The Importance Of Developing Self-Efficacy In K-6 Children

What Is Self-Efficacy?

There is a scene in the movie Finding Nemo when a little sea turtle is accidentally tossed out of the current. One father panics and rushes to rescue, while the other sits back and watches how his little one will navigate the challenge. The little turtle finds his way back into the current and feels a lot more confident in having figured it out on his own.

When I was a kid, there was an abundance of opportunities to navigate these challenges in real life, such as forgetting my homework at school, fixing the slipped chain on my bike, dealing with bullies in the back alley, and interacting with grumpy customers on my newspaper route that I started at the tender age of 10. All of these and more opportunities provided me with a strong sense of self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy is a psychological concept that refers to your belief in your ability to successfully perform a specific task or handle a particular situation. Helping children of all ages develop self-efficacy is extremely important for their development.

When children have high self-efficacy, they believe they can influence events and outcomes. They are more likely to take initiative, persist through challenges, and recover from setbacks. Whereas when children have low self-efficacy, they doubt their capabilities, which can lead to avoidance, procrastination, or giving up easily.

The Impact Of Children (And Adults) Having Low Self-Efficacy

The generations that have come after Gen X have largely not been afforded these opportunities. Many of the individuals from these generations have been sheltered from any potential conflict or challenge. This has resulted in generations of people with a low sense of self-efficacy.

I have seen this in my classroom every year for the past 20 years. During the first month of school, students continually line up to ask for assistance in tasks such as: tying a shoe, unlocking a locker, zipping a coat, logging on to a computer, printing in the correct space on a page, etc.

My consistent responses include:

• Did you try it yourself?

• Have you asked a friend for help?

• Have you asked a second friend for help?

This three-pronged approach frequently results in the student solving the problem themselves with the bonus of providing a growing sense of self-efficacy.

How You Can Develop Self-Efficacy In Your K-6 Students Or Children

Less is way more when it comes to allowing your child to develop a healthy sense of self-efficacy. The less we swoop in to rescue, the less we send the message that they are not capable of managing the challenge and the more we provide reassurance that we believe in our children to make these decisions and problem solve themselves. These experiences build character and self-efficacy.

As a teacher, try taking the three-pronged approach that I mentioned above. This frequently results in the student solving the problem themselves with the bonus of providing them with a growing sense of self-efficacy. In addition to that, it saves you valuable time and energy vs. having to help 20+ students with the same assistance on tasks every single day.

As a parent, next time when your child comes home and tells you about their day and a possible conflict or challenge that arose, just listen. Let them tell you all about it and how they solved the problem.  I can reassure you that just listening and watching your child at this moment will give them the opportunity to reflect on the situation and consider other potential solutions for a “next time” or “just in case” moment they may find themselves.

When we let go of the teacher or parent reins and allow our students or children to become problem solvers, they will develop a robust self-efficacy that will serve them for the rest of their lives.

How We’re Here To Help

The unit and lesson plans in our K-6 Learning Library can help your K-6 child or students develop confidence and proficiency in both English Language Arts & Literature and Mathematics in a straightforward and engaging way. They are designed to foster self-efficacy as one option is to utilize them in a self-instructed fashion. The best part is that you can edit these resources so that your child or students can focus on what they can do right now and build on it, rather than internalize that they are not performing at grade level.

All of our resources include engaging instructional videos, audio functions, and high-definition images. These resources can be used both digitally and non-digitally at home or at school.

If you want to fully preview all unit and lesson plans, you can do so on our Teachers Pay Teachers page!

If you have any questions about any of our products, then you can email me at hello@educationrocks.ca.

Thank you for reading this blog post on the importance of developing self-efficacy in K-6 children. I wish you and your child(ren) or students all the best during this interesting time!