Browsing by Subject "opetussuunnitelman taustaideologiat"

Objectives. The theoretical basis of this research is the concept of self-efficacy introduced by Albert Bandura. Self-efficacy means a person’s estimate of his or her capability to learn and to execute the courses of action required in a particular situation or task. Mastery experiences and social feedback have been shown to be important factors in the building of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy plays an important role in an individual’s development, and its impact on a person’s motivation, self-regulation and academic achievement has proved to be even stronger than the impact of one’s actual skills. Supporting individuals’ self-efficacy can make them capitalize their potential, and thus increase the equality of opportunity in society. School is an essential agent when it comes to the development of children’s self-efficacy, and the national core curriculum is the key document guiding teachers in their work. For this research, the national core curriculum of 2014 for the year groups 1-6 was examined from the viewpoint of the self-efficacy theory, and of how teachers can enhance self-efficacy in pupils. Methods. The analysis of the national core curriculum was conducted using Atlas.ti analysing program for qualitative research. Sentences referring to some component of self-efficacy, or to some means of supporting it, were collected from the curriculum. The incidences of the various components, and means of support, were qualified in order to get their total numbers. Furthermore, concepts close in meaning to self-efficacy were gathered. Results and conclusions. Although the concept of self-efficacy only comes up in the curriculum twice, concepts close in meaning appear fairly frequently. Sentences addressing the components of self-efficacy, or means of supporting it, cover 16.7 % of the curriculum text. Nevertheless, the sentences collected from the curriculum did not form a coherent theory of self-efficacy or means of supporting it. Interesting topics for further research would be to investigate to what extent teachers are familiar with the theory of self-efficacy, and what methods they use to enhance positive self-efficacy in their pupils.