Identifying pre-service teachers' profiles of conceptions of learning: a cluster analysis

This study was conducted to track conceptions of learning among pre-service teachers and to verify whether they can be grouped in profiles. A sample of 232 pre-service teachers took part in this research. A self-report instrument was administered to discover their conceptions of learning. A factorial analysis allowed us to build a model of eight qualitatively distinctive conceptions of learning namely learning as a 'transmissible and hierarchical process'; 'individual study'; 'cultural and emotional construction'; 'negative experience and anxiety'; 'future time perspective and self-determination'; 'driven by context situated educational process'; 'external attribution for failure by teachers'; 'external attribution for success and failure by students'. These qualitatively distinct categories were reflected through three domains, which embodied beliefs, academic emotions, and causal attribution for success and failure. A Cluster Analysis allowed us to identify patterns of conceptions of learning forming three differentiated profiles.