Self-Efficacy - Research Paper Example

Self-Efficacy focused on adult learners in post-secondary education located in rural communities in northern Canada. Literature review Self efficacy is defined as "One's belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations, one's sense of self-efficacy can play a major role in how one approaches goals, tasks, and challenges" (Bandura, 1997). According to Bandura's theory self efficacy is at the center of the social cognitive theory and it has been described as a concept related to those who believe in performance in a particular manner so that they can perform well towards a goal. Thus the concept has evolved from the society and thus activities of an individual can be affected by the environment. However people will tend to perform a particular task which they believe they can perform well to achieve a specific goal. When people believe that a particular task cannot be performed well and where self efficacy is in low level, he tends to ignore the task. If people have a high level of self efficacy, they tend to perform that task well. However some researchers have pointed out that self efficacy is lower than the actual ability of a person and it will lead to some difficulties when they are going to perform specific tasks. Thus critics have pointed that the maximum level of self efficacy is little ahead of actual ability of a person that will lead people to face the barriers and achieve specific goals. This has invariably been connected with the work environment and its many faceted features including the policy decision making process and its diverse implications for the adult education programs as a whole. Adult learners can be defined as "those who are over the age of 24, married, or/and have dependents". Adult learners mostly belong to the new majority of post- secondary student community. Research shows that adult learners perform well in their post-formal education periods with high self efficacy with focused learning. Education and learning programs for adults were initiated by the government authorities in Northern Canada for the rural communities almost years ago (Gist, 1992). Some of the programs have just been concluded. They successfully brought about a systematic process change in the existing Canadian adult learning program management structures and processes. This paper just focuses on the adult education and learning programs that ultimately led to an all pervasive well balanced restructuring effort at the community level with some major changes being introduced to both co-curricular and extra-curricular activities of an adult. However in some instances self efficacy has impacted adversely on adult learning programs related outcomes in post-secondary education, especially among North Canadian rural communities. For instance adults who lack language skills may be negatively affected and demotivated in studies thus leading to a negative tendency towards learning programs however well meaning they might be. The adult education learning in Canada has began with an idea being put forward in by the authorities that the existing curriculum needed to be enhanced at different levels and the existing process of its management needed to be changed. While a series of prior changes to the Adult curriculum were made by the authorities they were mostly centered on patch work and were not continued as a process. The structural changes apart there was a significant amount of process change that actually transformed the whole curriculum process management from one of static to a dynamic one. While the education authorities of the North Canada enlisted services of the teaching faculty to design, plan and execute these program changes its primary objective was to develop a stronger co-curriculum plus a set of extra-curricular activities for the rural communities. Though the government curriculum is mandatory in all higher institutions, certain changes are allowed to be made independently by higher education institution authorities to it while the content is kept intact. Thus the belief towards the achievements in adult education would increase self-efficacy of an individual and it will lead to holding challenging positions in different occupations. It's the curriculum management process that was changed by this program. Independent decisions were allowed to be made in the process on each implication and associated skills by the unit leaders. For instance any addition to the core curriculum was to be made after considering the time factor and the management factor. While resource planning and allocation aspects were also considered there was much less effort on management and discipline of the adult students. Curriculum development and management process has received much wider attention in the adult education program in the North Canadian context while the change process associated with curriculum development and management in the rural context has received much less attention due to a host of difficulties that are necessarily associated with process dynamics including control and integration problems. For instance curriculum developers have often been confronted by diverse and complex problems like skills integration and special education. A process change effort that specifically targets these elements in the process of transformation has invariably to confront an uphill task. Virtually such changes need to be focused on with a parallel analysis of causative agents that independently and interdependently operate to achieve change. Currently available literature on the change agent process and the associated organizational process is limited in extent and at times is woefully inadequate to establish essential metrics for an in-depth evaluation though. For instance in respect of curriculum process change, the skills integration process has received much less attention and thus the subsequent inadequacies involving causality factors and metrics have to be identified and addressed to achieve a coherent methodology of presentation (Eisenberger, 2005). Some scholars have made a very good attempt to delineate these causal and resultant correlated outcomes with a view to integrating policy alternatives in education and design, planning and implementation in curriculum related process change. However the extent to which such efforts have succeeded has to be seen in the light of recent research in this sphere. Process change in the sphere of education in general and curriculum development and change in particular has been studied with specific focus on its creative validity as a neoliberal concept. This modernity trend has acquired a more formal dimension of considerable magnitude owing to the implications arising from such process change in informal adult educational settings. Recent research on endogenous factor influences on process change within adult educational environments has identified the existence of a cluster of variables that interact within the higher educational environment to produce unanticipated for outcomes. In the first place they are purely determined by context-centric factors such as the impact of government policy and coordinated response of the management to integration related problems. Secondly they are directly associated with skills integration rather than policy initiatives at the design level. Finally such variables as student performance and grade achievements have a direct impact on the process change outcomes. As a corollary of the above three variables, the subsequent government policy impact on the program manager's freedom to initiate change has been taken to a higher level of analysis by researchers so that process change outcomes and learning outcomes become synonymous in the practical context of the school environment. But nonetheless a few recent research efforts have gone so far as to include the impact analysis of a host of exogenous variables including the direct impact of the government policy in an otherwise indeterminate informal educational context. Indeed this impact along with its implications for resource planning, control and mobility has inevitably influenced the thinking on the part of the management as to how to realign school policy with the government policy in an effort to achieve school's own objectives (Appelbaum, and Alan, 1996). Other exogenous environmental influences - e.g. societal setting, cultural impact and competitive environment - have also been considered to present a more comprehensive outline of the literature review. Rural community-centered adult education programs are often influenced by resource shortages. This aspect has received much less attention even in the current literature. Change thus is associated with curriculum management and implementation needs at the community level. A comprehensive change process needs to be initiated with a view to achieving collateral synergies by way of efficiency in student performance and Human Resource planning, control and mobility among others. Though integration of skills and other immediate variables into the process was planned for initially, some structural and otherwise unanticipated for constraints began to emerge in the process among these North Canadian communities. One of the planned for outcomes was the integration of ICT related subjects into the core curriculum so that Canada's current requirements for IT skills could be met in the long run. While this process change in the core curriculum was partially successful owing to the commitment of the staff to undertake some special classes outside their regular teaching commitments, there were some unforeseen developments too. Co-curricular process change requires a considerable amount of HR planning, control and mobility. This dynamic process related problem was noticed to be one of the main hurdles in the current effort and the response on the part of the program managers and the teaching staff revolved around the immediate and primary categorization of teaching skills of the staff to integrate into the syllabus-specificities (Jones, 1986). Training & Development (T&D) of the staff needed special attention to go along with the special education skills requirement though. The problem was further exacerbated by a lack of other resource planning constraints encountered in the process of change. For instance while the policy initiative was in complete conformance with the planned for outcomes, there was very little structural support to bear the brunt of process change in the core curriculum. Indeed the integration process was successful to a certain extent when the subsequent HR planning and integration of teaching skills into the overall plan were factored into the equation. As the literature review points out a parallel analysis of these causative agents need to be undertaken in view of the fact that adult education planners didn't have a fully-fledged complement of HR resources and other non-HR resources to go along with the process initiative. Thus the conceptual theoretical construct of complementarity holds good to a certain extent in this analysis. Notwithstanding the above line of arguments, there is a paradigm of change in adult education and the teaching environment brought on by a proactive response by the management and the staff in the light of initiatives undertaken in response to outcomes directly related to the curriculum process change. This is none so well obvious than in the outcome related to the design and implementation phases of the adult education programs in North Canada. The program management adopted a well integrated process control technique that allowed the supervisory board to review the progress of the programs at regular intervals. Process control techniques involve such approaches as adopted at the design stage and the implementation stage. Continuous modification to process control measures and standards is a prerequisite for effective control and implementation. The supervisory board adopted a continuous watch over the unfolding scenario to ensure that the process control activity didn't go out of hand. The design parameters were carried out with full emphasis on this outcome though successful process control in itself isn't a guarantee against subsequent failure. But nonetheless successful process control in adult education programs enabled both the management and the staff to overcome some of the most obvious risks associated with implementation. For instance despite some resource constraints as explained above, the continuity of the program was ensured through frequent spreading of resources across a number of tasks. Indeed curriculum development has received some scholarly attention though the maverick efforts of some bold researchers who have gone into the neoliberal philosophy of creative energy and versatility to focus attention on possibilities beyond simple imagination have been paid less attention. With the process change in curriculum and program being implemented the core staff was required to take part in some of these activities during their off-work hours. Thus both integration and familiarization have had good results. These positively correlated outcomes, however, could not be put into metrics though. The instructor-student ratio of roughly 1/20 worked well for these positive outcomes as well. Next skills integration process has had its impact on the learning outcomes to such an extent that the teaching faculty could rarely resist the feeling that adult education programs created many opportunities because their real impact was on their ability to integrate well into the new environment created by the change. Skills such as those related to classroom management and effective lesson delivery need to receive special attention in curriculum process change efforts of the institute (Tai, 2006). There is a huge credibility deficit between these skills and the presence of skills differences in a classroom. It's this anomaly that has to be corrected in the informal lecture room context. The effective integration of teachers' skills into this complex and diverse environment serves as the raison d'tre for the justification of such positive approaches in adult education program design and planning processes. However the degree of diversity itself needs to be controlled within manageable limits. For instance there are highly advanced cases of non-response among mature adults. In such instances it's essential to have separate lectures. There have been some genuine efforts in North Canadian context to measure the outcomes related to student performance and grades have received much emphasis in the process change effort of the programs. Again in the absence of performance metrics to measure these outcomes there is no convincing evidence to prove that student performance and grades showed any improvement though overall many students have been able to achieve higher grades in tests and examinations held by both the institute and the government (Bandura, 1986). However there is a higher level of doubt whether to attribute this improvement to the sole efforts of authorities in charge of the program. . Several tests held during these programs showed better results by a wider cross section of the student body though it's too early to attribute these positive outcomes to the success of the new initiatives. During a five year stint the management of some programs in North Canada effectively divided the staff and resources among a variety of needs so that no division or section would receive more resources than what the any other division got. This was determined according to the headcount in each division or section. However there were severe physical resource constraints in science classes. For example a lack of science equipment in laboratories was noticed while the change process was in full swing. The direct impact of government's policies has to be examined against the backdrop of a continuing policy shift adopted by educational authorities in Canada right now. Both the federal and state authorities have been under pressure to come out with more adult student-oriented programs of study rather than those hackneyed programs that tentatively reduce the creative power and the performance capacity of students (Bong, 1997). It's against this backdrop that the outcomes of the process have to be tested. While many participants, i.e. almost 55% performed better in class-based weekly module tests and monthly tests, their overall performance grade didn't improve much. While the curricular activities showed a better and increased participation rate by many students during the heightened activity, there were some persistently visible absentees among more mature students. Their excuse was all too familiar "I'm sick or I'm unable to be present". Next development related to the curricula essentially calls for community support and their involvement in it through informal meetings and gatherings would reinforce the belief that the program has wider support. In other words the management must realize the importance of public relations in carrying out successful implementation. This is not only an imperative but also a norm that acquires an added dimension in an otherwise uncertain institute-centric activity. Some instituions enlisted parents' support at a variety of levels including those of the focus group level. The focus group in fact provided the most essential ingredient of expertise by commenting on the convergence and divergence parameters of the whole project. Finally the community level participation made it a wholly integrated project of success at the regional level. Right now there are many more institutions in many regions that have sought the expertise of North Canadian authorities to overcome some of their curriculum related bottlenecks (Maurer, 2001). Curriculums often need intervention by way of process change because they must not remain static over time. If they do there can be a lot of negative developments at the program level. In the first place North Canada was able to achieve some positive synergies in adult education curriculum management by increasing the participation rate those inactive students who previously thought that the school curriculum didn't give them an opportunity to develop their special skills. Adult education programs involve not only the changes to the conventional teaching of a defined curriculum but also the very methodology. The management sometime back seriously considered a proposal for the adoption of a curriculum process change and initiated an action plan with immediate effect. Though there were some shortcomings with regard to HR and other physical resources, the process was continued with some remarkable success in at least some of the critical spheres such as skills integration and core curriculum change to incorporate some of the special education needs of a sizeable segment of the student population. Definitely there has been a qualitative change. The process of transformation was continued with some success when student performance in tests, grades and other related synergies began to improve though such improvement cannot be directly attributed to the process change effort. Despite some constraints experienced in some aspects such as resources the institutions went on with the process change program for some years and finally achieved some positive outcomes (Robert, 1987). Some of the outcomes were directly related to the process change effort such as those of student participation in co-curricular activities. Above all the best achievement could be seen in integrating special education students with minor deficiencies into the normal classroom environment. Finally the effort acquired a regional dimension in that it became an example for other schools in the region. Right now what's so significant is the amount of interest that these programs have generated among a number of participants and outsiders whose continued interest has shown the extent to which has been a success. REFERENCES 1. Appelbaum, Steven H., and Hare Alan "Self-efficacy as a mediator of goal setting and performance: Some human resource applications", Journal of Managerial Psychology, 11.3(1996):33- 47 2. Bandura, Albert. Self-Efficacy in Changing Societies. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. 3. Bandura, Albert. "Self Motivation for Academic Attainment: The role of self efficacy beliefs and personal goal setting". American Educational Research Journal 29.3(1986):663-676. 4. Bong, M. "Congruence of measurement specificity on relations between academic self-efficacy, effort, and achievement indexes. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association Chicago, IL, 1997. 5. Eisenberger, Joanne. SELF -EFFICACY: Raising the Bar for All Students .2nd ed. New York: Eye on Education, 2005. 6. Gist, M.E. "Self-efficacy, a theoretical analysis of its determinants and malleability." Academy of Management Review. 17. 2 (1992): 183-211. 7. Jones, G.R. "Socialization tactics, Self-efficacy, and newcomers' adjustments to organizations". Academy of Management Journal 29.2(1986):262-79. 8. Maurer, Todd J., "Career-relevant learning and development, worker age, and beliefs about self- efficacy for development". Journal of Management, 27.2 (2001):123-140. 9. Robert, W.Lent."Career Self-efficacy: Empirical status and future directions". Journal of Vocational Behavior 30.3(1987):347-382. 10. Tai, Wei-Tao. "Effects of training framing, General self-efficacy and training motivation on trainees' training effectiveness". Journal of Personnel Review. 35.1(2006):51-65. Read More