Self Efficacy in Student Success

Self-efficacy is using success in an area of your life as a personal reference point for ability, leading to a sense of personal achievement and belief in yourself. This blog explores the concept of ‘self-efficacy’ and developing ‘self-belief.’ These skills are important for students using a positive outlook to achieve goals and develop resilience.

Learning intention:

Students learn that having success in something and then using that as a personal reference point for ability leads to further success, achievement, and a belief in themselves.

Key outcomes

By the end of these activities, students will understand that:

1. Having a belief in their abilities will help to improve their resilience

2. Recording and reflecting on past experiences, and how they made them feel, will equip them with the skills needed during tough times and when striving for greater achievements.

Some suggested activities:

Activity 1

Class discussion: What is self-efficacy?

• Self-efficacy is having success in something, then using that as a personal reference point for ability, and working on that to bring further success, achievement, and a belief in yourself. For example, a student isn’t particularly gifted in a certain subject but believes in her own ability to learn it well.
• Self-efficacy fosters determination and perseverance to overcome obstacles that would interfere with achieving goals. It’s a reflection of an individual’s confidence in their ability to exert control over their own motivation, behaviour, and social environment.
• For educators: Read students the definition of self-efficacy.
• Ask them to identify a time when they were successful at something and to think about how this affected them.

Activity 2

Students answer the following questions:

• What three things have you done in the past week that you did well?
  How did these make you feel?
• List three things you have completed in the past few months that other people have noticed.
  How did these make you feel?

Activity 3

• Why is it important to identify events in our lives when we have managed to achieve success?
• Why is it important to acknowledge others when they achieve success?
• Can students identify self-efficacy in their own behaviours?

-Munish Kumar Srivastava
Principal