Stimulating Academic Optimism: An Instrument to Effective Teaching and Learning

Introduction

Since 2006, the construct of Academic Optimism (AO) has been studied as a latent construct comprising three interrelated factors given a fair and orderly environment, i.e. academic emphasis, collective sense of efficacy, and faculty trust towards students and their parents. It has been considered a way of dominating school characteristics which defines teachers’ belief in self and others. AO explains that a teacher can make a difference in the academic performance of students by emphasizing academic subjects and learning, by trusting parents and students to cooperate in the process, and by believing in his or her own capacity to overcome difficulties and react to failure with resilience and perseverance.

With an increasing number of researchers operating in this field, it becomes imperative to identify the development and set a baseline of the literature in this field and to recommend the future scope of research. The authors have presented a summary of the literature review on the topic of Academic Optimism and its sub-dimensions to understand the potential gaps in the literature. The primary purpose of this literature review was to provide the current status of published research in the field of Academic Optimism and also to draw the attention of the researchers towards possible unexplored areas by suggesting a future agenda for research. This literature review will help future scholars and researchers to understand the development of Academic Optimism in the last 18 years as this research paper reviews the literature published in the various academic journals from 2001 to 2019. To date, no integrated literature review paper has been conducted on the topic of Academic Optimism; therefore this paper will contribute and add value to the ongoing research.

Therefore, this research aims to provide a review of the conceptual and quantitative studies on Academic Optimism and its correlation with different behavioral variables. Specifically, the chapter seeks to signify and evaluate the studies on the grounds of approach, content, and methodology to highlight the trend in this field. It intends to provide a single platform by summarizing the different categorization structures in the literature in order to help practitioners and academicians implement best practices in existing education policies. The present bibliometric analysis of ‘academic optimism’ will add value to ongoing research in two ways: first it adds value in understanding what the conceptual gaps are in the literature; second, the gaps identified will pave the way for future research. It also highlights what factors affects teachers’ belief system, so that human resource practices and policies can be reframed, specifically for training programs. Further, this study disproves the belief that socio economic status of students play major a role in student achievement.