Conceptions of student learning in the process of training as teachers

The main aim of this paper work is to analyze the conceptions that the college students have about learning in their process of training as teachers. A questionnaire to 145 students from the University of Seville was administered. 102 in their first semester of the education undergraduate program and 43 in the second cycle of their courses. Answers to the question "what would you say learning is?" have been analyzed using an ad hoc category system based on four criteria with two levels of complexity each: a) Persons involved; B) Role of the student; C) Functionality; and d) Transformational dimension of learning. The data show that in all the criteria there are proportionally more responses included in the less complex condition. Thus, in the criterion 'people involved in the learning process', 88.8% refer only to the participation of the learner in the learning process, and 11.2% refer to the learner's participation and somebody else. In the criterion 'role of the student', 74.8% of them refer to the passive role of the student, while only 25.2% refer to an active-constructive role. Only 24.5% of students do not allude to the 'learning functionality' and only the 9.1% of participant refer explicitly to the 'transformational dimension'. When comparing the two groups of the sample, first and last year students, significant differences in three of the four criteria are found. These results are consistent with other researches that have studied the conceptions about learning. Reflections and ideas into the training received by the students of education undergraduate program are presented, since after four years of university experience they do not surpass, for the most part, quantitative, realistic and reproductive conceptions of learning.