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The aim of this study has been to explore possible developmental differences in conceptions of learning amongst a group of people with very different learning experiences. The data consist of interviews with 90 people concerning their approach to learning. The sample was selected according to two criteria: age (which ranged from 15 years 7 months up to 73 years 3 months) and level of formal education (with a minimum of 6 years and a maximum of 16/17 years).

Analysis of the interviews revealed that there are distinctive differences between people in terms of their subjective conceptions of learning, the nature of which has been described elsewhere. In the present article, the focus is on describing what seems to be an important developmental process: for some people the phenomenon of learning has become thematized — it has been made an object of reflection — while for others it represents …