Predicting self-efficacy in light of school Engagement for gifted students at the secondary stage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The study aimed to determine the predictive ability of school engagement and self-efficacy among gifted students in the city of Riyadh, and to identify the significance of differences in the level of school engagement and self-efficacy among gifted students due to the variables of gender and grade. The study used the descriptive approach, and the sample consisted of (350) gifted male and female students, who were randomly selected from schools in the city of Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The school engagement scale, prepared by Tarabiyah (2016), and the academic self-efficacy scale, prepared by Al-Shaboul (2016) were used. The results showed that two dimensions of school engagement (cognitive and behavioral) were able to predict self-efficacy among gifted students, as they together predicted (47.3%) of the variance. The results also showed that there were no statistically significant differences in school engagement and self-efficacy among gifted students attributable to the gender variable and the interaction between gender and grade, while it was found that there were statistically significant differences attributable to the academic grade variable, in favor of the third year of secondary school and the first year of secondary school. Based on the results, the study recommended increasing attention to educating gifted students in Saudi Arabia about school engagement and its positive effects on self-efficacy, and including activities that focus school engagement and self-efficacy in the school curriculum.