Belief in learning styles remains near-universal among educators, with pre-service teachers believing more than qualified teachers¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? A systematic review of 37 studies of 15,405 educators from 18 countries found 89% of teachers agreed students learn better when taught in their preferred learning style, and pre-service teachers (95%) believed more than qualified teachers (88%). → John Hattie 2025

Evidence¶

John Hattie 2025¶

John Hattie, Timothy O'Leary. (2025). Learning Styles, Preferences, or Strategies? An Explanation for the Resurgence of Styles Across Many Meta-analyses. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10002-w

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review reports, citing Newton and Salvi (2020), a systematic review of 37 studies capturing 15,405 educators from 18 countries; "89% of teachers agreed" students learn better when taught with their preferred style. The review adds the pre-service (95%) versus qualified (88%) comparison from the same source.

"Newton and Salvi (2020) completed a systematic review of research into educators' belief in and use of learning styles. They identified 37 studies from 2009 to early 2020, which captured the insights of 15,405 educators from 18 countries. In summary, 89% of teachers agreed that students learn better when taught with their preferred learning style."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• University students remain highly on-task throughout 70-minute lectures, refuting the 15–20 minute attention-span myth — related
• Meta-analyses testing the matching hypothesis show a negligible overall effect of matching teaching to students' learning styles (d = 0.04) — related
• Inaccurate prior beliefs undermine readers' ability to question online misinformation — related