Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools Using Social Learning Theory

The purpose of this desk research paper is to demonstrate the application of social learning theory to the field of education. According to the notion of social learning, people can pick up new behaviours by watching and copying the actions of others in social situations. It says that even in the lack of muscular reproduction or direct reinforcement, learning is a cognitive process that happens in a social setting and can happen only through observation or direct instruction. Vicarious reinforcement is the method via which learning happens when rewards and penalties are observed in addition to behaviour. Regular rewards for a given behaviour increase the likelihood that it will continue; on the other hand, frequent punishments increase the likelihood that a behaviour will stop. The idea stresses the significant roles of numerous internal processes in the learning individual, building upon classic behavioural theories that hold that behaviour is only controlled by reinforcements.