Beliefs Of Pre-service Teachers Research Articles

Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Beliefs About Creativity at School: A Study in the Hispanic Context

The present study examines the beliefs of pre-service science teachers on creativity in science teaching and learning and identifies factors in the school environment that, in their view, can influence students’ creativity. A total of 152 Colombian prospective science teachers participated in this study. A questionnaire, with an open and a closed part, was administered to participants. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data collected was carried out. The results revealed that (a) the concept of creativity held by the participants was incomplete and significantly diverged from expert definitions; (b) they viewed creativity as a universal potential that can be nurtured within the school system; (c) the ability to identify problems and ask challenging questions was rarely selected as a creative personality trait; (d) they demonstrated unclear ideas about the relationship between creativity and intelligence and the role of prior knowledge in students’ creativity; and (e) the subject or curricular domain was seen as an important factor influencing students’ creativity. From all this, it could be concluded that Colombian future science teachers exhibited flawed concepts of creativity based on poorly articulated beliefs, which is consistent with findings in other international studies.

Adapting the science teaching efficacy beliefs instrument to assess engineering teaching efficacy beliefs of pre-service elementary teachers: Rasch model and confirmatory factor analysis

Adapting the science teaching efficacy beliefs instrument to assess engineering teaching efficacy beliefs of pre-service elementary teachers: Rasch model and confirmatory factor analysis

Preservice teachers’ beliefs toward online learning and future teaching: Redesigning teacher training

Global health and political crisis lead to the development of educational practices. This study examined pre-service teachers’ beliefs concerning online learning and their future teaching in online environments. Seven hundred sixty four participants responded to online questionnaires at three points in time during the Covid-19 period. It was found that the average level of beliefs in readiness for future online learning and teaching is moderate. Whereas, the level of beliefs in online teaching is consistently high compared to beliefs in online learning. Three of the four components of the Dynamic Change of Personality Traits Theory (DCPT) showed higher levels of Pre Service Teacher (PST) beliefs in future online teaching than beliefs in their ability to learn online. Findings of this study propose that radical changes in learning environments impact the formation of beliefs. As beliefs contribute to the construction of motivation they must be acknowledge as essential for future teaching environments.

ChatGPT in foreign language education - friend or foe? A quantitative study on pre-service teachers’ beliefs

Artificial intelligence becomes increasingly prominent in digital language teaching and learning and it will gain even more significance in the future of EFL education (cf. Schmidt & Strasser 2022). Therefore, it is key to explore how those who will shape this future perceive the newest development: pre-service EFL teachers. As Zheng puts it: “EFL pre-service teacher beliefs are the focus of change in the process of education” (2009), consequently their perceptions and beliefs regarding this evolving area of teaching and learning are of utmost importance. Focussing on the latest developments in ChatGPT, this paper aims to give a first insight into the potential and limitations of this AI platform from the perspectives of pre-service teachers in Germany. Therefore, this research project explores the following research questions: o RQ1: Do student teachers consider ChatGPT relevant for their future teaching practice? o RQ2: In which areas of language education do they see potential changes due to ChatGPT? In what ways? o RQ3: Are there any differences in the perception of ChatGPT between tech-savvy and non-tech-savvy student teachers? The research instrument is a combination of the "technology commitment" scale (Neyer et al. 2016) and items developed specifically for this research project. For RQ3, the analysis refers to existing preliminary work that was able to establish a relationship between technology commitment and the probability of technology application (cf. Knetzek & Christensen 2016). Based on the results of the survey, this paper then aims to offer new perspectives for EFL teacher education and outline concrete reflection activities that further pre-service teachers’ critical engagement with AI in language education.

Examining the changes in the self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs of preservice teachers in Japan

With the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, preservice teachers have experienced an unprecedented situation and faced various kinds of issues due to uncertain learning and teaching environments. As a result, they felt insecure and disappointed about their teaching performance during student teaching. Self-efficacy to teach and pedagogical beliefs are crucial elements that influence preservice teachers’ teaching performance during student teaching and their professional development in the early stage. This study adopted a quantitative research method to examine the changes in the self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs of preservice teachers after student teaching during the initial teacher education stage in the Japanese context and how preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 133 preservice primary teachers in a university in Western Japan was recruited in this study. Two structured surveys were used to collect the data, and factor analyses and paired t-tests were fitted. This study verified the validity and internal consistency of two surveys in the Japanese context. The results showed that the Japanese preservice teachers’ self-efficacy made a steeper change after student teaching. Their pedagogical beliefs increased significantly, however, yielded a small effect. The results suggested that student teaching is an essential source of influence on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs. This study contributes to the meaningful application of theories developed in the West to Japan by highlighting the Japanese educational context. This study provides implications for effectively reinforcing preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and pedagogical beliefs through developing deeper reflection skills, thus supporting them to overcome various challenges in their future teaching careers.

Association between pre-service science teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and their confidence in physics content

This exploratory study examined the relationship between the knowledge of selected physics concepts from the South African National Senior Certificate curriculum and the self-efficacy beliefs of preservice science teachers. Forty-one preservice physical science teachers between the ages of 16 and 30 enrolled in a higher education institution to earn a Bachelor of Education degree made up the participants. Of these, 56.1% were female and 43.9% were male. Every respondent was a recent high school graduate from South Africa enrolled in a second-year university course on basic physical science. The preservice teachers completed the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI-B) and a teaching confidence ranking scale. A confidence ranking for teaching topics from a typical high school science curriculum was determined by analyzing the data. According to the data analysis, preservice teachers are confident and self-sufficient enough to teach science concepts.

Theorizing Filipino Pedagogical Beliefs: Narratives of Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Before and After Teaching Immersion

The purpose of this paper is to examine selected preservice elementary teachers' pedagogical beliefs before and after the teaching immersion program using Calderhead's Five Aspects of Pedagogical Beliefs. It aims to uncover meaningful experiences, challenges, and factors that contributed to the change in preservice teachers' pedagogical beliefs. This study employed a qualitative narrative research design with six preservice elementary teachers. The data revealed that the preservice teachers' beliefs significantly changed after the teaching immersion program. The factors contributing to their changes were time constraints, classroom management, and pedagogical responsibilities. However, two factors transcended Calderhead’s framework. Thus, the development of an enhanced framework, Seven Aspects of Pedagogical Beliefs, to include the participants’ beliefs on school culture and mentoring practices. The results of the study provide the pedagogical beliefs, meaningful experiences, challenges, and changes in pedagogical beliefs of pre-service teachers. However, the study is limited to Bachelor of Elementary Education. The study reveals that quality education in teacher education could be furthered through curriculum changes; therefore, it is critical to investigate how pedagogical beliefs influence preservice teachers' classroom decisions. This study uses a qualitative approach to provide a comprehensive picture of preservice teachers' pedagogical beliefs. Given that their beliefs differed before and after their teaching immersion, it is vital to provide new insights into the factors causing this difference.

Home and school gardening: Practices, attitudes, and beliefs of pre-service teachers

The study investigates the attitudes and beliefs of pre-service teachers on home and school gardening as the basis for incorporating gardening activity in teacher education courses. Utilizing a descriptive research design, the data was gathered through a researcher-made survey and analyzed using various statistical methods such as percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test for independent sample means, and Pearson r. The findings reveal a high positive regard for gardening among pre-service teachers, irrespective of sex and geographical location. The geographical location shows some variations in beliefs about gardening, particularly between coastal-rural and other areas, whereas attitudes were consistently positive across locations. A significant correlation between beliefs and attitudes suggests that fostering positive beliefs may enhance positive attitudes toward gardening. These results underscore the potential for integrating gardening into teacher education, promoting values like environmental conservation, and healthy habits. The study acknowledges limitations like the limited diversity of the sample and unexplored translation of attitudes into practice and recommends the incorporation of gardening into the curriculum and the provision of practical gardening spaces and training. The conclusions affirm the role of pre-service teachers in addressing challenges like limited food supply and environmental degradation and emphasize the need to include gardening values in teacher education. This study recommends that gardening activities be integrated into the pre-service teacher education curriculum.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EFL PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY AND THEIR EPISTEMIC BELIEFS

Nowadays, English is an essential language that must be mastered and has been studied for many years as a foreign language in many countries in the world. Specifically, English pre-service teachers' ability to teach students English as a foreign language requires self-efficacy and epistemic beliefs that can support students’ 21st century skills. Self-efficacy and epistemic beliefs are related to individual differences in psychological domains that can affect learning achievement. An investigation of the relationship between self-efficacy and epistemic beliefs of pre-service teachers in a reputable university in Malang, East Java was conducted in this study. This study examined the relationship between pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and epistemic beliefs. The method of this research is correlational study. A total of 85 pre-service teachers completed the self-efficacy and epistemic beliefs questionnaires. SPSS was used to analyze the questionnaire filled out by the participants and determine the results. As a result of SPSS's analysis, self-efficacy is positively correlated with epistemic beliefs, which implies a correlation in both areas. The findings of the correlation coefficient is -0.528, the correlation between self-efficacy and epistemic beliefs is negative and it means that the higher EFL self-efficacy the simpler their epistemic beliefs. A correlation from SPSS's analysis indicates that self-efficacy and epistemic beliefs have a medium relationship.

Building Vocabulary Bridges: Exploring Pre-Service Primary School Teachers’ Dispositions on L2 Vocabulary Instruction for Emergent Bilinguals through Interactive Book Reading

A strong vocabulary is crucial for language acquisition and can profoundly influence academic and societal success. Interactive book reading (IBR) offers an effective approach for vocabulary instruction as it provides a dynamic and engaging word-learning context. However, as children progress from preschool to primary grades, the emphasis on IBR declines, despite the persistent need for comprehensive literacy education, particularly for emergent bilinguals. This study aims to uncover the reasons underlying the diminishing use of IBR and focuses on the dispositions (i.e., knowledge and beliefs) of pre-service teachers regarding L2 vocabulary instruction during IBR with emergent bilinguals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 36 pre-service teachers in Flanders. Thematic analysis revealed a foundational knowledge base for vocabulary instruction during IBR, with most beliefs aligning with scientific evidence. Nevertheless, some beliefs contradicted research findings, particularly concerning the deliberate use of IBR to achieve specific learning objectives, harnessing students’ home languages and fully realizing IBR’s potential for optimal vocabulary acquisition. Furthermore, preconditions at the class, school, educational policy and parental levels emerged as crucial factors for effectively implementing vocabulary instruction during IBR. These findings serve as pivotal starting points for further refining pre-service teacher education and developing in-service professional development in Flanders.

Early childhood preservice teachers’ beliefs of creativity, creative individuals and creative environment: Perspectives from China

This qualitative study employs a phenomenological approach to comprehensively investigate the beliefs of early childhood preservice teachers (PTs) in China regarding creativity, creative individuals (children and teachers), and the creative learning environment. Data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 13 PTs. The findings suggest PTs exhibit limited understanding regarding the concept of creativity, which consequently affects their beliefs of creative individuals. PTs perceive both general personal characteristics and specific capacities relevant to the ECE context. However, motivation-related traits were not identified by PTs. Three themes concerning PTs’ beliefs about the creative environment emerged. PTs demonstrate positive attitudes toward fostering creativity in the ECE context, and they perceive multiple strategies of creative pedagogy. However, a gap exists between PTs’ attitudes valuing creativity and their actual pedagogical practice. The reasons contributing to the gap were discussed in the study. The findings have important implications for early childhood teacher education programs.

Müzikal Yetenek İnançlarına İlişkin Bir Ölçek Uyarlama Çalışması

Beliefs, especially in the second half of the 20th century, have been the subject of research in many fields. One of these areas is education. When the literature on beliefs and education was examined, it was seen that the beliefs of academicians, teachers, pre-service teachers, and students were discussed in the context of different dimensions and characteristics. Some researchers emphasized that people's beliefs play a role in their behavior, others also stated that individuals' beliefs affect their attitudes, behaviors, and decisions. In this sense, approaches regarding the impact of beliefs on an individual's professional life have gained importance, and many studies have been conducted in this field. Music teaching is among the professions frequently discussed in these studies and research about beliefs. In addition, it seems that the beliefs of pre-service teachers who have not yet stepped into the profession are among the issues that researchers are significantly interested in. This study includes all stages of the adaptation process of a measurement tool developed for research in the field of music education into Turkish. The scale subject to the study was developed by Biasutti (2010) to determine individuals' belief levels regarding the phenomenon of musical ability. As a result of the adaptation of the measurement tool Music Abilities Beliefs Questionnaire (MABQ), consisting of 4 factors and 51 items, 4 factors were reduced to 46 items and its name was translated into Turkish as “Müzikal Yetenek İnanç Ölçeği”.

Reading comprehension beliefs of Mexican pre-service language teachers: a Likert scale study

This paper aims to report the adaptation of a new version of the Scale of Implicit Theories of Reading Comprehension (ETICOLEC as per its Spanish acronym) with a sample of 77 randomly chosen English majors at a peripheral campus of a small university in the Southeast of Mexico. The ETICOLEC Likert scale was originally designed to measure the reading comprehension beliefs of middle school teachers of several subjects. Hence, it was necessary to adapt it to identify the beliefs of pre-service language teachers. A standard procedure recommended by the literature (Prat & Doval, 2005) was used to add new items to the scale and test its psychometric properties using principal component analysis and internal consistency analysis with Cronbach´s alpha. Calculations were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, v. 26). As with the original ETICOLEC, this adapted version yielded five internally consistent sub-scales, albeit slightly different from the original ones. Each subscale measures an implicit theory or group of beliefs about reading comprehension. As a secondary, exploratory goal, we also describe the participants according to their implicit theories. Most participants held implicit theories that are functional for the kinds of epistemic reading tasks required by their university education. However, a large minority did not appear to hold any firm beliefs about reading, suggesting insufficient exposure to various complex reading tasks and genres. This situation must be addressed to ensure these pre-service teachers become effective reading teachers.

Dimensions of reading: a study of the beliefs of language and literature preservice teachers.

This study aims to analyze the beliefs that future Language and Literature teachers hold regarding reading. This work is part of a broader research endeavor focused on the reading habits and practices of teachers in training and their role as prospective mediators since the way in which they perceive reading significantly impacts the mediation processes they undertake in their teaching practices to cultivate readers. To achieve these objectives, a multiple case study is conducted, involving interviews with 1st-year students (n = 15), 3rd-year students (n = 15), and 5th-year students (n = 15) enrolled in Language Pedagogy programs across three universities affiliated with the Chilean Council of Rectors. For data analysis, a content analysis approach is employed, supported by NVivo 12. The findings reveal that beliefs about reading primarily fall into two dimensions: academic and personal, with the former exhibiting clearer definition and characterization. This can be attributed to the influence of the disciplines integrated into their education, namely literature and linguistics. In conclusion, it is imperative to address the social dimension of reading during the initial teacher education program, as this aspect is not emphasized by preservice teachers, despite its pivotal role in shaping their identity as reading mediators within the context of their teaching practice.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS’ PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE OF ONLINE TEACHING COMPETENCIES AND THEIR SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS

Online teaching caught in-service teachers off-guard with emergency distance education and sparked interest to teacher education programs. Purpose of this study is to explore self-efficacy beliefs of prospective teachers in teaching online (SETO) and to determine the relationship between pre-service teachers’ importance of online teaching competencies (IOTC) perceptions and their SETO beliefs. 101 pre-service teachers were asked to fill faculty readiness to teach online scale and the responses were analyzed through ANOVA and Pearson Correlation. The results showed a significant difference between pre-service teachers’ majors, exposure to ICT-related experiences, and their SETO beliefs. In addition, there is a significant relationship between pre-service teachers’ IOCT perceptions and SETO beliefs. Understanding the existing SETO beliefs of pre-service teachers is critical because it provides evidence to reassess how pre-service teachers are supported to build their online teaching competencies. The results are expected to make a significant contribution to research on establishing online teaching competencies in Turkiye and assisting teachers in understanding the value of those competencies; as a result, potential implementers may have stronger online teaching self-efficacy in their distance classrooms. The study suggests incorporating technology-based resources into teacher education courses within a digital pedagogy competencies framework to increase preservice teachers’ self-efficacy.

Stories and early literacy education in Zambia: donor-initiated projects, educational policy and teacher beliefs

Limited access to reading material written in local languages is considered a contributing factor to poor reading achievement in Sub-Saharan Africa. Several non-government projects are attempting to compensate for this by providing extensive reading material. One such project is the non-commercial, donor-initiated African Storybook. This article examines the premise on which African Storybook and similar donor-initiated projects build, namely that providing stories in local languages can significantly improve early literacy achievement. Understanding literacy as social practice, we investigate what experiences with stories inform the literacy-related beliefs of pre-service teachers in Zambia, and how these beliefs may shed light on their response to storybooks as part of early literacy education. Our data comprises a questionnaire with 26 pre-service teachers and focus group interviews with six of them. The pre-service teachers’ beliefs were found to reflect their childhood experiences with stories and the Zambian official National Literacy Framework. Our findings indicate that neither their childhood experiences nor their teacher education had prepared the pre-service teachers to use stories for extensive reading in early literacy education. These findings lead us to question whether literacy delivery is best served by initiatives that are not coordinated with both national literacy policy, curriculum and local teacher beliefs.

Professional digital competence beliefs of student teachers, pre-service teachers and teachers: Validating an instrument based on the DigCompEdu framework

ABSTRACT This study aims to develop and validate an instrument to assess and compare professional digital competence beliefs of student teachers, pre-service teachers and teachers based on the DigCompEdu framework. We used data from N = 1386 German (prospective) teachers (73% female). First, we conducted exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group analysis to examine the factorial structure across groups. We identified seven dimensions of professional digital competence beliefs among groups. Second, we investigated mean level differences. Our findings show that pre-service teachers tended to have the highest professional digital competence beliefs, followed by teachers. The results provide a reference for the utility of the instrument to evaluate (prospective) teachers’ professional digital competence beliefs and alter teacher education and training to investigated needs. We discuss future steps for teacher education.

Gender-based analysis on self-efficacy beliefs of pre-service teachers and their readiness in taking licensure examination

<span lang="EN-US">The study aimed to determine whether preservice teachers’ self-efficacy belief differs according to gender and whether this belief relates to their readiness in taking the licensure examination for teachers (LET). Participants of the study were 545 preservice teachers who were undergoing in-service training both from the secondary and elementary programs that came from four campuses of the university. The researcher utilized a descriptive quantitative approach with weighted mean, t-test for the independent sample, and Pearson R correlation statistical treatments for the data. Results revealed that females are statistically higher in self-efficacy beliefs than their male counterparts. Further, the study disclosed that female preservice teachers are significantly more ready to take the examination than their male peers. In addition, the male students’ self-efficacy beliefs statistically have a positive significant relationship to their readiness to take examination. Meanwhile, a positive significant relationship exists also between self-efficacy beliefs and readiness in taking the test with their female counterparts.</span>

Study on Influencing Factors of Pre-service English Teachers’ Beliefs based on NVivo 12

Teacher belief is the internal driving force of teacher professional development, which has been paid more and more attention by scholars at home and abroad. Based on grounded theory, this study used NVivo 12 software to conduct qualitative analysis of 28 relevant literatures. It is found that there are many factors affecting the beliefs of pre-service English teachers, and there are hierarchical relationships in these factors. Personal backgrounds are the internal factors that affect the beliefs of pre-service English teachers, while family, society and school are the external factors. The internal and external factors are interrelated. Among them, personal experience in personal backgrounds and school environment, educational practice and course learning in school factors belong to the core factors, and the rest are sub-core factors. The results of this study can lay a foundation for future research on the influencing factors of pre-service English teachers’ beliefs. At the same time, based on the analysis results and findings, this study also puts forward relevant suggestions, in order to provide references for constructing a systematic and scientific belief system and improving the professional development level for pre-service English teachers.

Ortaokul matematik öğretmen adaylarının model oluşturma etkinliği tasarlama yeterlikleri, problem çözmeye yönelik inançları, problem kurmaya yönelik öz-yeterlik inançları ve aralarındaki ilişki

This study aimed to determine the change and the relationship between elementary school mathematics teacher candidates' competence to design model-eliciting activities, their beliefs towards problem-solving, and their self-efficacy beliefs towards problem posing according to gender and overall academic grade point average (GPA). Modeling activities designed by 64 elementary school mathematics teacher candidates in Turkey were evaluated by means of a grading key created in the context of "compliance with MEA design principles". In addition, a scale consisting of 24 items was applied to determine the beliefs of the teacher candidates towards problem-solving, and a 26-imoetem scale was applied to determine their self-efficacy beliefs towards problem-posing, and the responses were analyzed by quantitative methods (one-way multiple variance analysis, correlation analysis, multiple regression test). The findings reveal that elementary school mathematics teacher candidates' proficiency in designing model-eliciting activities is generally at a high level, while their belief in problem-solving and self-efficacy beliefs in problem posing is generally at a moderate level. Based on the studies that concluded that modeling competencies develop as they work on modeling problems and that the experience of mathematical modeling affects their mathematical modeling competencies, it was concluded that modeling problems were used to solve mathematical problems and teach these solutions in the mathematical modeling course they took. It was determined that the linear combinations of teacher candidates' proficiency in designing model-eliciting activities, beliefs in problem-solving, and self-efficacy beliefs in problem-posing did not show a significant difference. The fact that pre-service teachers' beliefs about problem solving and posing are not related to their MEA design competencies is thought to be due to their previous routine mathematical problem solving experiences being more dominant. On the other hand, since the mathematical modeling process is basically considered as a problem-solving process, it was expected that these beliefs of pre-service teachers would be related to MEA design proficiency. It is important to conduct qualitative research with teacher candidates in order to examine this situation in more detail and to reveal the underlying causes.