Students’ professional capital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports from nationwide research

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the activities undertaken by students of Polish universities to support their professional capital during the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents the results of nationwide empirical research conducted with the participation of 1,259 male and female students. The research material was collected using an online survey (CAWI – Computer Assisted Web Interview) and subjected to statistical analysis (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, V-Cramer coefficient and chi-square test were used for this purpose). The survey questionnaire used a tool designed for the study, inspired by the concept of professional capital by Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan (2012), in which respondents indicated what actions they took to support career capital during the pandemic. The results obtained indicate that the professional capital of students at that time was at an average level [average of the results obtained: human capital – 2.76 (scale 0–5), decisional capital – 2.45 (scale 0–5), social capital – 1.28 (scale 0–4)], and is manifested to a greater extent by older students studying at non-public universities, achieving high didactic results during studies (average grades obtained above 4.5) and people who were not forced to moving back in with their parents. The data enrich knowledge about how students function during the pandemic and may be useful for career advisors.