Acquiring professional skills depending on the type of support autonomy, psychological mediators and motivation

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive power of autonomy support, psychological mediators and self-determined motivation on professional competence. METHOD. The sample was composed of 241 Spanish undergraduate students enrolled in a Physical Education degree, attending a Spanish University, with aged between 20 and 34 years old. The instruments administered were Student’s Perception about the Autonomy Support, Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale in Education, Academic Motivation Scale and Professional Competence Scale. Descriptive statistics, such as means and standard deviations were calculated. Also, the internal consistency of each factor and bivariate correlations for all variables were calculated. A linear regression analysis was used to determine if student´s perception of autonomy support, basic psychological needs and academic motivation predicted the perceived professional competence. RESULTS. The results show a significant positive correlation between all variables (autonomy support, basic psychological needs, academic motivation, and professional competence). It was predicted that 30% of explained variance where academic motivation was the most predictive factor the perceived professional competence. DISCUSSION. So, these results show the importance of developing teaching styles which offer opportunities and choices to students, increasing their motivation to learn, and make them feel more competent to perform their work in a professional environment.