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PART 4 SCIENCE CURRICULUM AND EVALUATION

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND THEIR PRACTICE: HOW THE LITERATURE CAN INFORM SCIENCE EDUCATION REFORMERS AND RESEARCHERS

Khalid Bingimlas & Mary Hanrahan RMIT University, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Abstract To what extent can we believe teacher reports about their practice? The extent of influence of teacher beliefs on their practice is an important question for investigators and evaluators of educational innovations who use teacher surveys or interviews as their main method(s) of gauging teacher practice. This paper investigates what the literature has said about the relationship between teacher beliefs and their practice in the classroom. It aims to bring together the key findings from a review of the relevant literature, and to discuss its implications for educational evaluation and research in science education. Several studies have examined the relationship between teacher beliefs and practice. However, findings have not been consistent because it is complex. Some researchers have reported a high degree of agreement between teacher beliefs and the practice of teaching whereas others have identified some inconsistencies. Some believe direct observation of lessons and of teachers’ decision-making and goals is necessary to know their beliefs. Few studies were found about beliefs in relation to specific subject matter knowledge and beliefs yet science teaching reforms are not likely to succeed unless some teachers' deeply held beliefs about science teaching and learning change. The paper discusses this issue.

Introduction To what extent can we believe teacher reports about their practice? The extent of influence of teacher beliefs on their practice is an important question for investigators and evaluators of educational innovations who use teacher surveys or interviews as their main method(s) of gauging teacher practices. According to Pajares (1992), the investigation of teacher beliefs is a necessary way of educational inquiry for research and education. Being able to identify and describe the influence of teacher beliefs on instructional actions would deepen and enrich our understanding of the teaching process (Aguirre & Speer, 2000). This paper investigates what the literature has said about the relationship between teacher beliefs and their practice in the classroom. This paper aims to bring together the findings and key points of a review of a significant part of the available literature associated with the relationships between teacher beliefs and their practice in the classroom, including the more recent research that has been carried out in this area and to discuss its implications for educational evaluation and research in science education. In this paper, I will start with a discussion of the problem, then what the literature said about the definition of beliefs. After that, an argument about the relationship between teacher beliefs and practice will be presented. Some implications will be drawn and a conclusion will be presented.

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What is the problem? Because research in science classrooms often reveals unsatisfactory practice such as predominantly noninteractive approaches that fail to engage students (cf. Lyons, 2006), there is often intense interest in implementing innovations in science educational settings. However, at the same time, there are often concerns about that the ways in which an innovation is - or is not - put into practice by teachers (e.g., Cuban, 2001). One of the factors that is believed to influence the implementation and establishment of new activities in the classroom is teacher beliefs. For example, teacher beliefs about the integration of computers into primary school science may influence their teaching approach. However, a direct relationship between the two has been questioned, and, in fact, the question may be asked as to whether teacher practice is necessarily consistent with teacher beliefs. Therefore, in this paper, these issues will be investigated particularly in their application in the context of innovations in science education. The question of the potential influence of teacher beliefs on their practice and the extent and direction of this relationship are important questions to explore in an area where teacher beliefs are much investigated. Aguirre and Speer (2000) have argued that knowledge about the relationship between teachers‟ beliefs and their practice in the classroom can increase both the breadth and depth of our understanding of how teaching proceeds. Another reason for the importance of this issue is that it represents a possible threat to the validity of educational research based on teacher self-report (through either surveys and/or interviews), given that there may be inconsistencies between what teachers report, what they believe, and what they do. From another perspective, “coherent belief systems” may be a research artefact, one researchers create “to interpret those of the teachers rather than actually being present and formative of teaching practice” (Kynigos & Argyris, 2004, p. 271). Kynigos and Argyris arrive at a point where they question the very concept of “teacher beliefs” and the nature of the influences such beliefs are thought to have.

What is 'belief'?' According to Mansour (2009), beliefs are one of the most difficult concepts to define. Although educational literature has paid great attention to teachers‟ beliefs, there is still no clear definition of belief (Savasci-Acikalin, 2009). As Pajares (1992) argued, “the difficulty in studying teachers‟ beliefs has been caused by definitional problems, poor conceptualizations, and differing understandings of beliefs and belief structures” (p. 307). Therefore, the definitions of beliefs have been varied in the literature. He suggested that researchers need agreement on meaning and conceptualization of belief. A recent study (Mansour, 2009) indicates that because teachers‟ beliefs tend to be more experience-based than theory-based, “beliefs can neither be clearly defined, nor do they have a single correct clarification” (p. 35). Thus, different researchers gave different definitions for beliefs. For example, Pajares (1992) reviewed a literature of beliefs and reported that beliefs were defined in most studies as a 'conceptual tool'. He defined belief as an “individual‟s judgment of the truth or falsity of a proposition, a judgment that can only be inferred from a collective understanding of what human beings say, intend, and do” (p. 316). According to Aguirre and Speer (2000), current definitions of teacher beliefs found in the education literature focus on how teachers think about the nature of teaching and learning. In this context, beliefs are defined as “conceptions” (Thompson, 1992, p. 132), world views, and “mental models” that shape learning and teaching practices (Ernest, 1989, p. 250). Another researcher, Standen (2002), wrote that beliefs can be classified in terms of personal assumptions about relationships, knowledge and society; professional beliefs about teaching and learning; and beliefs about change and development.

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According to Yero (2002), the confusion focuses on the distinction between beliefs and facts. She suggests that the key is to identify which statements frequently used in education are facts and which are beliefs. She defines beliefs in opposition to fact. Thus she defines facts as “statements that from a particular perspective are part of „consensus‟ reality” (p. 21) and beliefs as “judgments and evaluations that we make about ourselves, about others, and about the world around us [and] . . . generalizations about things such as causality or the meaning of specific actions” (p. 21). For example, not everyone would agree that classrooms must be quiet for learning to take place while generally people would agree that the chemical formula for water is H2O. Beliefs and knowledge will be discussed further after a discussion of the relationship between beliefs and practice.

A direct relationship between teacher beliefs and teacher practice Several studies have examined the relationship between teacher beliefs and their practice. However, perhaps partly because of the variety of belief definitions in the literature, the relationship between teacher beliefs and practice is in question. The findings in the literature include some in science education which have not been consistent, with few studies being found about specific subject matter knowledge and beliefs (Mansour, 2009; Thompson, 1992; Pajares, 1992) and fewer about beliefs and goals (Lacorte & Canabal, 2005; Aguirre & Speer, 2000) or beliefs and emotions (Zembylas, 2005). Some researchers doing research in science and mathematics education reported a high degree of agreement between teacher beliefs and the practice of teaching (Aguirre & Speer, 2000; Ernest, 1989; Standen, 2002; Thompson, 1992) whereas others have identified some inconsistencies (Kynigos & Argyris, 2004; Lefebvre, Deaudelin & Loiselle, 2006; Zembylas, 2005). Kynigos and Argyris (2004) argue that the relationship between teachers‟ beliefs and practices is a complex one, and that the researcher must question common assumptions made about it. On the one hand, some literature on the relationship between teacher beliefs and their practice has found that teacher beliefs are consistent with classroom practice (Savasci-Acikalin, 2009). According to Thompson (1992), some studies support the claim that teachers' beliefs influence classroom practices through interpreting meanings in the classroom. For example, Yero (2002) suggests that beliefs affect how teachers and pre-service teachers behave. She states, If teachers believe a program they have been told to use is based on a solid foundation, and if the program is based on beliefs similar to their own, they will notice ways in which the program works. If they believe it is a waste of time, they will notice evidence supporting that belief. (P. 24)

Mansour (2008) studied the relationship between science teachers‟ personal religious beliefs and their practices. The findings of his study suggest that teachers‟ personal religious beliefs and experiences played a significant role in shaping beliefs and practices. Lefebvre, Deaudelin and Loiselle (2006) study teaching conceptions and teaching practices with the ICT implementation process. Their findings were that teaching practices appear to be strongly associated with teachers' conceptions of the teaching and learning process. While these studies illustrated a direct relationship between beliefs and practice, several studies showed a complex relationship between them. Generally, it is difficult to develop a clear understanding of the relationship between teachers‟ beliefs and their practice because “researchers have defined beliefs in terms of their own agendas and seldom explored the many possible interactions among belief sub-constructs or their connections to other cognitive or affective structures (Pajares, 1992, p. 326). As well, not all researchers agree that teachers' beliefs offer greater insight into their practice. While some studies found that teacher beliefs have a significant relationship with classroom practice, others did not find a clear relationship between teacher beliefs and practice because of other factors. The next part presents some examples of the latter.

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Complex relationship with other factors The findings of a recent study indicate that the relationship between teacher beliefs and practice is controversial and has a complex nature (Savasci-Acikalin, 2009). The complexity comes from the fact that it is important for researchers and educators to think in terms of connections among beliefs not only in terms of beliefs as independent subsystems (Pajares, 1992, p. 327). The argument about complexity of the relationship between beliefs and classroom practices is based on two assumptions (Kynigos & Argyris, 2004, p. 249), first, that teachers are professionals who make reasonable judgments and decisions within a complex and uncertain community, school and classroom environment; and second, that teachers‟ thoughts, judgments and decisions influence their classroom behaviour. However, teachers need significant assistance in identifying the disparity between their espoused beliefs and practices and to think through those inherent in new initiatives (Standen, 2002). Several factors are believed to contribute to the complexity of the relationship between teacher beliefs and their practice such as their knowledge, goals, motion, pedagogy and instructional context.

Beliefs and knowledge The relationship between beliefs and knowledge has been discussed widely in the literature. Beliefs are different from factual knowledge. Beliefs can be doubted more than facts. Based upon a literature review of beliefs, Savasci-Acikalin (2009) suggests that beliefs refer to suppositions, commitments, and ideologies and do not require a truth condition while knowledge refers to factual propositions and the understandings that inform skilful action and must satisfy “truth condition”. Mansour (2009) provides a further distinction between beliefs and knowledge and says “while knowledge often changes, beliefs are „static‟ [and] whereas knowledge can be evaluated or judged, such is not the case with beliefs since there is usually a lack of consensus about how they are to be evaluated” (p. 27). Therefore, many of the statements published in the literature about the educational environment are not statements of fact but rather of belief (Yero, 2002). For example, when someone says the use of computers is effective in science primary classrooms, he or she states his or her beliefs. According to Pajares (1992), teachers‟ beliefs influence and play a fundamental role in their knowledge acquisition and interpretation, task selection, and course content interpretation. Mansour (2008) suggested beliefs controlled the gaining of knowledge but that knowledge also influenced beliefs. Thompson (1992) argued that distinguishing between beliefs and knowledge was very difficult but that the distinction needed to be understood by educators and researchers since teachers may treat their beliefs as knowledge. Zembylas (2005) argued that teacher beliefs are important components of teacher knowledge and like teacher beliefs, teacher knowledge is needed in understanding teachers‟ teaching. In coming to an understanding of teachers' practices, the significance of teachers‟ knowledge and how it impacts on teachers‟ thinking should be considered (Standen, 2002).

Beliefs and goals Although several studies contribute a great deal to our general understanding of beliefs and practice, Aguirre and Speer (2000) gave details of how those beliefs inform practice particularly in the formulation of goals in the classroom. They argue that in this way teacher beliefs play a central role in their practice. In their study, a collection of particular beliefs that are connected to one another and influence the formulation of a goal can be called a “belief bundle” (p. 333). A bundle includes a number of beliefs (beliefs about learning, beliefs about teaching, beliefs about science, etc. that go together). The belief bundles played a central role in the formulation of goals which influence teachers‟ actions during activities. See Figure 1.

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Aguirre and Speer (2000) reported that saying „a teacher has a belief‟ generally means that the teacher is behaving in a manner consistent with having such a belief.

Beliefs and emotion The influence of deeply-held beliefs may be complicated further by a close interaction with emotions and feelings. Teachers‟ beliefs and feelings are thought to be revealed during their lessons and to influence their decision-making (Kynigos & Argyris, 2004; Standen, 2002) and goals (Aguirre & Speer, 2000; Lacorte & Canabal, 2005). Zembylas (2005) argued that the concept of 'emotives', which “refer to emotional gestures and utterances” (p. 469) is helpful because the interrelations between beliefs, cognition and emotion can be identified “without being caught in the dilemma of making an ontological distinction among them” (p. 467). For example, if someone says “I am angry”, it does not mean the anger is the utterance, but there is something (internal) which is referred to. He says that there is an internal element to emotion, but it cannot be easily represented by statements or actions. However, its intensification or its rapid dissipation can result in expressing a feeling. In his study, Zembylas (2005) concludes that a teacher's emotional development is influenced by her or his participation in particular forms of social and discursive practices at school.

Figure 1: Graphical representation of a parsing with belief bundles (Aguirre and Speer, 2000, p. 334)

Beliefs and context Some researchers argue that practice-related beliefs result from an interaction between teachers‟ more general teaching-related beliefs and the institutional context in which the practice is located. A study by Lacorte and Canabal (2005), concerns the relevance of the perceptions and attitudes that teachers bring with them into the classroom. Richards (1998, as cited in Lacorte and Canabal, 2005) assert that “teachers' beliefs result from the relationship between (a) the values, goals, and assumptions that teachers have about the content and development of teaching, and (b) the understanding of the social, cultural, and institutional context where teaching takes place” (p. 84). Ernest (1989) argued that the autonomy of the teacher depended on three factors: 1. the teacher's intellectual contents, particularly the systems of beliefs concerning the nature of teaching and learning; 2. the social context of the teaching situation, particularly the constraints and opportunities it provides; and 3. the teacher‟s level of thought processes and reflections. (p. 250)

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Like Lacorte and Canabal (2005), Ernest saw context as playing an important role in how beliefs are put into practice. He explained that the two key factors for a mismatch between beliefs and practices were: the powerful influence of the social context; and the teacher's level of consciousness of his or her own beliefs. He thought that this gap could be overcome, however. He noted that “higher level thought enables the teacher to reflect on the gap between beliefs and practice and to narrow it” (p. 6). According to Yero (2002), “beliefs not only affect how people behave but what they perceive (or pay attention to) in their environment” (p. 24). Mansour (2009) found that some teachers‟ beliefs are directly adopted from their background and their culture and science teachers‟ beliefs and practice cannot be examined out of sociocultural context. The study also indicated that most of the teachers‟ religious beliefs which were often from informal sources (family, society, previous teachers, the media, etc.) could result in positive attitudes among teachers towards science and teaching science. For example, he argued that the Islamic religion encourages science and the gaining of knowledge.

Beliefs and pedagogy in conflict Quinn and Wilson (1997) claim that the 'dichotomy' of beliefs and practices may stem from the difficulty inherent in changing teacher pedagogy. In their study, they concluded that although teachers have very favourable attitudes toward the use of writing in the teaching of mathematics, they are not putting those beliefs into practice; this may be because teachers do not have enough time for it (p. 19). Teachers are updating their beliefs regarding new ways of instructions but they are not changing their current ways of teaching. Kynigos and Argyris (2004) focus on teachers‟ beliefs regarding learning situations, their pedagogical role and the role of the computer; their results “corroborate the view that espoused beliefs may be inconsistent with actions during classroom teaching practice” (p. 271). The study concludes that we learn much more when looking at teacher beliefs through their classroom practices in conjunction with what they express during interviews. The question arises of what happens when there is conflict between these beliefs and practice. For example, although several studies show that beliefs have a powerful impact on action, the study done in Turkey by Karaaǧaç and Threlfall (2004) illustrates that teachers‟ goals, in particular when they are „imposed‟ upon teachers, “can lead to classroom practices that conflict with their beliefs” (p. 143). According to Thompson (1992), as teachers interact with their environment, some teachers experience ongoing conflict between their beliefs and their practices and some learn to live with unresolved conflicts; others, however, appear to recognize their beliefs in responses to the pressures encountered in their teaching environment.

Further discussion and implications There is still much debate as to whether beliefs influence actions or actions influence beliefs (Mansour 2009). Mansour reports that practice does not always come after beliefs, but may sometimes precede them. It should be noted that the relationship between teacher beliefs and their practice may be related to other factors, such as prior experiences both in and outside school. For example, Mansour (2009) argued that teachers‟ experiences including teachers‟ life-in-school experiences, life-out-of-school experiences and religious beliefs are significant factors in understanding the relationship between teachers‟ beliefs and practices Teachers may not be able to articulate fully the beliefs or theories that underline their practice or even be aware of them. In a seminal paper in the area of the relationship between beliefs and practice, Argyris and Schön (1974) argued that the theory that actually controls someone‟s actions is their “theory-in-use”, which may or may not match their “espoused theory” (p. 7). They wrote that learning what people's theory-in-use is is not simply a matter of asking them, but their theory-in-use must be constructed from observations of their behaviour. They also argued that deep, lasting change must therefore involve more that what they call “single loop” learning. As well as underlining the complexity of the relationship between beliefs and practice, this suggests much care must be taken in the use of surveys and interviews to understand teaching practice.

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Ernest (1989), states that teaching reforms require changes in teachers' deeply-held beliefs about teaching and learning. If this is the case then both educational innovators and educational researchers need to consider the issues raised by this review of the relationship between teacher beliefs and teacher practice. The study of the influence of teacher beliefs on teaching and learning in classroom situations may be a means to develop understanding of teachers‟ strategies and interactions in the classroom. Aguirre and Speer (2000) stress that people know more than they can tell and more than their behaviour consistently shows. Thompson (1992) concludes that teachers need to be helped to explore ways to examine their beliefs and practice. According to Pajares (1992), research on teacher candidates‟ beliefs would provide educators with significant information to help determine curricula and program direction. An understanding of the relationship between teachers‟ beliefs and their practice can assist in determining their professional development needs. For example, as Mansour (2009) says, understanding the experiences of inservice or pre-service teachers will be an important task for teacher educators prior to the design of programs for science in-service teachers and pre-service teachers.

Conclusion In conclusion, it is important for both reformers and researchers to understand the complexity of the relationship between beliefs and practice. In general, this review shows three perspectives on this relationship: teacher beliefs as influential on their practice; teacher beliefs as a weak influence on their practice; and the relationship between teacher beliefs and their practices as a complex one.

References Aguirre, J., & Speer, N. M. (2000). Examining the relationship between beliefs and goals in teacher practice. Journal of Mathematical Behaviour, 18(3), 327-356. Argyris, C., & Schön, D. A. (1974). Theory in practice: Increasing professional effectiveness (1st Ed.). San Francisco: JosseyBass Publishers. Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold and underused: Computers in the classroom. London: Harvard University Press. Emest, P. (1989). The impact of beliefs on the teaching of mathematics. In P. Emest (Ed.), Mathematics teaching: The state of the art (pp. 249-254). London: Falmer Press. Karaaǧaç, M. K., & Threlfall, J. (2004, 14-18 July). The tension between teacher beliefs and teacher practice: The impact of the work setting Paper presented at the 28th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, , Bergen, Norway. Kynigos, C., & Argyris, M. (2004). Teacher beliefs and practices formed during an innovation with computer-based exploratory mathematics in the classroom. Teachers and Teaching, 10(3), 247-273. Lacorte, M., & Canabal, E. (2005). Teacher beliefs and practices in advanced Spanish classrooms Heritage Language Journal 3(1), 83-107. Lefebvre, S., Deaudelin, D., & Loiselle, J. (2006, November). ICT implementation stages of primary school teachers: The practices and conceptions of teaching and learning. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education National Conference, Adelaide, Australia, 27th - 30th November, 2006. Lyons, T. (2006). Different countries, same science classes: Students' experiences of school science in their own words. International Journal of Science Education, 28 (6), 591-613. Mansour, N. (2008). The experiences and personal religious beliefs of Egyptian science teachers as a framework for understanding the shaping and reshaping of their beliefs and practices about Science-Technology-Society (STS). International Journal of Science Education, 30(12), 1605-1634.

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Mansour, N. (2009). Science teachers‟ beliefs and practices: Issues, implications and research agenda. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 4(1), 25-48. Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers' beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research . 62(3), 307-332. Quinn, R. J., & Wilson, M. M. (1997). Writing in the mathematics classroom: Teacher beliefs and practices. The Clearing House, 71(1), 14-21. Savasci-Acikalin, F. (2009). Teacher beliefs and practice in science education. Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, 10(1 Article 12), 1-14. Standen, R. P. (2002). The interplay between teachers' beliefs and practices in a multi-age primary school. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. Thompson, A. G. (1992). Teachers‟ beliefs and conceptions: A synthesis of research. In D. A. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 127-146). New York: Macmillan. Yero, J. L. (2002). Teaching in mind: How teacher thinking shapes education. Hamilton, MT: MindFlight Publishing. Zembylas, M. (2005). Beyond teacher cognition and teacher beliefs: The value of the ethnography of emotions in teaching. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 18(4), 465-487.

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