More than just a prop forward: Investigating the self‐efficacy of the student and the athlete

Abstract

Student-athletes face pressures different to their non-athletic peers. This difference has resulted in lower graduation rates overall, and particularly low graduation rates in some universities. Using a framework of social cognitive theory, reciprocal determinism and self-efficacy, this study investigated the academic and athletic self-efficacy of student-athletes in one New Zealand high school. The qualitative case study used data from semi-structured interviews of six students at a secondary, all boys, decile nine, public school. Interview data were analysed through a thematic analysis to establish salient themes that illustrate the experience of those six students at this point in time. Findings suggest that students hold a high value for the input of their teachers and coaches; students recalled differing affective states for classroom and athletic situations; students noted how their individual self-efficacy was different to their group self-efficacy; and that different students allowed different levels of environmental influence on their self-efficacy. The research supports claims that teachers and sport coaches make an important contribution to student-athlete's selfefficacy beliefs. Teachers and coaches promote self-efficacy by creating efficacious classroom and sporting environments that both engage with the affective domain and recognise that individual student-athletes will develop self-efficacy through a range of different sources. In addition, both coaches and teachers would benefit by focussing on how environment, personal factors and behaviour interact to strengthen self-efficacy beliefs.