3rd meeting of young researchers at UP 1 - IJUP - Universidade do ...

Self-efficacy in promoting lifelong learning
A. Bragança, J. M. Castro and J.L.Coimbra
Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Porto, Portugal.
Considering the central importance of promoting lifelong learning and taking into account the
investment of current policies in this area, research in this domain has increased significantly
its pertinence. This project aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the dimensions and
psychological processes involved in the practices of adult education, putting forward ideas that
may bring some implications for intervention developed particularly in the processes of
recognition, validation and certification of prior learning and Adult Education and Training.
The choice of self-efficacy as a central construct is related to the fact that adults participating
under the scope of the supply of educational / training programmes promoted by the New
Opportunities Initiative reveal that the commitment to learning in formal contexts is rarely the
outcome of prior learning recognition and certification. Given that people seek predictability
and degree of control over events that affect their lives, and taking into account the rapid and
permanent changes in today’s societies, with implications in the various dimensions of human
life, it seems easy to understand the challenges of adaptation individuals are confronted to. In
this sense, perceptions of self-efficacy are seen as extremely important to the understanding of
human functioning, being linked to the individual’s motivational, emotional and behavioral
systems. Therefore, self-efficacy beliefs have an important role on the eventual intrinsic
barriers to learning, since they refer to feelings of trust and security in the subject capacities to
participate in a particular action, in this case education or training. If the perceptions of selfefficacy
play an important role in the choices people make and in the degree of effort and
perseverance that they impute to them, these perceptions or beliefs should be considered when
we talk about career choices. Based in the conceptual background of the Social Cognitive
Career Theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994), this study aims to: a) understand the role of the
perceived self-efficacy in the construction of meaning made by adults with low levels of
schooling in relation to lifelong learning; b) understand whether there are differences in
perceptions of self-efficacy, taking into account two different types of education provision /
training; c) to evaluate the impact, at the level of sense of self-efficacy, of an intervention in
the field of career development with the purpose to foster lifelong career guidance. This project
is based in a mix method, with quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, using a
quasi-experimental design and a pre-test and post test scheme.
References:
[1] Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of
career and academic interest, choice, and performance [Monograph]. Journal of Vocational Behavior,
45, 79-122.
192 3 rd meeting of young researchers at UP