Who Has a Stronger Commitment to Teaching: A Latent Profile Analysis Based on Preservice Teachers’ Learning Experiences in Teacher Education Courses

Enhancing preservice teachers’ commitment to teaching is of great significance for improving the stability and sustainable development of the teaching workforce. Teacher education courses constitute a core component of preservice teacher preparation, and preservice teachers’ learning experiences in these courses may be closely associated with their commitment to teaching. Based on survey data from 26,110 preservice teachers at local normal universities in China, this study treated preservice teachers’ learning experiences in teacher education courses as the focal independent variable and commitment to teaching as the dependent variable. Latent profile analysis was used to identify profiles of course learning experiences, and between-profile differences in commitment to teaching were then examined. Teacher self-efficacy was further tested as a mediator in the association between course learning experiences and commitment to teaching within each profile. Three profiles were identified: a comprehensively positive profile, characterized by high scores across good teaching, clear course goals, appropriate assessment, and appropriate workload; a mixed-experience profile, characterized by relatively positive perceptions of good teaching and clear course goals but lower evaluations of assessment and workload; and a moderate-experience profile, characterized by moderate scores across the four dimensions. Significant differences were found in commitment to teaching across the three profiles. Preservice teachers in the comprehensively positive profile reported the highest level of commitment to teaching, followed by those in the mixed-experience profile, while those in the moderate-experience profile reported the lowest level. In addition, mediation analysis showed that teacher self-efficacy played different roles across profiles. Based on these findings, this study proposes directions for reforming teacher education courses, with the aim of improving the quality of preservice teacher preparation and fostering preservice teachers’ commitment to teaching.