This study examined the relationship between teachers’ beliefs regarding self-regulated learning, together with key demographic variables, including gender, school sector and teaching experience, and their SRL instruction. A survey investigating teachers’ beliefs and instructional practices regarding SRL was administered to 873 Hong Kong teachers teaching in primary and secondary schools. The instruments were examined from a Rasch measurement perspective and the results demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties of the instruments for use with the current sample. The Rasch-calibrated person measures were subsequently (...) subject to hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The results showed that teachers’ beliefs about the benefits of SRL and student capacity in implementing SRL were positive and significant predictors of SRL instructional practices. Gender was also a significant predictor of SRL instructional practices, with female teachers demonstrating higher leve... (shrink)

This study examines the relationship between teachers' beliefs and their practices at Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11) in relation to the use of questioning. Data were collected from interviewing and observing Key Stage 2 teachers at four schools in the West of England. A Straussian approach to grounded theory is followed broadly in order to analyse the data. In contrast to the findings of previous studies, which suggested a mismatch between teachers' beliefs and practices in that teachers, in certain respects, (...) do less than they claim, the research revealed that teachers use a variety of skills during their teaching that they may not always be aware of. It is also argued that teachers do not share researchers' language to express the way they teach. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to explore teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism at universities in North Macedonia. Multilingualism as a concept is related to an individual’s ability to speak three or more languages. Given the educational and cultural globalization, multilingualism is crucial in many countries in the world. North Macedonia is an excellent example of multilingualism where different cultures live together and learn the languages of each other. At Universities across the country, teachers face different challenges while teaching multilingual classes. (...) Linguistic competence in many local languages allows students to learn foreign languages easily and thus raises students’ global awareness and deepens knowledge about their future teaching career. The study analysed data collected from thirty EFL teachers from four different universities, Southeast European University, University of Tetova, Mother Teresa University and International Balkan University in North Macedonia. The research instrument used was the teacher survey which contained five domains: Teachers’ perspective on multilingualism; Students’ language learning knowledge; Language teacher collaboration; Learning materials, and other topics related to L2 learning and teaching. The study results revealed that teachers view multilingualism as a positive asset for the students, and they expressed that they have developed an approach which helps multilinguals to achieve their learning goals. One area which needs improvement is teacher collaboration, as they tend to collaborate regarding materials and textbooks, however, not willing to share their experience on teaching methods/strategies and challenges faced. (shrink)

Open peer commentary on the article “Beyond Technocentrism: Supporting Constructionism in the Classroom” by Karen Brennan. Upshot: If we are to move beyond technocentricism, we need not only to equip teachers with pedagogical approaches but to support a change in their beliefs, values and assumptions. While factors such as assessment practices and institutional norms can limit the impact of professional development by considering the ways in which teachers form their teacher-identity and the factors that can motivate change, we can (...) begin to develop approaches to professional development that can have lasting impact on teachers and their learners. (shrink)

This paper argues that there is an absence of current research in Philosophy for Children that focusses on teachers’ perspectives, particularly in relation to their beliefs and values. The paper will look briefly at the programmatics of P4C, and its current mandated status in the education system in the state of Victoria, Australia. It will then move to exploring how the study of teachers’ perspectives, through analyses of their beliefs and values, adds significant value in education, particularly in the context (...) of P4C. It concludes by analysing some recent P4C research that has begun to explore teachers’ perspectives, before finishing with suggesting future research directions that build on these previous studies, and which promise lay important groundwork for extending the reach of P4C into educational systems. (shrink)

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, university teachers are coping with and adjusting to online teaching platforms. In this concurrent mixed-methods study, 10 science and technology universities as the research sites were first chosen, and educational planning in these sites during the pandemic was examined; then, eight selected teacher participants in these sites were interviewed to report how their beliefs and practices changed during the pandemic echoing the examined educational planning. The results show that educational planning and (...) policies assisted teachers in accommodating the new demands and changes during the pandemic; teachers' beliefs and practices generally echoed the educational planning and policies, with certain tensions still existing. The discussion part of the study is centered around emergency remote teaching and planning, tensions between teacher beliefs and practices, and the shift from emergency remote teaching to regular, sustainable online schooling. The study provides administrators and teacher educators with insights on how emergency remote teaching can be planned and implemented during an unprecedented time. (shrink)

Elementary students need authentic learning experiences with community-based topics to motivate them, help develop inquiry skills, apply academic content, and connect their learning beyond the context of the classroom. In particular, the study of food, agriculture, and natural resources in elementary classrooms can bring learning to life. Elementary teachers’ decisions to teach non-required topics are informed by their personal beliefs and contextual pressures to teach required content that is aligned with state learning standards. The purpose of this descriptive study is (...) to explore the factors underlying elementary teachers’ beliefs related to the integration of food, agricultural, and natural resources (FANR) topics and activities into their classrooms. Multivariate analyses were conducted to identify factors and determine the relationship between teacher beliefs and behaviors. Two factors explained the extent teachers integrated FANR topics and activities into their classrooms: (1) if they agreed FANR topics fit in academic subjects, and (2) if they saw the educational value of integrating FANR topics and activities into the elementary school curricula. Teachers’ epistemological and motivational beliefs play a role when they consider adopting an enrichment program to integrate non-required topics into their elementary school classrooms. The findings suggest teachers’ perceptions of the educational benefits and fit within academic content areas are more important factors than their views and attitudes of the careers and industry connected to an enrichment program when teachers choose to adopt and integrate topics and activities that would enrich student learning in their classrooms. (shrink)

This qualitative study examines the expectations and beliefs parents, students, and teachers have about the teaching of heritage histories in public high schools. Students from three heritage groups, as well as their parents and teachers, were interviewed to shed light on this complex, often silent, relationship. This study is grounded in literature about the purposes of history education, historical distance, and collective memory/heritage, which give shape to and help to explicate some of the more complex issues inherent in the teaching (...) of heritage histories. Participants included four Hmong students, three of their parents, and their teacher in St. Paul, Minnesota; eight Chinese students, nine of their parents, and their teacher in Elmdale, California; and five Jewish students, five of their parents, and their teacher in Maple Lake, Illinois. Findings indicate that the three stakeholder groups believe that the public school history classroom is an appropriate and desired place for heritage histories to be taught. This is complicated, however, by several factors: the placement of the heritage history narratives within larger curricular and mainstream narratives, how the teachers choose to incorporate the heritage narratives into the formal classroom curriculum, and the changing nature of historical and generational distance. (shrink)

In this study, academic optimism as an individual teacher belief was investigated. Teachers? self?efficacy beliefs were measured using the short form of the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale. One subtest from the Omnibus T?Scale, the faculty trust in clients subtest, was used to measure teachers? trust in students and parents. One subtest from the Organizational Climate Index was used to measure academic emphasis. Pupil Control Ideology was used to measure teachers? beliefs about classroom management. Constructivist teaching subscale (...) of the Teacher?s Belief Survey was used to measure teachers? instructional beliefs and practices. Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Scale was used to measure teachers? citizenship behaviour. Life Orientation Test was used to measure dispositional optimism. The findings indicated that teachers differed in the extent of their academic optimism. The findings also indicated that teacher?s sense of academic optimism is positively and significantly related to student?centred teaching, citizenship behaviour and dispositional optimism. The findings further indicated that student?centred teaching beliefs, dispositional optimism and citizenship behaviour emerged as significant predictors of individual teacher?s academic optimism. Lastly, the findings revealed that teaching phase is the only teachers? biographical variable that is a significant predictor of academic optimism. (shrink)

This article describes findings from a survey of 173 preschool through 12th grade teachers in which they express their thoughts about what children should learn about geography. Results indicate that despite geography's lack of attention in the curriculum, teachers are unhappy with the state of geography in schools. Their reflections reveal a strong sense of need, even urgency, for students to learn geography. Four trends were identified in their thoughts about geography education: expanding horizons paradigm of curriculum; connections that geography (...) allows for in the curriculum; maps, continents, countries, and states; and Americans’ appalling lack of geographic knowledge. Framing their thoughts in the context of the current state of geography, the article also describes the importance of geography in creating effective citizens, the ambiguity of the discipline itself, its unique role in the curriculum, and insights about integrating geography across the curriculum. The article concludes with hope for reviving geography in schools. (shrink)

Teacher beliefs are a pivotal psychological quality for sustainable teacher development. Previous studies have mainly focused on the beliefs of English-as-a-second/foreign-language teachers, while little attention has been paid to those of Chinese-as-an-additional-language teachers. Particularly, there is a paucity of effort made to develop and validate instrument for measuring pre-service CAL teacher beliefs. Therefore, to further quantify the beliefs of CAL teachers is increasingly called for as an essential means to help teachers sensitize their beliefs system and promote (...) teacher development as a sustainable goal. To be specific, the present study aims to construct a scale for gauging beliefs of pre-service CAL teachers. It firstly conceptualizes the dimensions of pre-service CAL teacher beliefs by means of semantic analysis with ROST CM6, and then cross-validates the reliability and validity of the scale with psychometric methods. Two independent samples composed of 221 and 222 pre-service CAL teachers participated in a questionnaire survey. The two samples were utilized for later Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, respectively. The two data sets have satisfactory psychometric results, all confirming that the scale subsumes three factors: Beliefs about Chinese Language Teaching, Beliefs about Chinese Language, and Beliefs about Chinese Language Learners. The scale validated in the present study contributes to research on pre-service CAL teacher beliefs, and provides implications for sustainable pre-service CAL teacher training. (shrink)

Hitherto, the contribution of philosophers to Neuroscience and Education has tended to be less than enthusiastic, though there are some notable exceptions. Meanwhile, the pervasive influence of neuromyths on education policy, curriculum design and pedagogy in schools is well documented. Indeed, philosophers have sometimes used the prevalence of neuromyths in education to bolster their opposition to neuroscience in teacher education courses. By contrast, this article views the presence of neuromyths in education as a call for remedial action, including philosophical (...) action. The empirical basis of this article is a survey, conducted over a period of three years, involving a total of 1144 first-year pre-service student teachers, which revealed alarming levels of belief in five common neuromyths related to children and learning. This study also attempted to probe the origins of these mistaken beliefs and why they gain traction. The findings suggest an urgent need in teacher education to address the problem of neuromyths, not simply because they are mistaken, they often misdirect valuable resources and mislabel children. The article calls for a compulsory unit on neuroscience and education in all courses of teacher education. Moreover, teaching neuroscience in education cannot be left to specialist neuroscientists, philosophers must be involved. (shrink)

In recent decades we witnessed ongoing debates about the objectives of history education, with different underlying epistemological perspectives. This qualitative study explored prospective history teachers' beliefs about these objectives of history education. Prospective history teachers of six universities starting a teacher educational programme were invited to answer an open-ended questionnaire about history education. Six objectives were found: (1) memorising; (2) critical/explanatory; (3) constructivist; (4) perspective-taking; (5) moral; and (6) collective-identity objectives. Almost all prospective teachers mentioned several of these objectives. (...) A distinction between two epistemological perspectives on historical knowledge representation (factual or interpretive), was used as a framework for categorising the different objectives. More than half of the respondents mentioned objectives of history education that represent history as factual and objectives that represent history as interpretive. We propose that in actual practice most history teachers are combining epistemologically opposing objectives for pedagogical, political and religious motives. (shrink)

Although the efficacy of teacher written feedback has been widely investigated, relatively few studies have been conducted from feedback practitioners' perspectives to investigate teachers' beliefs regarding it, particularly compare beliefs held by teachers with different sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds. Consequently, much remains to be known about teachers' conceptions about written feedback, who has different first languages. To bridge such a gap, we conducted this qualitative study to examine the similarities and differences between native English-speaking and non-native English-speaking teachers' beliefs (...) in Chinese University EFL settings. We analyzed the in-depth interviews with eight teachers through thematic analysis. The findings showed that NES and NNES teachers espoused a range of beliefs in relation to the five themes of written feedback: Purpose, scope, focus, strategy, and orientation. While they shared similar beliefs with regard to feedback focus, their beliefs differed in terms of feedback scope. Important implications are discussed for educational practices. (shrink)

Acting classes and theatre education have long been framed as activities during which children can learn skills that transfer outside the acting classroom. A growing empirical literature provides evidence for acting classes’ efficacy in teaching vocabulary, narrative, empathy, theory of mind, and emotional control. Yet these studies have not been based in what is actually happening in the acting classroom, nor on what acting teachers report as their pedagogical strategies. Instead, previous work has been unsystematic and fragmented in its measured (...) transfer outcomes, and absent mechanistic explanation. Expanding research on this topic requires more grounding in teachers’ beliefs about the acting classes they teach, as well as observation of the classes themselves. As a first step, we surveyed 173 acting teachers online, asking them about the activities within acting classes they believed caused change in their students, as well as which outcomes they believed were changed as a result of acting classes. Teachers taught across educational levels (elementary to professional) and had a variety of training in teaching acting. Overall, teachers rated almost every activity within classes as important for and causing impact on students, and almost every outcome as being positively influenced as a result of acting class. When forced to rank order outcomes, teachers focused on collaboration, communication, creativity, confidence, and empathy as most likely to change. Teachers rated importance of class activities and outcomes differently depending on what level they taught. This study shows the difficulty of surveying highly motivated teachers, given the globally high rankings, but also proposes candidate psychological skills likely to change as a result of acting classes, and the mechanistic behaviors that may cause change. (shrink)

Giving feedback during active learning is an important, though difficult, task for teachers. In the present study, the problems elementary school teachers perceive and the beliefs they hold regarding this task were investigated. It appeared that teachers believe conditional teacher skills, especially time management, hinder them most from giving good feedback. The most widely held belief was that ?feedback should be positive?. Teachers also believed that it is important to adopt a facilitative way of giving feedback, but they (...) found this difficult to implement. Only some teachers believed goal-directedness and a focus on student meta-cognition were important during active learning and teachers did not perceive problems regarding these aspects. It was discussed whether teachers? feedback behaviour was in line with these perceived problems and beliefs. The results give directions for the professional development of teachers to improve their feedback during active learning. (shrink)

The philosophies of education serve as the guide of the teachers in handling the teaching-learning process. However, a belief will remain as a belief unless it is practiced. This study aimed to find the relationship between the philosophical beliefs and practices of the 30 teachers of the schools in San Roque, Mabini, Bohol - San Roque Elementary School and San Roque National High School, S.Y. 2019-2020. The study utilized a quantitative method descriptive survey research design. The research instrument (...) used was a self-constructed questionnaire in which the reliability was tested by a Cronbach’s Alpha using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software. Simple percentage and weighted mean were some of the statistical treatments used. Kendall’s tau_b, a non-parametric test, was used to determine the correlation between philosophical beliefs and their equivalent pedagogical practices. All of the statistical treatments were also run using the SPSS software. Further, the researcher assured the proper observation of the research ethics protocol. Based on the results, the philosophies of Progressivism (3.63) and Perennialism (3.31) were the most and least prevailing philosophical beliefs, respectively. On the other hand, the most and least prevailing philosophies practiced are Progressivism (3.69) and Essentialism (3.19), respectively. Moreover, research findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between the philosophical beliefs of teachers and their pedagogical practices. In conclusion, this study claims that teachers’ pedagogical practices are dependent to their philosophical beliefs; and as the teachers believed on a particular philosophy of education, they practice it accordingly to the extent of their adherence to the belief. (shrink)

This study investigated the beliefs that formed teachers’ intentions to integrate STEM content into their social studies instruction. Participants were 60 elementary, middle, and high school in-service teachers who attended a summer history workshop on Abraham Lincoln. Data were collected by qualitative and quantitative instruments. Beliefs about likely outcomes of integrating STEM, and beliefs about persons who would approve, or disapprove, of STEM integration were elicited from teachers, and content analyzed. The resulting outcome and normative beliefs were used as stems (...) for items in the quantitative instrument. Quantitative data were analyzed primarily by correlation and multiple regression. This study found that attitude toward the behavior, integrating STEM, was formed by 15 outcome beliefs, subjective norm was formed by five normative beliefs, and that attitude and norm predicted behavioral intention. The theory we used enabled us to calculate the numerical contribution of each of the beliefs that were important in forming teachers’ intentions. The results have implications for theory, research, and practice in social studies education. In the realm of practice, these implications are for the initial preparation of, and the subsequent professional development of social studies teachers, both at the elementary and secondary levels. (shrink)

Research on teachers’ professional identity integrates many constructs that are treated independently in most cases. This study described the associations between components of teacher professional identity and their association with teachers’ general pedagogical beliefs. Secondary teachers completed a survey about several components of their identity and general pedagogical beliefs. Multidimensional scaling revealed that the components could be mapped on two dimensions: form of motivation and degree of subject specificity. The resulting map revealed four meaningful groups of components. Furthermore, whereas (...) direct transmission general pedagogical beliefs were found to be strongly tied to an identity grounded in the subject taught, constructivist beliefs were independent of identity components. This study provides new insight into the stru... (shrink)

Teacher behaviors are one of the most significant factors influencing student learning. Students from different cultures may have different interpretations of their teachers’ behaviors. This study compared the associations between teacher strictness, teacher feedback, and students’ motivational beliefs using data from six Western countries and six East Asian regions in the Program for International Student Assessment 2015. A total of 89,869 15-year-old students were included in data analysis. The findings indicate that teacher strictness was negatively associated (...) with Western students’ motivation, but positively related to that of East Asian students; teacher feedback had significant positive associations with the motivational beliefs of both Western and East Asian students; and there was a positive relationship between teacher strictness and teacher feedback in East Asian context. These results highlight the need to consider cultural factors when interpreting students’ reactions to teacher behaviors. (shrink)

As science educators, we must view the changing nature of society brought on by technology and the global nature of society as an impetus to reexamine the nature of science instruction. We have been bestowed with the responsibility to educate students on a variety of topics that less than two decades ago did not exist. Many of these social issues are controversial in nature and are directly linked to the local, regional, national, and global communities in which we exist. However, (...) including these social issues in the extant curriculum of science has, at best, been limited. This is true even though the National Science Education Standards specifically indicate that science and technology, as well as science in personal and social perspectives, are integral to science education. The following study examines a group of science teachers’ beliefs about the implementation of controversial social/technological issues in the extant science curriculum. Indications are that teachers believe that social issues are important to study, yet lack the support from their communities to teach social issues. (shrink)

With the growing need to nurture students’ independent learning, English language teaching practices should reflect student-centered assessment approaches, such as self-assessment, an ultimate goal of higher education. It has been pointed out that to conduct effective self-assessment, students need to be taught systematically, and that is where teachers are expected to step in. Prior to implementing such a change in ELT, it is important to conduct research on English as a foreign language teachers’ attitudes toward, and self-efficacy beliefs about, implementing (...) self-assessment to cultivate capable student self-assessors. Although the strong global endorsement of self-assessment over the past two decades has witnessed its classroom implementation in different disciplines, such studies are scant in relation to EFL writing classrooms. To address this gap, the present qualitative research examined five Chinese tertiary EFL writing teachers’ attitudes toward and self-efficacy beliefs about student self-assessment of writing, as well as possible reasons that discourage them from engaging students in self-assessment practices. Data collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews indicated that self-assessment, a critical element of self-regulated learning, is surprisingly missing from the teachers’ knowledge base and previous practices. Additionally, the findings offer insights into the striking differences in teachers’ understanding of, attitudes toward, and low self-efficacy beliefs about self-assessment of writing. Reasons why teachers choose not to implement self-assessment of writing are also discussed. Findings from this study contribute to a deeper understanding of how EFL teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs are enacted in relation to their classroom assessment practices in order to move forward discussions on the feasibility of implementing self-assessment of writing in tertiary EFL classrooms. (shrink)