CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
All men are created equal and are entitled to certain liberties as citizens of the nation. One such liberty that all men have is to receive a free and appropriate education.

Despite educational initiatives and numerous efforts at the federal and state level, children from various demographic subgroups do not receive an equal education.

These tests have consistently shown gaps in achievement for certain groups of students.

Students from low-income homes, students who are not Caucasian, and students with disabilities score below their counterparts on academic assessments.

While some of the gaps have narrowed over time, the gap between students from low-income households grew 40% from the 1970s to 2000.

A report by Auguste, Hancock, & Laboissiere (2009) described how the achievement gap has resulted in untapped potential for American citizens year after year, which has led to a loss of hundreds of billions of dollars in potential economic gains.

In 2009, the poverty rate in the United States was 14.3% (Redd, Karver, Murphey, Moore, & Knewstub, 2011).
This percentage rose to 15.1% in 2010.

The percentages were even higher for certain types of families, with 40.7% of single-mother homes living in poverty.

In 2011, 46.2 million Americans were officially labeled as living in poverty, with 2.8 million children classified as living in extreme poverty (Coley & Baker, 2013).

This statistic is important for schools.

A report published by the National Education Association (2015) reported that American schools have experienced a continuous rise in the number of low-income students enrolled in its schools over the past few decades.

The National Education Association explained that addressing the achievement gap issue is of great importance socially, economically, and morally for the society and its citizens.

Students with low household income must be studied in order to understand how to help them counteract disadvantages.
Self-efficacy is construct which roughly corresponds with a person’s belief in his own competence.

It refers to the belief that one is capable of performing in a certain manner to attain a certain set of goals.

In academic setting, self-efficacy refers to a student’s belief that he can successfully enter into and complete a course of study.

It is an individual’s confidence in his ability to organize, execute, and regulate performance in order to solve a problem or accomplish a task at a designated level of skill and ability.

It deals with the belief system of the student; that he is capable of entering into an academic task and accomplish the course outcome (Redmond, 2013).

It therefore refers to a person’s conviction that he can successfully achieve at a designated level in a specific academic subject area.

The student believes that he has the competence needed in any academic exercise like completing assignments, reading hard and passing the course examinations and even meeting the requirements for going or moving to higher levels.
According to Bandura, Albert (1982) , Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in his or her innate ability to achieve goals.

Albert Bandura defines it as a personal judgment of “how well one can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations”.

Expectations of self-efficacy determine whether an individual will be able to exhibit coping behavior and how long effort will be sustained in the face of obstacles.

Individuals who have high self-efficacy will exert sufficient effort that, if well executed, leads to successful outcomes, whereas those with low self-efficacy are likely to cease effort early and fail.

Psychologists have studied self-efficacy from several perspectives, noting various paths in the development of self-efficacy; the dynamics of self-efficacy, and lack thereof, in many different settings; interactions between self-efficacy and self-concept; and habits of attribution that contribute to, or detract from, self-efficacy.

LKathy Kolbe adds, “Belief in innate abilities means valuing one’s particular set of connotative strengths.

It also involves determination and perseverance to overcome obstacles that would interfere with utilizing those innate abilities to achieve goals.
Self-efficacy affects every area of human endeavor.

By determining the beliefs a person holds regarding his or her power to affect situations, it strongly influences both the power a person actually has to face challenges competently and the choices a person is most likely to make.

These effects are particularly apparent, and compelling, with regard to behaviors affecting health.

The concept of self-efficacy is central to psychologist Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which emphasizes the role of observational learning, social experience, and reciprocal determinism in developing a personality.

According to Bandura, a person’s attitudes, abilities, and cognitive skills comprise what is known as the self-system.

This system plays a major role in how we perceive situations and how we behave in response to different situations.

Self-efficacy is an essential part of this self-system yourself, but whether or not you successfully achieve your goals in life.
The concept of self-efficacy is central to psychologist Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which emphasizes the role of observational learning, social experience, and reciprocal determinism in developing a personality.

According to Bandura, a person’s attitudes, abilities, and cognitive skills comprise what is known as the self-system.

This system plays a major role in how we perceive situations and how we behave in response to different situations.

Self-efficacy is an essential part of this self-system.

According to Albert Bandura, self-efficacy is “the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.”

In other words, self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation.

Bandura described these beliefs as determinants of how people think, behave, and feel. Since Bandura published his seminal 1977 paper, “Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change,” the subject has become one of the most studied topics in psychology.

Why has self-efficacy become such an important topic among psychologists and educators?

As Bandura and other researchers have demonstrated, self-efficacy can have an impact on everything from psychological states to behavior to motivation.

Our belief in our own ability to succeed plays a role in how we think, how we act, and how we feel about our place in the world. Self-efficacy also determines what goals we choose to pursue, how we go about accomplishing those goals, and how we reflect upon our own performance.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Poverty can create risk in every dimension of a child’s life” (Richardson, 2008).

Problems presented by disadvantages related to low household income continue across generations, creating a cycle of low academic attainment and persistent poverty.

Burney and Cross (2006) stated that there are intelligent students in low-income areas who have great potential, but these students may need extensive support in order to succeed academically.

These researchers explained how these students must be convinced of the potential to escape their financial circumstances and rise above poverty by receiving help to nurture their academic potential.

Education can be used as a method to help students from low-income homes achieve higher educational goals and increase the likelihood of economic success as adults.
Social Cognitive Career Theory is a set of beliefs about processes through which people make decisions regarding educational and career goals (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2000).

For many low-income students, financial aspects and environmental barriers prevent them from pursuing certain careers or college paths.

Additionally, impoverished students are in need of support to help them set higher academic and career goals and potentially break the cycle of poverty.

Educators must understand the beliefs of students from low-income homes to inform the unique needs of this population of students, which could lead to a solution to persistent academic and economic achievement gaps among students and families.
Career choices for primary education studies among University of Ilorin both sandwich and regular students is a contemporary issue to be discussed, this is because, many factors affecting self-efficacy in learning for the students, thus this study bridge the gap in-between employment between regular and sandwich students through the self-efficacy.
Problem of learning by self interest among regular and sandwich students needs to be suggest ways out for, as well on how to be employed with self-efficacy.

It is based on these problems that this study examined assessing self-efficacy for learning and employment between regular and sandwich students of primary education studies.

1.3 Purpose of the study
The specific purpose of this study is to assess self-efficacy for learning and employment between regular and sandwich students of primary education studies in University of Ilorin, Ilorin Nigeria.

The study is to;
i. Assess the self-efficacy for learning among regular and sandwich degree students
ii. Assess the self-efficacy of employment among regular and sandwich degree students
iii. Establish whether there is significant difference in self-efficacy for learning and employment among regular and sandwich degree students