Practitioner efficacy

One often hears about the importance of learners increasing their self-efficacy (the belief that they can succeed at a task) because it impacts their motivation to persist in learning. However, the importance of instructor-efficacy and the impact it has on the adults' learning is often not discussed. Practitioners can incorporate many of the effective instructional characteristics into their programs, but if they exhibit a low teacher-efficacy then good instructional principles will have less impact on the learners.

The following factors of practitioner-efficacy can impact on learners' motivation to succeed. Practitioners should:

• Exhibit a sense of personal accomplishment and view teaching as meaningful and important.
• Hold positive expectations for learners' behaviour and achievements.
• Feel personal responsibility for students' learning, accept accountability and show a willingness to examine performance.
• Plan for students' learning and identify instructional and learner strategies.
• Feel good about teaching, about themselves, and about learners.
• Believe they can influence students' learning.
• Develop a joint venture with learners to accomplish goals.
• Involve learners in making decisions regarding goals and strategies.⁵

A high level of practitioner-efficacy can lend to a positive learning environment. This creates an excellent foundation for encouraging learners to be open about their needs and to build trust in the practitioner and learner relationship. Often learners have had negative experiences with school and need to see that the current learning environment is different. As learners acknowledge the difference and begin to feel safe in the current environment, they become more receptive to sharing their learning needs and more willing to engage in active learning.