Exploring profiles of novice and more experienced university teachers’ beliefs regarding their self-efficacy and teaching approaches

University teachers’ beliefs - how they think about teaching and learning - vary. We investigated whether university teachers can be distinguished into different profiles based on their beliefs regarding self-efficacy (on six domains) and teaching approaches (teacher-centered and student-centered) using latent profile analysis. We were also interested in differences across the profiles between novice and more experienced teachers, as teachers’ beliefs are expected to be related to years of teaching experience. 312 university teachers filled out a survey entailing the UNIversity Teacher Self-efficacy Scale and the Revised Approaches to Teaching Inventory. We found three different profiles, which can be distinguished into moderate, moderate/high and high belief profiles. The profiles have respectively moderate, moderate/high and high endorsements regarding self-efficacy beliefs and student-centered approaches. Beliefs regarding teacher-centered approaches are fairly moderate for all profiles. Teachers within the high belief profile have significantly more years of teaching experience than teachers within the other two profiles. Professional development activities might focus on developing self-efficacy beliefs in more complex teaching domains as well as on developing student-centered approaches. Activities are possibly most beneficial for teachers within the moderate belief profile. We argue that all teachers benefit most when support is tailored for their teaching contexts.