Students’ confidence in their learning is supported by their good academic performance and by effective and positive feedback provided by their teachers. There are many benefits of students gaining more confidence about their learning. By being confident about their skills and knowledge, students can more easily move up the ladder called education, they can be greater risk-takers in solving more complex science or mathematics problems and be more creative in writing English or history essays.
The relationship between the learning process and confidence is of a symbiotic nature. Acquiring more skills and knowledge provides students with confidence which in turn triggers a more productive learning process. Having confidence in your skills or subject knowledge is also closely linked to inquiry based learning which is key to our teaching and learning processes at TBS. Only by gaining sufficient confidence about our own skills will we have enough courage to attempt the unknown and enter the process of exploration and discovery. An inquiry based exercise might not result in expected and well known answers and many obstacles can be faced on the road to a meaningful conclusion. And this is why a student must be confident that in the process of discovery it is not the so called “correct outcome” that is the most important part of this educational journey but the journey itself.
Finally, while gaining more confidence in ourselves, we also become better at reflecting on our work, our mistakes and our successes while exploring the question of what could be done differently next time. Thus, we can say that building confidence in themselves leads our students to become reflective thinkers and inquiring risk-takers, something that is integral to our teaching and learning process at TBS. Being a confident learner also helps students with their physical and psychological well-being and provides them with the social and leadership skills needed in their current and future lives.
Dr Jacek Łatkowski
Vice Principal