Teacher education is increasingly expected to foster the development of digital competences (e.g., ICT skills) among future teachers in a forward-looking and sustainable manner. These expectations concern not only professional digital competences—such as teaching with technology or using digital tools for school development—but also basic digital competences—such as communicating via digital media or using technology safely in relation to data privacy, health, and the environment (Krumsvik et al., 2016). A key challenge lies in the fact that pre-service teachers enter their programs with highly heterogeneous prerequisites, as digital competence levels vary substantially between individuals (e.g., Tondeur et al., 2017; Cheng et al., 2024; Rahden et al., 2024). While existing research has largely focused on professional digital competence beliefs (e.g., TPACK), basic digital competence beliefs have received less attention, despite their foundational importance for professional performance. Some studies point to meaningful heterogeneity in both areas (Authors, 2019; 2025), but the relationship between basic and professional digital competence beliefs remains underexplored. The present study addresses this gap and examines how basic and professional digital competence co-occur in individuals. We use data from a pre-registered project with N = 771 pre-service teachers at a public university in Germany (M = 23 years, SD = 3.54; 69% female, 30% male, 1% diverse/prefer not to say). Internationally validated instruments were employed (Hargittai, 2009; Rubach & Lazarides, 2021; Schmid et al., 2021; Rahden et al., 2025). Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted based on nine subscales. The optimal model was determined by comparing six model specifications that varied assumptions about (in)variance in variances and covariances (see Rahden et al., 2025). Profile solutions were evaluated using AIC, BIC, SABIC, entropy, and likelihood-ratio tests (BLRT, aLMRT); log-likelihood replication rates ensured model stability. Preliminary findings suggest substantial heterogeneity in digital competence beliefs. These results will be presented at the conference and offer important insights into how teacher education can address the diverse needs of pre-service teachers. We aim to explore practical implications for designing targeted support strategies that promote both basic and professional digital competence in teacher education programs.

Keywords: Digital competence, teacher education, longitudinal research.