Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance of Secondary Schools Students in Perak: An Exploratory Outlook

Self-efficacy is an important entity in elevating someone to a better level. Without efficacy, individuals will not be able to face difficulties in life. In the context of secondary school students in Perak, there were different perspectives on self-efficacy between male and female students. Female students were more optimistic when facing difficulties in their studies compared to male students. This may be due to the nature of gender itself. They were inherently easier in putting trust to a certain degree higher than male students. Trust and confidence were easily developed among the female students. They easily absorb the words of encouragement and motivation given by teachers, parents and others to them. They can be easily shaped by the circumstances while male students were rather restricted to their original values. However, male students exhibited a higher level of efficacy in mathematics, computer and social science compared to the female students who had a higher level of efficacy in the literature and language. Although students were different in term of gender, the efforts to strengthen the quality of students' academic achievement in Malaysia should always be balanced without any comparison between students’ gender. Students’ success is our success. Their failure in academic should be overcomed so that the future of the state is not threatened by those who were reluctant to acquire knowledge.