Self-efficacy – Research Rationale

Self-efficacy is widely recognised as a critical determinant of successful learning, professional competence and resilience within work-based learning (WBL), particularly in the UK health and social care sector where apprentices must develop knowledge and skills while working in complex, emotionally demanding and highly regulated environments.

According to Bandura (1997), self-efficacy influences an individual’s motivation, persistence, problem-solving and willingness to undertake challenging tasks. Apprentices with higher levels of self-efficacy are more likely to engage actively in learning, cope effectively with workplace pressures and develop professional competence, whereas those with lower self-efficacy may experience anxiety, reduced confidence and an increased likelihood of withdrawing from apprenticeship programmes.

Despite the importance of self-efficacy, much of the existing research focuses on measuring confidence levels or identifying relationships between variables rather than explaining how self-efficacy develops within authentic workplace contexts. Quantitative studies frequently demonstrate that mentoring, feedback or workplace experience are associated with improved confidence, but they often overlook the deeper organisational, social and cultural mechanisms that enable or constrain these learning processes. Consequently, there remains limited understanding of why apprentices exposed to similar learning opportunities often experience markedly different levels of confidence and professional development.

The UK health and social care sector provides a particularly important context for investigating this phenomenon. Apprentices work within organisations characterised by workforce shortages, increasing service demands, complex organisational structures and diverse workplace cultures. Their learning is influenced not only by individual capability but also by mentoring quality, supervisory relationships, leadership practices, organisational culture, staffing levels and opportunities for meaningful participation in practice. These interacting factors suggest that self-efficacy is socially and organisationally produced rather than simply an individual psychological attribute.

This research therefore seeks to move beyond describing apprentices’ experiences by identifying the underlying causal mechanisms that shape self-efficacy during work-based learning. A critical realist paradigm provides an appropriate philosophical foundation because it assumes that observable experiences are generated by deeper structures and mechanisms that may not be immediately visible (Bhaskar, 1978). Rather than asking only what apprentices experience, this study asks why these experiences occur and how organisational conditions influence the development of confidence and professional identity.

Using a qualitative multiple case study methodology allows the research to examine apprentices’ experiences within their natural workplace settings. Semi-structured interviews will provide insight into apprentices’ perceptions of learning, while organisational documents, policies and training frameworks will help identify structural influences such as mentoring systems, leadership practices and organisational expectations. Through the critical realist process of retroduction, the study aims to explain how observable outcomes are generated by underlying organisational and social mechanisms.

The findings have both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the research contributes to the limited body of work applying critical realism to apprenticeship learning by explaining the relationship between individual agency and organisational structures in self-efficacy development. Practically, identifying the mechanisms that strengthen or inhibit apprentices’ confidence can inform the design of mentoring programmes, workplace supervision, organisational learning cultures and apprenticeship delivery. Such knowledge has the potential to improve learner retention, professional competence and workforce sustainability within the UK health and social care sector.

Ultimately, this research addresses an important gap in work-based learning literature by shifting the focus from measuring self-efficacy to explaining the complex mechanisms through which it develops, thereby providing richer theoretical understanding and evidence to enhance apprenticeship practice.