocal interactions among personal, behavioral, and social/environmental factors. Persons use various vicarious, symbolic, and self-regulatory processes as they strive to develop a sense of agency in their lives. Key motivational processes are goals and self-evaluations of progress, outcome expectations, values, social comparisons, and self-efficacy. People set goals and evaluate their goal progress. The perception of progress sustains self-efficacy and motivation. Individuals act in accordance with their values and strive for outcomes they desire. Social comparisons with others provide further information on their learning and goal attainment. Self-efficacy is an especially critical influence on motivation and affects task choices, effort, persistence, and achievement. Suggestions are given for future research directions.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassam Waheed

Purpose An ageing population comes with its own set of challenges such as impaired financial capacity and resultant dependency on others to manage financial affairs. Dependency, in turn, as the evidence suggests, creates opportunities for financial exploitation of older adults. Related studies have primarily examined the clinical features and correlates of financial capacity or have attempted to develop its multidimensional measures. Both of which do little to resolve issues associated with impaired financial capacity. This paper aims to make a case for future researchers to assess older adults’ financial capacity from a non-clinical aspect. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the notion of self-efficacy, as encapsulated within the social cognitive theory, this paper presents evidence from a host of different domains to demonstrate the potential contributions of self-efficacy to older adults’ financial capacity. Findings The contributions of self-efficacy in preserving older adults’ financial capacity appear to be much more profound than is currently acknowledged in the literature, thereby overlooking potentially promising and cost-effective interventions for autonomous ageing. Originality/value This paper presents a novel application of self-efficacy to autonomous ageing. Within this context, potential routes to the deployment of self-efficacy-based interventions are also discussed.


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