Alvin Toffler, an
American writer and futurist, stated, “The illiterate of 21st
century will not be those who can not read and write but those who cannot
learn, unlearn, and relearn”. It is about the future human in information age. The
Information Age, also commonly known as the Digital Age, is an idea that the
current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer
information freely, and to have instant access to information that would have
been difficult or impossible to find previously. It is assumed that all people
in the world are able to read and write. Ironically, in the present day we
still face a number of illiterate. According to data from UNESCO’s Institute
for Statistics (2011), 793 million adults –most of them girls and women- are
illiterate.
Indonesia, and eight other countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India,
Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan) are home to over two-thirds of the world’s adult
illiterates and more than half the planet’s out-of-school children.
In West Java, Indonesia,
specifically in Jatinangor, I found a group of 30-40 year old illiterate women
who learned to read and write. Everyday after finishing their housework, they
gathered at one member’s home and started the class. In another location, I
found a group consists of young adults aged 18-21 who dropped out of high
school. They dropped out because of lack of financial support. Then they
continued to study in a non formal school, which free of charge, named Kejar
Paket C (Study Group Package C) at PKBM (Pusat Kegiatan Belajar Masyarakat or community
learning centre) Linuhung. Study Group Package C is a non-formal education program
organized by Department of National Education Indonesia which equivalent to
senior high school. Either the first group (illiterate women) or the second
group (dropout students) is a group of learner, no matter how old they are. It
is argued that they had something motivated them to learn, to achieve, to
succeed. What kind of psychological state that underlies and affects the learning
process?
It is commonly understood
that sometimes we give more attention to the outcome of learning -either success
or failure-, than the process. I do believe that the meaning of success or
failure experience depends on our perspective, appraisal, comparison, and other
factors. For some people, success or failure experience can influence their
whole life. In this present case, how did the students of PKBM Linuhung
interpret the school dropout? Did they perceive it as a failure, although the main
reason was financial factor not their academic skills? However, school dropout
brings various impacts to adolescents who experience it. Some students told me
they felt sad because their parents couldn’t afford the school tuition. Their
decision to quit from school made them disappointed. They also felt ashamed for
not getting a job. It was obvious that they identified dropout experience as an
unexpected experience.
Adolescence is a
vulnerable age, which self-identity established. Erik H. Erikson (1968) refers
to adolescence as a time of identity crisis. This age is a developmental stage
of instability. This period presents a new challenge, namely the transition of
biological, educational, and social roles. One of the vulnerabilities in this
stage is experienced failure in the transition period to adulthood. Failure
experiences can be a pressure for teenagers. It can be failures in school,
relationship, peers, etc. Frequent failures increase problem behavior of
adolescent. Adolescents not only have to cope with changes in puberty but also
through the transition period of education (Bandura, 1997). During this
adaptation period, adolescents experience problem of self-control, confidence,
and self motivation. (Eccles & Midgley, 1989, in Bandura, 1997).
Based on above
explanation, it is questioned how the students of PKBM Linuhung did the program.
In some visits to the PKBM Linuhung, I saw their enthusiasm. They expressed big
curiosity, though few of them prefer to be passive students. It is believed the
success of learning relate to how much our effort and how strong our confidence
to succeed. Deep inside the self, there is self-efficacy belief that responsible
for learning success. Bandura (1997) defined perceived self-efficacy as beliefs
in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to
produce given attainments. Self-efficacy theory suggests that person’s belief
in his capacity to learn will influence his participation in learning.
According to Bandura (1997), the past experiences play a key role in building
the present self-efficacy. There have been many studies showing the
relationship between self-efficacy beliefs with student achievement. Pajares
and Miller (1994) reported that math self-efficacy has a direct and positive
effect on mathematical problem solving abilities. Graham and Weiner (1996)
concluded from their research in psychology and education that self-efficacy
has proven to be a more consistent predictor of behavioral outcome than other
motivational constructs.
There
area four major sources of self-efficacy such as mastery experience, vicarious
experience, social persuasions, and physiological states. Self-mastery
experience is the most influential source of self-efficacy beliefs. Success raises
self-efficacy; failure lowers it. Vicarious experience is significant model’s
experience which can inspire individual self-belief. Individuals also create
and develop self-efficacy beliefs as a result of the social messages or social
persuasions they receive from others. Physiological states such as anxiety,
stress, arousal, fatigue, and mood states also provide
information about efficacy beliefs.
According to my research
(2008), more over half students of Study Group Package C Education Program at
PKBM Linuhung had high self-efficacy. The result was depicted a range of
self-efficacy degree from low to high. Self-efficacy belief was appeared in students
learning behavior, i.e. they set goals higher, had strong commitment to achieve,
stayed calm in coping difficult situation, and chose a challenging task. They
believed that they could complete the program successfully. Dropouts experience
didn’t mean an obstacle in academic achievement. The major source of their
self-efficacy was vicarious experience. They took friend’s success story as a
reference. They said, “If he/she can do it, then can I”. Finally, they proved what
they said : all of them graduated. A few months later, their tutor showed me
the scores. The score level aligned with self-efficacy degree, respectively. It seems
clearly that self-efficacy correlate with academic achievement, although
further research in non formal education is still required. It has been
accepted for conclusion that self-efficacy belief plays a significant role
within individual learning process.
Learning
is a never ending process. There is always something new in our life to be
learned, either higher education or literacy skills. Perhaps failure in our
past can be an obstacle but we always have a choice to fail or succeed. We have
personal belief, self-efficacy, that lead us to actualize our choice.
***
References :
Bandura,
A. 1994. Self-efficacy. In V.S. Ramachaudran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behaviour (Vol.4, pp.71-81). New York:
Academic Press. (Reprinted in H. Friedman [Ed.], Encyclopedia of mental health.
San Diego: Academic Press, 1998)
_________.
1997. Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of
Control. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company
Erikson,
E. H. 1968. Identity Youth and Crisis.
New York : Norton Company
Karyana,
E. 2005. Skripsi. Hubungan Antara
Self-efficacy Dengan Eksplorasi dan Komitmen Dalam Proses Pencapaian Identitas
Bidang Pekerjaan Pada Remaja Akhir. Bandung: Universitas Padjadjaran
Kumala,
M. M. 2008. Skripsi. Self-efficacy Dalam Menuntaskan Pendidikan Paket C Pada
Warga Belajar PKBM Linuhung Jatinangor. Bandung: Universitas Padjadjaran
Mar’at,
Samsunuwijati, Dr. & Dra. Juke Roosjati Siregar. 1986. Diktat Pengantar Psikologi Perkembangan. Bandung: Fakultas
Psikologi Universitas Padjadjaran.
Online
references:
Bandura,
Albert. 2005. Self-Efficacy Beliefs of
Adolescents, 1-43. Information Age Publishing.
Darlan,
H.M. Norsanie. 2007. Peran Tenaga PLS
Merupakan Salah Satu Upaya Menuntaskan Wajib Belajar 9 Tahun Bagi Masyarakat
Desa Tertinggal. www.depdiknas.go.id/jurnal/32/editorial.htm
Zimmerman,
Barry J. & Timothy J. Cleary. 2006. The
Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Self-Regulatory Skill. Information Age
Publishing.
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