Exploring learner profiles among low-educated adults in second-chance education: individual differences in quantity and quality of learning motivation and learning strategies used

Abstract Research on learning strategies and learning motivation in different educational contexts has provided valuable insights, but in this field, low-educated adults remain an understudied population. This study addresses this gap by means of a person-oriented approach and seeks to investigate whether quantitatively and qualitatively different learner profiles can be distinguished among low-educated adults in second-chance education (SCE) by relating three key components of learning: learning motivation, regulation and processing strategies. 512 adult learners of six SCE-institutions filled in a Learning and Motivation questionnaire. Latent profile analysis shows the presence of motivational profiles differing both in quantity and quality (i.e., good- versus poor-quality and high- versus low-quantity motivational profiles) and regulatory profiles being distinct in the use of regulation strategies (i.e., self-regulated versus unregulated profiles). Mainly quantitatively different processing profiles were found among low-educated adults (i.e., active, moderate, inactive processing profiles). When integrating all three components of learning, analyses identified two more optimal motivational-learning profiles, combining good-quality motivation with a moderately-active use of self-regulation and processing strategies (i.e., good-quality motivation – self-regulated – active processing profile and good-quality motivation – moderate profile) and two more suboptimal profiles in which poor-quality or low-quantity motivation is combined with the inactive use of self-regulation and processing strategies (i.e., poor-quality motivation – unregulated – inactive processing profile, low-quantity motivation – unregulated – inactive processing profile). A fifth motivational-learning profile exhibits a pattern of poor-quality motivation combined with a moderately-active use of self- regulation and processing strategies.