Disciplinary Confidence: Reflecting on Student Confidence in our Subjects
By Oli Aston
Is students’ varying levels of confidence across different subjects simply their perception or is there more to it?
We are aware of the term disciplinary literacy: the idea that each subject domain has its own bank of vocabulary and distinct way of knowing required for thriving in that subject area. However, in addition to this, students also possess disciplinary confidence: courage to try (even though failure is a possibility) in specific subject domains. From experience this does differ for students across the timetable. Some students may feel as though they are thriving in Geography, but in Science, they are really struggling.
Is this ‘lack of confidence’ only a perception or does it exist in reality?
Secondary school students move from lesson to lesson throughout the day, where each way of knowing and set of tier 3 vocabulary is distinct, yet absolutely crucial to access the curriculum. Similarly, students’ confidence also adapts to their perceived level of confidence and competency in our subject. Confidence in our subjects is crucial to access the curriculum and now requires a time of reflection on how we build it in our learners.
It is often easy to forget I think (as educators who teach in a permanent space and are subject specialists) the demands of moving around a large building, adapting to five different adults and five different subjects in just one day (this is in addition to all of the drama a teenager generally deals with in a day, too!). Of course, we want students to give their all in our lesson, positively contributing, rising to the challenges we set and to give us their full attention for the duration of time they are in front of us.
But, how easy is it for students to do this, consistently, five lessons a day?
Admittedly, learning about the different types of magisterium and the kenotic hymn in Religious Education can be challenging. You’ll have your own examples of challenging and thought-provoking content in the subject that you teach. However, as educators who teach to the top and build an environment inclusive for all, we must reflect on the approaches we take to building not only subject knowledge but also confidence in our learners.
Confidence comes from security. When our students feel secure and safe we know that this gives a degree of confidence and comfort. Our students need to trust us and these relationships that we build are firm foundations for that. As educators, when we attend meetings with other professionals we are probably more likely to contribute, share ideas and engage with discussions when we are in spaces and with people we feel comfortable to do so.
A feeling of security in our classroom, I think, comes from a consistent implementation of school policies. When students know that rules are adhered to in our classrooms they contribute because the boundaries are known and their trust in us is established. Our young people have unique and insightful ideas that absolutely should be contributed to our discussion for a rich experience for all! However, how confident our students are, and how we assess over/under confidence in our learners can be difficult. Ultimately, this understanding comes from really knowing the learners in front of us and their needs that evolve as they grow and develop.
The confidence we support in our students has wider benefits too. The Educational Endowment Fund (EEF) emphasise the importance of students feeling valued, known and loved (something I believe confidence supports with) due to its wider benefits of increased attendance to school. As we are aware, support with attendance is crucial for success, especially as the UK Government stated that ‘pupils with higher absence over key stage 4 (year ten to year eleven) had lower GCSE attainment in 2019.’
Despite this, the Educational Development Trust (EDT) promote a ‘sense of belonging’ as a part of a solution to increasing attendance. When all educators, holistically, take responsibility for promoting this sense of belonging in and out of classrooms, some barriers that stop students from being in our classroom can be removed- or at least worked towards being removed. The biggest takeaway I had from the EDT’s work on this that I think is important for all educators to be reminded of was the importance of students feeling included and known personally. We are all responsible for building an inclusive environment and this goes a long way in supporting student confidence in our subject/s.
I reflect on my own experiences and when teaching boys specifically building confidence levels in learners is paramount for success. I find overconfidence in certain students to be a mask for sometimes low self esteem or failure to get things wrong. I know that sometimes young people would rather not give a task a go out of fear for getting things wrong. When students are feeling this vulnerable, it is our responsible to guide them through the process of building their confidence. I find that by attempting to understand confident levels in my learners gives me a valuable insight into them as learners and the next steps we need to take to support progress.
The UK Government also published a research briefing that included strikingly worrying accounts of school outcomes for boys. The figures can be seen here and represent a clear split between boys and girls attainment. Therefore, further consideration should be given to how we can support our male learners given the gap between them and their peers. I have found Boys Don’t Try? and The Boy Problem by Matt Pinkett and Mark Roberts to be excellent sources of inspiration. The practical strategies, informed by research, in these books are give clear guidance on how we can guide our male learners to success.
In our distinct subject areas, we must consider the approaches we take to engage all learners and promote confidence in all. Students will be coming into our classrooms with a perceived level of confidence that maybe different than their lesson before. It is difficult to measure confidence and so we must personalise our approaches to students based on their individual needs. Our priority for supporting student confidence is to know them. For some learners, a part of being overconfident can help them through the process of trying and learning from their mistakes, which without it, would mean that they wouldn’t have given the task ago.
On the other hand, for other learners we need to be careful to not overwork their confidence so that they avoid having a false sense of security. I suppose the challenge for us now is to reflect: how confident are our learners and what does this mean for where we go next? We also need to be compassionate and remind ourselves of the challenges students.
Disciplinary confidence exists. But with inspiring educators like yourself, can be nurtured to enable students to realise their fullest potential.
You can read more HWRK Magazine articles by OIi Aston here.
