Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory[1] is predicated on the notion that people tend to develop and learn behaviors by observing others around them. Social Learning Theory is alive and well in any school. Schools are social intensive. People rely on one another to learn something new or look to others for what the socially acceptable cues within a school are. This is why, successful or unsuccessful practice dominates any school or organization one walks into. The people within the microcosm of where they work or learn are constantly gathering data in their minds as to how they should act or perform to be considered socially accepted by the majority. This impacts the self-efficacy of every individual within the organization. Self-efficacy is one’s personal belief in his or her ability and competence to perform in a given or future situation. In a school turnaround context, it boils down to finding ways to build an individual’s (students, teachers, & leaders) confidence in his or her ability to achieve goals and success that may have never been experienced before.
Bandura frames Social Learning Theory into four areas that lend themselves naturally to any school.
Performance Accomplishments (past mastery experiences)
Bandura argues that the most effective way of developing a strong sense of self-efficacy is through mastery experiences. Teachers or students who have previous experience with success in teaching/learning have more confidence to complete similar tasks (high self-efficacy) than those who do not (low self-efficacy). Utilizing data to demonstrate cause-effect relationships helps teachers or students identify and link their new actions to desired outcomes. This can be accomplished by guiding them to self-recognition of how a change in practice correlates to improvement in some type of tangible achievement; i.e. formative assessment results and meeting incremental goals/milestones after the utilization of a newly introduced practice. This all needs to occur within a school culture of self-correction in which missteps and failure are viewed as part of the process for achieving goals.
Vicarious Experience (modeling by others)
When a teacher or student observes a peer successfully completing a task, they will feel more confident they can also successfully complete a similar task. Modeling by others is a highly effective strategy when attempting to implement system-wide change throughout a school. The savvy turnaround leader finds teachers who can model the behavior or skill he or she knows is a research-based best practice and provides structures and protocols that allow for extended periods of peer-to-peer interaction amongst groups of teachers. Change in a school happens faster when it grows organically from teachers’ or students’ peers than from any other source. It is the task of a school leader to develop methods to cultivate a school culture that will support professional social interactions amongst teachers and students. This can happen by flexing time or structuring meetings that focus on teachers leading the solutions toward a school’s goals. For students, it involves teachers designing lessons that are based on an inquiry approach to learning and teaching. According to Bandura[2], “Seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises observers’ beliefs that they too possess the capabilities master comparable activities to succeed.” Don’t forget, the leader needs to constantly model the desired behavior that teachers and students are learning from. If the leader successfully models encouragement and support, staff and students are more likely to embrace these approaches. This is fundamental to building a culture that is supportive and focused on everyone being a life-long learner.
Social Influences (coaching & feedback)
Teachers and students can be persuaded to believe that they have the skills necessary to successfully complete a task with proper coaching and feedback. Frequent positive encouragement paired with feedback that focuses on what an individual needs to correct in order to overcome an obstacle is a powerful method for building self-efficacy. The effectiveness is multiplied when strategic coaching and teaching that is directly linked immediately follow the task-related feedback to an individual’s goals. This acts as a method of convincing others that they have the ability to succeed at the particular task and can quickly develop self-efficacy. When principals are confident that their teachers can successfully perform a task, they perform at a higher level. The same holds true for teachers’ confidence in students’ ability to complete a task or accomplish a goal.
Individual Emotional & Physical Well Being
The emotional, physiological and psychological response of an individual can influence their level of perceived self-efficacy. This is the most important area of Bandura’s Social Learning Theory in my opinion. A teacher or student who expects to fail at a task, or finds the task too demanding will experience a set of emotional cues; i.e. anxiety, embarrassment, etc. If these physiological cues are persistent and severe enough, they contribute to a sense of weak self-efficacy in the person. These emotional cues will likely lead to teachers and students shying away from challenges and setting goals that are easy to obtain. Their confidence level in their ability to meet or exceed increased expectations will flounder without support. School leaders should strive to take a proactive approach in providing a safe school environment that encourages teachers and students to take risks and pursue innovative practices without fear of “having to getting it right” on the first attempt. Nothing will grow in a school culture that is toxic and not collaborative in nature.
Successful, sustainable change is all about shaping the beliefs of people in their ability to obtain goals that may have never accomplished before. A successful turnaround leader understands that the role of a principal is to create conditions where teachers and students are in position to learn from the experiences of their peers.
[1] Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
[2] Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In V. S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 71-81). New York: Academic Press. (Reprinted in H. Friedman [Ed.], Encyclopedia of mental health. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998).
Scott is a proven school and district leader with 23 years of experience. He has led the turnaround of five different urban schools in Florida transforming their cultures into high functioning systems that produced record breaking results in student achievement and teacher performance. Scott is available to consult with schools, districts, and organizations to create a focused strategy that will lead to improved results, increased engagement, and overall results. He can be contacted at sneil@schoolleadershipsolutions.com
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