IMPLICATIONS
THE
IMPORTANCE OF SELF-ESTEEM AND THE IMPLICATIONS
FOR TEACHERS
Self-esteem is the sum and substance of one's feelings and thoughts
about who we are and as such is of great importance.
Self-esteem is the foundation that we build the rest of us on.
Self-esteem, or one's sense of worth, is often fragile and sensitive to events that happen on a day-to-day basis.
Self-esteem is critical for individuals to think about and be able to take advantage of strengths and for learning from mistakes (metacognition).
Healthy self-esteem is an essential component for learning. Regardless of age, the self-esteem of a learner facilitates or inhibits learning.(Solomon 1992)
Learning is growth - intellectual, physical, psychological, social, spiritual and combinations of those. In every aspect of this learning process there is the potential to damage, maintain or increase self-esteem. Self-esteem in most students 'mirrors' the appraisals of others, in particular parents and teachers. Teachers views clearly affect learners achievements. Positive appraisals over an extended time tend to increase the level of learning. Prolonged or consistent negative appraisals tend to lower learning achievement. Students tend to perform in accordance with teacher expectations and treatment - self-fulfilling prophecy (Loomans & Loomans 1994).
Teachers find
that students with low self-esteem exhibit
some or all of the following characteristics:
learning problems
social and emotional problems
behaviour problems
unstable home lives
high absenteeism
frequent illness
The wide range of experiences a student has while going through school - scholastic, athletic, social, emotional - all constitute input to his or her self-esteem development. Every success and failure, together with the reactions of peers, parents and teachers to these experiences, will contribute significantly to the students self-worth, self-confidence, self-reliance and self-competence (Robb & Letts 1995).
As teachers we can be instrumental in creating a classroom environment which nurtures and supports students developing self-esteem. This can be achieved by modeling to students that mistakes are part of the learning process for both children and adults. It is important to empower and skill students to assess their achievements in a positive productive manner. This creates autonomous learners. Students need to be encouraged to develop support systems both within and outside of the classroom so that they feel confident to take risks in their learning.
