The relationship between lifelong learning tendencies and perceptions of self-efficacy of teacher candidates (The case of Sakarya University)

In this study, it was aimed to determine whether the relationship between lifelong learning tendencies and perceptions of self-efficacy of third- and fourth-year university students and pedagogical formation students who are studying at Faculty of Education in Sakarya University during the fall semester of 2019-2020 academic year differs in terms of department, grade, gender and types of high school graduated. "General Self-Efficacy Scale" was used to determine the self-efficacy of teacher candidates, and "Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale" was used to determine their lifelong learning tendencies. According to the findings obtained from the analysis, the difference in department variable affects the openness to improvement sub-dimension of the tendency to lifelong learning of the Faculty of education students. It was also found that the departments of teacher candidates affected the initiative sub-dimension of self-efficacy. As a result of the tests conducted, the differentiation in the departments of the students in pedagogical formation education was determined to affect both their perceptions of self-efficacy and their tendency to lifelong learning. While the departments of pedagogical formation students affected all sub-dimension of the tendency to lifelong learning, it was found that their perceptions of self-efficacy do not affect only the initiative sub-dimension. In addition, it was observed that the gender of the teacher candidates receiving pedagogical formation education had an effect the sub-dimension of persistence when they experienced difficulties in their perceptions of self-sufficiency. When the two groups of teacher candidates' lifelong learning tendencies and perceptions of self-sufficiency were compared, both lifelong learning tendencies and perceptions of self-sufficiency were found to be higher than the students of the faculty of education. Keywords: Lifelong learning, perceptions of self-efficacy, faculty of education, pedagogigal formation