Mapping teachers’ personal epistemologies – Phenomenographical approach

Abstract

Although a considerable amount of research proved a causal relation between teachers’ conceptions of knowledge and the quality of their educational practice, personal epistemology still remains an under-investigated area in teacher professional development, both at the pre-service and in-service stage of career. The article presents the phenomenographic approach to investigating teachers' epistemological beliefs. Phenomenography offers unique tools to grasp the subjective dimension of human experience, especially valuable in trying to understand how teachers perceive and conceptualize their epistemological experiences grounded in everyday educational practice. The aim of the study was to reconstruct teachers’ conceptions of mind and knowing. The following research questions were formulated: How do in-service teachers understand their own mind and knowledge? What conceptions of mind do they use to explain their process of acquiring new knowledge? How are these conceptions of mind, knowledge and knowing interrelated? Several conceptions of mind were elicited and described following the rules of phenomenographic analysis. In conclusions, the consequences of neglecting personal epistemology in teachers’ education and professional development were discussed, furthermore methodological implications for future research were outlined.