Introduction
A person’s external worldview and inner self-beliefs are formed under the influence of social institutions, one of which is the educational process, such as school, college, or university. Teachers regularly encounter students with diverse backgrounds and different outlooks on life, which are usually critical personal traits. However, some students may experience learning difficulties due to low self-esteem and a lack of confidence in their abilities. The teacher’s responsibility is to help students change their self-beliefs, which interfere with the educational process and constrain their abilities. In contrast, students’ worldviews on the surrounding reality should be their right.
Teachers’ Responsibility to Help Students Change Their Beliefs
A responsible teacher should, first of all, be impartial and try to avoid influencing their students’ worldview. Such responsible behavior can be expressed as a lack of pressure on the students’ political, religious, social, or any other beliefs. Respect for personal opinions and students’ self-expression should be fundamental for teachers (Florian & Camedda, 2020). However, if a student demonstrates a lack of confidence, low self-esteem, or expectation of failure, the teacher should intervene and help them improve their self-belief. A high degree of control in such a situation is justified by the future benefit to the student and the learning process, since self-beliefs can play a significant role in academic successes and failures.
Beliefs about oneself are a factor that directly affects academic performance. According to Bandura’s theory, self-image is a part of the personal component, which is fundamental in how the student will respond to the learning process (Bruning et al., 2011).An important non-identical factor of self-esteem and self-conceit is the concept of self-efficacy, which is related to the extent to which people perceive themselves as capable of solving a problem within a defined domain (Bruning et al., 2011).
The self-efficacy score consists of several factors, but it directly indicates whether a student will take on a particular task or not.The area of responsibility of the teacher in this case is cognitive modulation, aimed at gently increasing the expectations of students for themselves (Bruning et al., 2011).This approach promotes the assimilation of new skills, the mitigation of fears of mistakes, and, as a result, improved learning. Thus, the teacher must intervene in students’ self-representation to improve learning abilities and enhance academic performance.
Another argument supporting the concept that teachers should be responsible for students’ self-beliefs is motivation for learning. Student motivation is a complex phenomenon that is primarily influenced by self-perception. Motivation is the inner process that maintains goal-directed behavior (Matteucci et al., 2022).
Adequate self-esteem provokes the ability to act, which is the central aspect of motivation. Students with healthy self-esteem feel they can easily start new activities, which is essential for learning (Munna & Kalam, 2021). Such students have realistic expectations of themselves and are consistent with the final goal.
The self-confidence and perseverance that people with healthy self-esteem demonstrate allow them to stay motivated to work longer. The lack of motivation can be low self-esteem, distorted ideas about self-efficacy, and disbelief in one’s strengths. If a student is not sufficiently motivated to learn, a teacher is responsible for increasing involvement to raise the student’s interest. Thus, a teacher must identify and address this problem to help students overcome negative perceptions and become more interested in learning.
Teachers should be responsible for positively changing students’ beliefs about themselves since insufficient self-esteem and inadequately low or high self-expectations can negatively affect students’ mental health. Low self-esteem is one of the risk factors for developing poor mental health, while positive self-esteem is a mental protective factor that allows a person to deal with stress more effectively (Mofatteh, 2021).
Children and young people with low self-esteem have a higher lifetime risk of developing mental diseases such as depression (Mofatteh, 2021). Mental problems that are the result of low self-esteem are complex to correct; therefore, lowering risk factors and timely recognition of symptoms are of particular importance. Since self-esteem is formed mainly under the influence of the environment, a teacher can become the person who will help focus on an adequate self-image or model higher self-esteem in students. Thus, early recognition of low self-esteem symptoms can significantly reduce the chance of depressive disorders during their lifetime, so teachers should be responsible for helping students improve their self-beliefs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, educators ought to assist students in reshaping their self-perceptions, but such guidance should focus solely on self-concept and not influence their worldview.Intervention and assistance are needed since students’ self-image directly affects the success of the educational process. Motivation also becomes highly dependent on self-beliefs, as students with low expectations may be less interested in learning. Finally, low self-esteem is a risk factor for the development of mental problems, so teachers must learn to recognize and address inadequate self-beliefs.
References
Bruning, R. H., Norby, M. M., & Schraw, G. J. (2011). Cognitive psychology and instruction. Pearson.
Florian, L., & Camedda, D. (2020). Enhancing teacher education for inclusion. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(1), 4-8. Web.
Matteucci, G., Guyoton, M., Mayrhofer, J. M., Auffret, M., Foustoukos, G., Petersen, C. C., & El-Boustani, S. (2022). Cortical sensory processing across motivational states during goal-directed behavior. Neuron, 110(24), 4176-4193. Web.
Mofatteh, M. (2021). Risk factors associated with stress, anxiety, and depression among university undergraduate students. AIMS Public Health, 8(1), 36-65. Web.
Munna, A. S., & Kalam, M. A. (2021). Teaching and learning process to enhance teaching effectiveness: A literature review. International Journal of Humanities and Innovation (IJHI), 4(1), 1-4. Web.