beliefs on teaching and learning essay

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Your teaching philosophy is a self-reflective statement of your beliefs about teaching and learning. It's a one to two page narrative that conveys your core ideas about being an effective teacher in the context of your discipline. It develops these ideas with specific, concrete examples of what the teacher and learners will do to achieve those goals. Importantly, your teaching philosophy statement also explains why you choose these options.

+ Getting Started

Your reasons for writing a teaching philosophy may vary. You might be writing it as an exercise in concisely documenting your beliefs so that you can easily articulate them to your students, peers, or a search committee. It might serve as the introduction to your teaching portfolio. Or, it can serve as a means of professional growth as it requires you to give examples of how you enact your philosophy, thus requiring you to consider the degree to which your teaching is congruent with your beliefs.

Generating ideas

Teaching philosophies express your values and beliefs about teaching. They are personal statements that introduce you, as a teacher, to your reader. As such, they are written in the first person and convey a confident, professional tone. When writing a teaching philosophy, use specific examples to illustrate your points. You should also discuss how your values and beliefs about teaching fit into the context of your discipline.

Below are categories you might address with prompts to help you begin generating ideas. Work through each category, spending time thinking about the prompts and writing your ideas down. These notes will comprise the material you’ll use to write the first draft of your teaching philosophy statement. It will help if you include both general ideas (‘I endeavor to create lifelong learners’) as well as specifics about how you will enact those goals. A teaching philosophy template is also available to help you get started.

Questions to prompt your thinking

Your concept of learning.

What do you mean by learning? What happens in a successful learning situation? Note what constitutes "learning" or "mastery" in your discipline.

Your concept of teaching

What are your values, beliefs, and aspirations as a teacher? Do you wish to encourage mastery, competency, transformational learning, lifelong learning, general transference of skills, critical thinking? What does a perfect teaching situation look like to you and why? How are the values and beliefs realized in classroom activities? You may discuss course materials, lesson plans, activities, assignments, and assessment instruments.

Your goals for students

What skills should students obtain as a result of your teaching? Think about your ideal student and what the outcomes of your teaching would be in terms of this student's knowledge or behavior. Address the goals you have for specific classes or curricula and that rational behind them (i.e., critical thinking, writing, or problem solving).

Your teaching methods

What methods will you consider to reach these goals and objectives? What are your beliefs regarding learning theory and specific strategies you would use, such as case studies, group work, simulations, interactive lectures? You might also want to include any new ideas or strategies you want to try.

Your interaction with students

What are you attitudes towards advising and mentoring students? How would an observer see you interact with students? Why do you want to work with students?

Assessing learning

How will you assess student growth and learning? What are your beliefs about grading? Do you grade students on a percentage scale (criterion referenced) or on a curve (norm referenced)? What different types of assessment will you use (i.e. traditional tests, projects, portfolios,  presentations) and why?

Professional growth

How will you continue growing as a teacher? What goals do you have for yourself and how will you reach them? How have your attitudes towards teaching and learning changed over time? How will you use student evaluations to improve your teaching? How might you learn new skills? How do you know when you've taught effectively?

+ Creating a Draft

Two ways of organizing your draft.

Now that you've written down your values, attitudes, and beliefs about teaching and learning, it's time to organize those thoughts into a coherent form. Perhaps the easiest way of organizing this material would be to write a paragraph covering each of the seven prompts you answered in the Getting Started section. These would then become the seven major sections of your teaching philosophy.

Another way of knitting your reflections together—and one that is more personal—is to read through your notes and underscore ideas or observations that come up more than once. Think of these as "themes" that might point you toward an organizational structure for the essay. For example, you read through your notes and realize that you spend a good deal of time writing about your interest in mentoring students. This might become one of the three or four major foci of your teaching philosophy. You should then discuss what it says about your attitudes toward teaching, learning, and what's important in your discipline.

No matter which style you choose, make sure to keep your writing succinct. Aim for two double-spaced pages. And don't forget to start with a "hook." Your job is to make your readers want to read more; their level of engagement is highest when they read your opening line. Hook your readers by beginning with a question, a statement, or even an event from your past.

Using specific examples

Remember to provide concrete examples from your teaching practice to illustrate the general claims you make in your teaching philosophy. The following general statements about teaching are intended as prompts to help you come up with examples to illustrate your claims about teaching. For each statement, how would you describe what happens in your classroom? Is your description specific enough to bring the scene to life in a teaching philosophy?

"I value helping my students understand difficult information. I am an expert, and my role is to model for them complex ways of thinking so that they can develop the same habits of mind as professionals in the medical field."

"I enjoy lecturing, and I'm good at it. I always make an effort to engage and motivate my students when I lecture."

"It is crucial for students of geology to learn the techniques of field research. An important part of my job as a professor of geology is to provide these opportunities."

"I believe that beginning physics students should be introduced to the principles of hypothesis generation, experimentation, data collection, and analysis. By learning the scientific method, they develop critical thinking skills they can apply to other areas of their lives. Small group work is a crucial tool for teaching the scientific method."

"As a teacher of writing, I am committed to using peer review in my classes. By reading and commenting on other students' work in small cooperative groups, my students learn to find their voice, to understand the important connection between writer and audience, and to hone their editing skills. Small group work is indispensible in the writing classroom."

Go back to the notes you made when getting started and underline the general statements you’ve made about teaching and learning. As you start drafting, make sure to note the specific approaches, methods, or products you use to realize those goals.

+ Assessing Your Draft

Assessing your draft teaching philosophy.

According to a survey of search committee chairs by the University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, there are five elements that are shared by strong teaching philosophy statements:

• They offer evidence of practice (specific examples)
• They are student-centered
• They demonstrate reflectiveness
• They demonstrate that the writer values teaching
• They are well written, clear, and readable

Now that you’ve completed an initial draft, ask whether your statement captures these elements and how well you articulate them.

You might find it useful to compare your draft to other teaching philosophies in your discipline. It can also be useful to have a colleague review your draft and offer recommendations for revision. Consider printing out a teaching philosophy rubric from our “Rubrics and Samples” tab to provide your reviewer with guidelines to assess your draft. These exercises will give you the critical distance necessary to see your teaching philosophy objectively and revise it accordingly.

+ Rubrics and Samples

Rubrics and sample teaching philosophies.

Here are links to three teaching philosophy rubrics to help you assess your statement. We have included four different rubrics for you to choose from. These rubrics cover similar elements, and one is not necessarily better than the other. Your choice of which to use should be guided by how comfortable you feel with the particular instrument and how usable you find it. 

• Teaching Philosophy Rubric 1   This rubric allows a reader to rate several elements of persuasiveness and format on a scale of 1 to 5.
• Teaching Philosophy Rubric 2   This rubric contains prompts for assessing purpose and audience, voice, beliefs and support, and conventions.
• Teaching Philosophy Rubric 3   This rubric contains prompts for assessing content, format, and writing quality.
• Rubric for Statements of Teaching Philosophy  This rubric was developed by Kaplan et. al. from the University of Michigan.
• Marisol Brito – philosophy 
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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Teaching Philosophy — My Teaching Philosophy: Beliefs and Personal Experience

My Teaching Philosophy: Beliefs and Personal Experience

• Categories: Personal Philosophy Philosophy of Education Teaching Philosophy

About this sample

Words: 547 |

Updated: 6 December, 2023

Words: 547 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

The essay explores the author's teaching philosophy and their beliefs about education. The author highlights the significance of teachers in shaping the future generations and emphasizes the importance of effective teaching.

They discuss their alignment with Romanticism philosophies, which prioritize focusing on students and creating a positive learning environment. The author believes that students should develop a love for learning and good morals to achieve success. Additionally, they express agreement with Essentialism philosophies, emphasizing the importance of teaching essential content knowledge and using proven teaching strategies. Progressivism and Constructivism philosophies also resonate with the author, promoting experiential learning and encouraging students to build their knowledge.

The author's teaching philosophy is influenced by personal experiences, including positive interactions with teachers and an internship with an efficient kindergarten teacher. They intend to put their beliefs into action by fostering positive relationships with students, maintaining a positive learning environment, teaching good morals, and using effective teaching strategies. Group work and experiential learning will be incorporated to help students understand the value of collaboration and independent discovery.

Works Cited

• Dewey, J. (2014). Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. The Floating Press.
• Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Bruner, J. S. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Harvard University Press.
• Nel Noddings. (2012). Philosophy of Education. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from [URL]
• Palmer, P. J. (2007). The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life. John Wiley & Sons.
• Kumashiro, K. (2009). Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning toward Social Justice. Routledge.
• Apple, M. W. (2000). Official Knowledge: Democratic Education in a Conservative Age. Routledge.
• Eisner, E. W. (2002). The Educational Imagination: On the Design and Evaluation of School Programs. Merrill/Prentice Hall.
• Shor, I. (1996). When Students Have Power: Negotiating Authority in a Critical Pedagogy. University of Chicago Press.
• Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (2018). Literacy: Reading the Word and the World. Routledge.

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What Is Your Educational Philosophy?

While lesson planning this summer, educators might also take time to reflect on their core beliefs about learning and teaching.

Over the summer, teachers reflect on the year and often redesign and perfect their teaching strategies and plans. In essence, they get back to the basics of what they believe is the best way to inspire learning in their students -- in other words, they revisit and refine their philosophy of education.

A school district might ask a teacher or principal applying for a job about her or his philosophy of education. In this post, I've decide to share mine, and I am curious to see if any of my beliefs resonate with you. So here they are:

1. Students need to learn.

Students want and need to learn as much as they need food, clothing, and shelter. An educator's primary job is to fill that primal need for learning by creating engaging and relevant learning experiences every day. The greatest gift a teacher can give students is motivating them to experience repeated learning success.

2. Students need to be active participants in learning.

Students learn best by doing, and active teaching encourages active learning. Teachers should treat students as active participants in the learning process, providing them with skills, such as:

• How to study
• How to take notes
• How to memorize
• How to express themselves effectively

These skills will help them be part of a high-performance learning team. Also, students need to be encouraged to explore and research information beyond the confines of the classroom and textbook.

3. Learning is a physiological activity involving the whole body.

The best way to engage a student is to have a solid classroom management plan and a well-planned lesson that is grounded in relevant, purposeful activities designed to enhance that student's knowledge and skills and leave her or him wanting to learn more. Teachers should be strongly aligned with student-centered and student-directed learning that embraces exploration, discovery, experiential learning, and the production of academically rigorous products.

4. Students need timely feedback to improve.

Teachers gather data on student performance to adjust the learning environment and instruction so that they can target students' learning needs. Teachers administer pretests to find a starting point for learning and post-tests to determine the students' increase in performance level as well as the teachers' effectiveness.

5. Students need structure and repetition to learn.

A teacher should be able to organize a standards-based lesson sequence, successfully implement the plan, and then evaluate student learning. A teacher should be able to create an exciting learning environment that makes it difficult for students to not learn. A teacher should know how to include all students in learning at their own level, and a teacher should be able to inspire the students to push themselves to the next level.

6. Students need information, knowledge, and skills.

Having access to knowledge resources is as important to a child's education as the actual curriculum content. Relevant and current information must be at the teachers' and students' fingertips to provide answers when the questions are still fresh. Information "on demand" is more valuable than information "just in case."

7. Students need tools and resources.

Students should know how their taxon and locale memory systems work. Students should have skills and strategies to be able to work effectively in the different levels of the cognitive domain as defined by Benjamin Bloom. Students should be aware of their own learning preferences, and teachers should assist with creating a plan to develop other learning skills. Educational tools are a means to an end. For example, technology used appropriately can greatly magnify the students' capacity to learn and the teachers' capacity to teach, inspire, and motivate.

Please share your philosophy in the comment section below. Also, if you wish to analyze mine and give me feedback, I would appreciate that, too.

Center for Teaching

Teaching statements.

Print Version

• What is a teaching statement?
• What purposes does the teaching statement serve?
• What does a teaching statement include?

General Guidelines

• Reflection questions to help get you started
• Exercises to help get you started
• Evaluating your teaching statement
• Further resources

What is a Teaching Statement?

A Teaching Statement is a purposeful and reflective essay about the author’s teaching beliefs and practices. It is an individual narrative that includes not only one’s beliefs about the teaching and learning process, but also concrete examples of the ways in which he or she enacts these beliefs in the classroom. At its best, a Teaching Statement gives a clear and unique portrait of the author as a teacher, avoiding generic or empty philosophical statements about teaching.

What Purposes does the Teaching Statement Serve?

The Teaching Statement can be used for personal, professional, or pedagogical purposes. While Teaching Statements are becoming an increasingly important part of the hiring and tenure processes, they are also effective exercises in helping one clearly and coherently conceptualize his or her approaches to and experiences of teaching and learning. As Nancy Van Note Chism, Professor Emerita of Education at IUPUI observes, “The act of taking time to consider one’s goals, actions, and vision provides an opportunity for development that can be personally and professionally enriching. Reviewing and revising former statements of teaching philosophy can help teachers to reflect on their growth and renew their dedication to the goals and values that they hold.”

What does a Teaching Statement Include?

A Teaching Statement can address any or all of the following:

• Your conception of how learning occurs
• A description of how your teaching facilitates student learning
• A reflection of why you teach the way you do
• The goals you have for yourself and for your students
• How your teaching enacts your beliefs and goals
• What, for you , constitutes evidence of student learning
• The ways in which you create an inclusive learning environment
• Your interests in new techniques, activities, and types of learning

“If at all possible, your statement should enable the reader to imagine you in the classroom, teaching. You want to include sufficient information for picturing not only you in the process of teaching, but also your class in the process of learning.” – Helen G. Grundman, Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement

• Make your Teaching Statement brief and well written . While Teaching Statements are probably longer at the tenure level (i.e. 3-5 pages or more), for hiring purposes they are typically 1-2 pages in length.
• Use narrative , first-person approach. This allows the Teaching Statement to be both personal and reflective.
• Be sincere and unique. Avoid clichés, especially ones about how much passion you have for teaching.
• Make it specific rather than abstract. Ground your ideas in 1-2 concrete examples , whether experienced or anticipated. This will help the reader to better visualize you in the classroom.
• Be discipline specific . Do not ignore your research. Explain how you advance your field through teaching.
• Avoid jargon and technical terms, as they can be off-putting to some readers. Try not to simply repeat what is in your CV. Teaching Statements are not exhaustive documents and should be used to complement other materials for the hiring or tenure processes.
• Be humble . Mention students in an enthusiastic, not condescending way, and illustrate your willingness to learn from your students and colleagues.
• Revise . Teaching is an evolving, reflective process, and Teaching Statements can be adapted and changed as necessary.

Reflection Questions To Help You Get You Started:*

• Why do you teach the way you do?
• What should students expect of you as a teacher?
• What is a method of teaching you rely on frequently? Why don’t you use a different method?
• What do you want students to learn? How do you know your goals for students are being met?
• What should your students be able to know or do as a result of taking your class?
• How can your teaching facilitate student learning?
• How do you as a teacher create an engaging or enriching learning environment?
• What specific activities or exercises do you use to engage your students? What do you want your students to learn from these activities?
• How has your thinking about teaching changed over time? Why?

* These questions and exercises are meant to be tools to help you begin reflecting on your beliefs and ideas as a teacher. No single Teaching Statement can contain the answers to all or most of these inquiries and activities.

Exercises to Help You Get You Started:*

• The Teaching Portfolio , including a section on teaching statements, Duquesne University Center for Teaching Excellence. This website includes five effective exercises to help you begin the writing process
• Teaching Goals Inventory , by Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross and their book Classroom Assessment Techniques . This “quiz” helps you to identify or create your teaching and learning goals.

Evaluating Your Teaching Statement

Writing A Statement Of Teaching Philosophy For The Academic Job Search (opens as a PDF), The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan.

This report includes a useful rubric for evaluating teaching philosophy statements. The design of the rubric was informed by experience with hundreds of teaching philosophies, as well as surveys of search committees on what they considered successful and unsuccessful components of job applicants’ teaching philosophies.

Further Resources:

General information on and guidelines for writing teaching statements.

• Writing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement , Faculty and TA Development at The Ohio State University. This site provides an in-depth guide to teaching statements, including the definition of and purposes for a teaching statement, general formatting suggestions, and a self-reflective guide to writing a teaching statement.
• Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement , Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Iowa State University. This document looks at four major components of a teaching statement, which have been divided into questions—specifically, to what end? By what means? To what degree? And why? Each question is sufficiently elaborated, offering a sort of scaffolding for preparing one’s own teaching statement.
• Writing a Meaningful Statement of Teaching Philosophy , McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University. This website offers strategies for preparing and formatting your teaching statement.

Articles about Teaching Statements

• Grundman, Helen (2006). Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement (opens as a PDF), Notices of the AMS , Vol. 53, No. 11, p. 1329.
• Montell, Gabriela (2003). How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy , from the Chronicle Manage Your Career section of the Chronicle of Higher Education .
• Montell, Gabriela (2003). What’s Your Philosophy on Teaching, and Does it Matter? , from the Chronicle Manage Your Career section of the Chronicle of Higher Education .

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Teaching Commons > Teaching Guides > Reflective Practice > Teaching Philosophies

The Teaching Philosophy

Teaching philosophies are frequently required for job applications and for tenure or promotion packets. They also serve as a central reflective document in teaching portfolios.

Depending on your audience and purpose, the length of your philosophy will vary. While most teaching philosophies are one to two pages, tenure applicants may be asked to expand their statement to five to eight pages.

General Guidelines

Offer concrete examples . Illustrate how you enact your beliefs about how people learn and what the role of a teacher is in promoting learning in the classroom by pointing to specific assignments, activities, and experiences.

Daniel Makagon (College of Communication) shows how an assignment he designed promotes dialogic learning:

"For example, an Intercultural Context assignment in Intercultural Communication exemplifies my desire to have students participate in a larger dialogue and debate about core issues raised in the class. This assignment asks students to present artifacts that highlight some aspect of historical or contemporary intercultural communication. A small sample of their presentations shows a range of issues that, taken together, reflect the diverse and complex matrix of intercultural communication: a video clip from a news broadcast about racist gangs in prisons and how racial tensions will affect prisoners when they are released, a song that used rap music to put forth Christian messages, an advertisement that presented intercultural relations as contexts for consumption [...] In short, the students were able to share a variety of artifacts that addressed issues big and small, exemplifying and extending the intercultural communication theories about race, gender, religion, and globalization (among others) that we analyzed in course materials.”

Make connections to your discipline . Define what it means to be teacher within your area(s) of expertise. As you write, remember that you are not only making a claim about issues related to teaching and learning, you are also supporting your point of view with personal experience and, if possible, outside scholarship. Show how your teaching, research, and professional activities inform one another. Draw specific connections between these areas in your teaching philosophy.

Anna Kathryn Grau (School of Music) makes a case for the importance of music in the humanities and in liberal arts education more generally:

 “Liberal arts education works to make students aware of other points of view, of otherness, both historical and contemporary. The study of music deserves a place in this context, alongside the other humanities. I believe musicology has a crucial, though often overlooked, place in expanding our understanding of how our culture evolved. In the study of music history, we demonstrate to students the historical and cultural contingencies of things often perceived as universal and transcendent. General liberal arts students benefit from incorporating thought about music and its history into their general course of study, while musicians can enrich their own experience and professionalism through better understanding not only of the technical elements of their material, but of its social and cultural role throughout history. For this reason, I am particularly interested in the opportunity to teach music in an interdisciplinary context. Especially in general curriculum courses, the engagement of students with music and listening skills often correlates closely with their ability to see music as part of a larger social-historical picture. "

Make it personal . Avoid making generalizations about all teachers and learners. The more specific your philosophy is to you and your practices, the more valid and compelling it will be because you are not asking your reader to agree to universal claims based on your anecdotal experiences.

Trent Engbers (School of Public Service) explains why grappling with ethical questions is central to his pedagogical goal of encouraging students to consider new ways of thinking:

“My favorite application activities are embedded with ethical questions about the world of public managers and elected officials. The controversial nature of ethical questions engages students in debate with each other and students find that despite their knowledge of 'truth' there is always someone who sees it differently. Following application, I set the context for the next lesson so that ideas build on each other and lead to higher levels of expertise.”

 Getting Started

Here are some questions to consider in your teaching philosophy:

• What attitudes do you feel you must hold (or avoid) to be a successful teacher? How have these attitudes impacted your teaching?
• What are your beliefs about learning? How do you think people learn best? What has informed your beliefs about learning (scholarship, experience, teaching mentors)? How are your beliefs about learning reflected in your teaching?
• What do you hope to accomplish when you teach? What are your learning goals for any given course? Are there some learning goals that exist in virtually all of your courses? Do you change learning goals depending on whether or not the course is for majors or non-majors, undergraduates, or graduate students?
• How do you assess what students need most from you as a teacher? How do you assess if students have fulfilled the course goals?
• Give an example of a particularly successful assignment, unit, or course. What made it successful? How does your example represent your beliefs and values about teaching and learning?
• Give an example of an assignment, unit, or course that didn't work. Why wasn’t it successful? What changes did you make based on that experience to turn it into a successful assignment, unit, or course?
• What type of feedback do you get from students? How has student feedback influenced your beliefs and practices about teaching?

More Examples 

• Paul Booth , associate professor of Media and Cinema Studies in the College of Communication, sets out a clear framework, provides examples in support of that framework, and articulates how the learning spaces he creates lead to concrete outcomes for students.
• Edward Evins does double duty as both a First-Year Writing Instructor and a University Center for Writing-based Learning tutor. His tutoring philosophy exemplifies the best practices of a philosophy statement and has an engaging design connected to an overarching metaphor. 
• Carolyn Martineau , Senior Instructor in Biological Sciences in the College of Science and Health, begins her philosophy with a clear list of key driving elements, and then she supports her mission statement with connected examples. 

4 Teaching Philosophy Statement Examples

ThoughtCo / J.R. Bee

• Becoming A Teacher
• Assessments & Tests
• Elementary Education
• Secondary Education
• Special Education
• Homeschooling
• M.S., Education, Buffalo State College
• B.S., Education, Buffalo State College

A teaching philosophy statement, or an educational philosophy statement, is a brief essay that nearly all prospective teachers must write when applying for an academic position. The statement generally reflects on the writer's teaching beliefs and includes concrete examples of how those beliefs have informed the writer's teaching practices.

A well-crafted teaching statement gives a clear and unique portrait of the writer as a teacher. Teaching philosophy statements are important because a clear teaching philosophy can lead to a change in teaching behavior and foster professional and personal growth. As a result, it can also be effective for practicing teachers to conceptualize their teaching approaches by writing a statement—even if they aren't applying for another teaching role.

Examples of Teaching Philosophy Statements

This passage is an example of a strong statement of teaching philosophy because it puts students at the front and center of the teacher's focus. An author who writes such a statement will likely always ensure student needs are the primary focus of all lessons and schoolwork.

"My philosophy of education is that all children are unique and must have a stimulating educational environment where they can grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. It is my desire to create this type of atmosphere where students can meet their full potential. I will provide a safe environment where students are invited to share their ideas and take risks.

"I believe that there are five essential elements that are conducive to learning. (1) The teacher's role is to act as a guide. (2) Students must have access to hands-on activities. (3) Students should be able to have choices and let their curiosity direct their learning. (4) Students need the opportunity to practice skills in a safe environment. (5) Technology must be incorporated into the school day."

The following statement is a good example of a teaching philosophy because the author emphasizes that all classrooms and students are unique, with specific learning needs and styles. A teacher with this philosophy is likely to ensure they spend time helping each student achieve their highest potential.

"I believe that all children are unique and have something special that they can bring to their own education. I will assist my students to express themselves and accept themselves for who they are, as well embrace the differences of others.

"Every classroom has its own unique community; my role as the teacher will be to assist each child in developing their own potential and learning styles. I will present a curriculum that will incorporate each different learning style, as well as make the content relevant to the students' lives. I will incorporate hands-on learning, cooperative learning, projects, themes, and individual work to engage and activate students learning." 

This statement provides a solid example because the author emphasizes the moral objective of teaching: She will hold each student to the highest expectations and ensure each one is diligent in their studies. This statement also implies the teacher will not give up on any student.

"I believe that a teacher is morally obligated to enter the classroom with only the highest of expectations for each and every one of her students. Thus, the teacher maximizes the positive benefits that naturally come along with any self-fulfilling prophecy. With dedication, perseverance, and hard work, her students will rise to the occasion."

"I aim to bring an open mind, a positive attitude, and high expectations to the classroom each day. I believe that I owe it to my students, as well as the community, to bring consistency, diligence, and warmth to my job in the hope that I can ultimately inspire and encourage such traits in the children as well."

The following statement takes a slightly different approach. It states that classrooms should be warm and caring communities, and unlike the first two sample statements, it focuses more on community-based learning, as opposed to an individualized approach. The teaching strategies mentioned, such as morning meetings and community problem-solving, follow this community-based philosophy.

"I believe that a classroom should be a safe, caring community where children are free to speak their mind, blossom, and grow. I will use strategies to ensure our classroom community will flourish, like the morning meeting, positive vs. negative discipline, classroom jobs, and problem-solving skills.

"Teaching is a process of learning from your students, colleagues, parents, and the community. This is a lifelong process where you learn new strategies, new ideas, and new philosophies. Over time, my educational philosophy may change, and that's okay. That just means that I have grown and learned new things."

Components of a Teaching Philosophy Statement

A teaching philosophy statement should include an introduction, body, and conclusion—just as you would expect of your students if they were writing a paper. But there are other specific components that you need to include:

Introduction: This should be your thesis statement where you discuss your general belief about education (such as: "I believe all students have a right to learn"), as well as your teaching ideals. Consider what students will have learned once they depart your class, and what those lessons learned say about your teaching philosophy and strategies.

Body: ​In this part of the statement, discuss what you see as the ideal classroom environment and how it makes you a better teacher, addresses student needs, and facilitates interactions between parents and their children. Discuss how you would facilitate age-appropriate learning  and involve students in the assessment process . Explain how you would put your educational ​​ideals into practice.

Clearly state your goals and objectives for students. Layout specifically what you hope your teaching will help students to accomplish. Be specific by telling a story or detailing a teaching strategy you've used. Doing so helps your reader understand how your teaching philosophy would play out in the classroom.

Conclusion : In this section, talk about your goals as a teacher, how you have been able to meet them in the past, and how you can build on them to meet future challenges. Focus on your personal approach to pedagogy and classroom management, as well as what makes you unique as an educator, and how you wish to advance your career.

Cite your sources. Explain where your teaching philosophy originated—for example, from your experiences as an undergraduate, from a faculty mentor you worked with during your teacher-training program, or perhaps from books or articles on teaching that had a particular influence on you.

Formatting Your Statement

There are some general rules to follow when writing a teaching philosophy statement.

Keep it brief. The statement should be no more than one-to-two pages, double-spaced.

Use present tense , and write the statement in the first person, as the previous examples illustrate.

Avoid jargon. Use common, everyday language, and not technical terms. If you must use jargon, explain what you're writing about in everyday terms as well.

Be personal. Make sure you talk about your experiences and beliefs, and ensure your statement is original and truly describes the methods and philosophy you would employ in teaching.

Vanderbilt University. " Teaching Statements ."

The Chronicle of Higher Education. " 4 Steps to a Memorable Teaching Philosophy ."

The Ohio State University. " Philosophy of Teaching Statement ."

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Article contents

The influence of teacher education on teacher beliefs.

• Maria Teresa Tatto Maria Teresa Tatto Arizona State University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.747
• Published online: 26 April 2019

Beliefs defined as the cognitive basis for the articulation of values and behaviors that mediate teaching practice can serve as powerful indicators of teacher education influence on current and prospective teachers’ thinking. Notwithstanding the importance of this construct, the field seems to lack across the board agreement concerning the kinds of beliefs that are essential for effective teaching, and whether and how opportunities to learn and other experiences have the potential to influence beliefs and knowledge in ways that may equip teachers to interpret, frame and guide action, and to fruitfully engage all pupils with powerful learning experiences. Large-scale international comparative studies provide the opportunity to develop shared definitions that facilitate the exploration of these questions within and across nations.

• initial teacher education
• mathematics knowledge
• mathematics pedagogy knowledge
• evidence of impact
• primary teachers
• secondary teachers

Introduction

Equipping teachers with the knowledge and skills that they will need to engage in effective practice once in schools is the central concern of teacher educators. The study of teacher beliefs, with beliefs defined as the cognitive basis for the articulation of values and behaviors that mediate teaching practice (Aguirre & Speer, 1999 ; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1977 ), can serve as a powerful indicator of teacher education influence on current and prospective teachers’ thinking. As such, numerous studies about teacher education on beliefs populate the research literature, providing a broad picture of areas that are of most concern for educators.

I refer the reader to extensive reviews of the literature, the first being Sanger’s ( 2017 ), in the Handbook of Research on Teacher Education . Sanger presents a comprehensive and succinct review concerning teacher knowledge and beliefs and the influence of teacher education. Other reviews have summarized the state of the art, including the controversial nature of beliefs and their potential to influence or be influenced by action within sociohistorical and cultural contexts (Ashton, 2014 ; Fives & Buehl, 2012 ; Richardson, 1996 ; Tatto & Coupland, 2003 ). Other reviews continue to highlight concerns with definitional and methodological problems. Indeed the finding from the classical review of Pajares ( 1992 ), which declared “beliefs” a messy construct, points to an ongoing and unresolved concern, while others critique measurement approaches (Hoffman & Seidel, 2014 ; Fives & Buehl, 2012 ). Sanger ( 2017 ) points out that reviews:

continue to recommend greater collaboration among scholars in developing not only shared definitions, but also measures and analytic frameworks, including larger-scale studies that provide a stronger basis for possible generalization, more longitudinal studies to address belief dynamics over periods longer than a semester or year, and greater attention to the linkages between beliefs and conduct. (p. 341)

This conclusion suggests the need to further explore whether and how opportunities to learn, and other experiences that future teachers undergo during their teacher education and beyond, have the potential to influence beliefs and knowledge in ways that may equip teachers to interpret, frame and guide action, and to fruitfully engage all pupils with powerful learning experiences.

Using data collected as part of the Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M), this article responds to concerns that have emerged from diverse reviews of the literature, namely the need to arrive at shared definitions of beliefs seen as key in the development of future teachers, and the construction of valid and reliable measures and methods for analysis. The TEDS-M study is a large-scale, nationally representative study of the outcomes of teacher education in 17 countries. TEDS-M benefited from the collaboration of teacher educators in the different countries that participated in the study, who contributed to the development not only of shared definitions of beliefs, but also valid and reliable measures using questionnaires and knowledge assessments. The questionnaires and assessments were administered in about 500 teacher preparation institutions in the participating countries to 13,907 future primary teachers, to 8,332 future lower secondary teachers close to graduation from their programs, and to 5,505 teacher educators (the details of the study are in Tatto et al., 2008 , 2012 ; Tatto, 2013 ).

This article considers a particular conception of teacher education influence on beliefs following early work in this area by Tatto ( 1996 , 1998 , 1999 ). In a series of papers, Tatto put forward the notion that teacher education programs may be constructed to produce a significant change on future teachers’ beliefs in ways that challenge naïve views acquired through the apprenticeship of observation and other commonly held societal views about teaching and learning, thus serving as indicators of program outcomes. Tatto’s previous work revealed that when teacher educators in these programs held strong norms about what characterizes good teaching (or notions of the ideal teacher for the ideal students/citizen) they were able to create deliberately planned opportunities to learn (OTLs) and experiences that supported inquiry oriented learning by future teachers (FTs), resulting in significant changes in their system of beliefs. A key indicator of program influence on beliefs used in Tatto’s studies was the magnitude of the difference in means between the aggregated beliefs of program faculty and their FTs relative to the size of the standard deviations (or effect size). We refer to this as the teacher education alignment index.

After a brief overview on ways to conceptualize the influence of teacher education programs on teachers’ beliefs as cognitive constructs and as indicators of program outcomes, this article explores the influence of teacher education on FTs’ beliefs based on analysis of the TEDS-M data (Tatto et al., 2012 ). Specifically the article examines the degree of alignment on key beliefs between teacher educators and future primary and secondary mathematics teachers as mediated by programs’ opportunities to learn and by FTs’ knowledge of the subject and of the pedagogy of the subject in three countries: Poland, Russia, and the United States. The article concludes by discussing these findings in view of who is shaping teacher education programs’ philosophy and opportunities to learn in an era of market-based approaches to education.

Conceptualizing the Influence of Teacher Education on Future Teachers’ Beliefs

Tatto’s earlier work compared FTs’ beliefs at program entry and exit with the beliefs of their educators, with the aggregated beliefs of those educators representing program norms. Specifically, the studies used samples of U.S. teacher education programs, including some that had undergone a process of reform and some that had remained unchanged, and explored key beliefs about teaching diverse students, beliefs about instructional choice, and beliefs about the purposes of education, teachers’ roles and practices (Tatto, 1996 , 1998 , 1999 ).

Tatto found that reformed programs where faculty followed a strong program philosophy (in this case aligned with constructivist principles) also had strongly aligned beliefs, and that these beliefs were reflected on the programs’ graduates with significant changes between entry and exit. Tatto’s research also found that in programs where faculty did not identify with a particular philosophy FTs’ beliefs did not show a significant change between entry and exit; in other words, passage through teacher education seemed to have little or no effect on the beliefs that they held when entering the program. This early work framed the study of beliefs in the TEDS-M study (Tatto et al., 2008 , 2012 ; Tatto, 2013 ).

Tatto’s research was done at a time when important changes in teacher education were occurring across the United States and globally, including reforms following constructivist principles. Shulman ( 1987 ) had been arguing for a complex view of teachers’ professional knowledge, with knowledge of the content as a foundation for other equally important knowledge areas that are unique to and define the teaching profession, much in the way that other kinds of knowledge define established professions such as medicine. One central aspect of Shulman’s knowledge typology unique to the discipline of education is pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). PCK is defined as “a type of knowledge that is unique to teachers, and is based on the manner in which teachers relate their pedagogical knowledge (what they know about teaching) to their subject matter knowledge (what they know about what they teach)” (Cochran, 1997 ). This knowledge interacts with other knowledge areas also unique to the education discipline (of the curriculum, of pupils, of their communities) and positions the teacher (to follow Bernstein, 1999 ) as the key recontextualization actor of the school curriculum. The successful acquisition of PCK requires a strong knowledge of the discipline, the ability to make sense of that knowledge in order to recontextualize it in a way that is accessible to pupils, to develop learning opportunities to accommodate different learning needs and styles, and understanding of the social, political, cultural, and physical environments in which students are asked to learn (Cochran, 1997 ). In short, adoption of a constructivist philosophy as a framework for teacher education aligned well with the development of the different types of knowledge seen as essential in the development of teachers as autonomous professionals. Teacher educators under this frame were seen as part of a learning community able to create opportunities for FTs to encourage reflection, dialogue, critical thinking, knowledge ownership, and understanding in context, including the development of norms to guide program improvement and ensure consistency and continuity (Tatto, 1998 ). In addition teacher change was seen as requiring learning opportunities that support in-depth examination of theories and practices in light of teachers’ beliefs and experiences within a sociohistorical context to find meaning in what they learn (Ashton, 1992 , p. 322).

Cross-national studies have explored important dimensions influencing belief formation on FTs. For instance, Fraser and Ikoma ( 2015 ) show how global curriculum regimes tend to favor a constructivist (learner-centered) over a traditional (teacher-centered) teaching orientation in a dynamic that has resulted in increased isomorphism in teacher education. In contrast, others have explored the pervasive nature of traditional beliefs among future mathematics teachers as a result of national-bounded cultural values that are in turn embedded in institutions (Stigler & Hiebert, 1998 , 1999 ); while others have documented how these global forces have an impact not only on teacher beliefs but also on knowledge development (Desimone et al., 2005 ). Beliefs about what is appropriate for teachers to address, and how they should develop and recontextualize knowledge are likely to be influenced in various degrees by dominant global and national cultural influences.

Because beliefs formation occurs as part of cognitive development and learning and as a function of cultural and social interactions (as formulated by Vygotsky, see Daniels, 2001 ), a sociocultural approach is useful in understanding the existence of program norms about what makes a professional teacher.

A Sociocultural Approach to Analyze the Influence of Teacher Education on Teachers’ Beliefs: The Interaction of the Macro-, Meso-, and Microlevels

The recent work of Tatto, Burn, Menter, Mutton, and Thompson ( 2018 ), which analyzes policy at the macrolevel, as it interacts with teacher education programs and their partner schools at the mesolevel, and as it influences FTs is helpful in explaining the influence of teacher education on teachers’ beliefs. Currently in countries such as the United States, England, and Australia, to name a few, teacher education is increasingly influenced at the macrolevel by policies and regulation mandates, which have tended to emphasize performativity, standardization, and testing (see also Akiba, 2017 ). At the mesolevel of institutions there has been a gradual shift in the control of teacher education curriculum from teacher educators to external controls (i.e., standards, accreditation guidelines), and an increased tendency to transfer the provision of teacher education to schools or to other vendors in a continuously growing market approach to teacher preparation. Thus, teacher education programs and their partner schools may find themselves at odds as they seek to meet these demands while maintaining a curriculum that aligns with the notion of the teacher as a professional. It is at the microlevel of the individual teacher where sense-making is more complex, especially as individual FTs seek to align their beliefs alongside programs and partner schools in a dynamic that may occur in complex ways. For instance, programs and schools may be internally and externally aligned with regulation mandates; schools may be aligned with external regulations but misaligned with the goals of teacher education programs; or programs and partner schools may be internally and externally misaligned (Tatto et al., 2018 ). Further, individual FTs may have internal motives that may be aligned or misaligned with all of the above. Our work shows that in some cases alignment is necessary for fruitful learning but not always, thus revealing the complexity entailed in learning to teach (Tatto et al., 2018 ). In other settings, policy trends have not been so strongly influenced by market approaches. In Japan and South Korea, for instance, the tendency is toward centralized control over teacher education by the federal state. In cases such as these, national cultural values and stronger levels of alignment across all levels may predominate. The hypothesis pursued here is that external controls and increased regulation as a result of rapid-paced reforms have altered in many cases the factors that in the past facilitated alignment among teacher educators at the mesolevel of institutions, such as the necessary time to meet to share understandings and to construct inquiry-based opportunities to learn within programs and in collaboration with schools. Such lack of alignment at the mesolevel may have weakened teacher education influence at the microlevel of the individual, and beliefs are a sensitive indicator of these changes. If this is true, we should see a lack of alignment in beliefs held by faculty and FTs, especially in those areas that are considered important in supporting inquiry-based learning in mathematics (e.g., reasoning around complex concepts and ideas, understanding students’ thinking) and which by definition challenge more traditional beliefs. This may consequently weaken the influence of teacher education programs’ OTL on FTs’ mathematical pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) and beliefs. In situations such as those in Europe, where the impetus has been to align entire higher education systems to fit one model under the Bologna agreement, traditional systems that were highly coherent (as in Bulgaria, see Bankov, 2007 ) had to be modified, often quickly, sacrificing core elements that were considered important in learning to teach specially on the pedagogy of the subject. Alignment in beliefs may be found, however, in areas of regulatory pressure, such as the use of assessments to evaluate individual learning and the introduction of standards to regulate teaching practice. Such alignment may indicate program efforts to accommodate external regulations, thereby moving away from cultural values.

Data and Analysis Source

The analysis presented here draws on the analysis by Rodriguez, Tatto, Palma, and Nickodem ( 2018 ) of TEDS-M study data from teacher educators and their FTs in primary and secondary programs in Poland, Russia, and the United States. These countries obtained moderately high or high scores in the assessments of mathematics content knowledge (MCK) and MPCK (see Tatto et al., 2012 , pp. 130–131), thus representing systems that produce FTs with good knowledge of the subject and of the subject pedagogy along the lines suggested by Shulman and others. Studying the United States is of particular interest in light of the reforms (macrolevel) that shaped the programs initially studied by Tatto in the 1990s and of further efforts to reform programs since then. While following similar regulation trends as other countries, teacher educators for the most part remain in control of their programs. The study of Poland and Russia provides insight into other types of reforms influenced by global forces such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Bologna Process in Europe, which placed control of the higher education system in the hands of Ministries of Education with the goal of ensuring comparability in the standards and quality of higher education qualifications. Poland has been open to implementing the Bologna Accord since its creation in 1999 , and to global reforms including those proposed by the OECD for “teacher training programmes that target the teaching or development of 21st century skills” (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009 ). In contrast, Russia became a signatory of the Bologna Accord in 2003 , which started a long process of changing the higher education system while preserving fundamental values and traditions, and the country is not yet an OECD member. Thus, the expectation is that national cultural values would predominate among Russian FTs and their educators, and that global values would predominate amongst U.S. and Polish FTs and their educators. The study focuses on mathematics teacher education because of the strong grammar of mathematics (Bernstein, 1999 ), which allows finding common definitions and comparisons within and across countries.

In this article, the focus is on the concept of beliefs as cognitive states regarding the teaching and learning of mathematics that FTs and their educators hold to be true. The TEDS-M study focused on those areas of beliefs judged to influence the processes of learning to teach mathematics, 1 such as beliefs about:

the role of the teacher in the learning of mathematics; for instance, whether direct teaching is more advisable than students’ active learning.

the nature of learning in mathematics; for instance, whether mathematics learning consists of acquiring the ability to apply a set of rules and procedures that have to be memorized and mastered, or whether mathematics can be learned by following a process of inquiry, such as learning, to solve problems in a variety of ways.

the factors that account for students’ success in learning mathematics; for instance, is one naturally good at mathematics or can one become good at mathematics?

the degree to which the program experienced by FTs across the areas of mathematics pedagogy, pedagogy and school experiences contributed in a significant way to their learning to teach.

FTs’ beliefs (microlevel) in these areas are seen as mediated by the opportunities to learn and other experiences provided by their programs in collaboration with schools (mesolevel). These included opportunities to learn that FTs had in their:

mathematics pedagogy courses, such as (a) the foundations of mathematics education, (b) mathematics instruction, (c) participation in mathematics education courses, (d) doing readings in mathematics education courses, (e) solving problems in class, (f) studying instructional practice, (g) studying instructional planning, and (h) studying the uses of assessment and (i) assessment practices;

pedagogy courses, such as in the areas of (j) the social sciences in education, (k) general educational applications, (l) teaching for diversity, (m) teaching for reflection on practice, and (n) teaching for improving practice; and

school experience, such as (o) connecting classroom learning to practice, (p) the reinforcement of teacher education program goals in the school setting). and (q) the quality of supervising teacher’s feedback.

Other questions asked about the degree to which the program experienced by FTs was coherent; that is, whether there was consistency across courses and experiences offered to FTs, and whether there were explicit standards with expectations for what FTs should learn from their respective programs.

Finally, the results of the MCK and MPCK knowledge assessments for these FTs helped to understand the mediating nature of knowledge in belief acquisition. The MCK assessed knowledge of FTs in the domains of number, algebra, geometry, and data, across three cognitive areas, namely application, knowledge and reasoning. The MPCK assessment measured knowledge for teaching in these four domains (number, algebra, geometry and data) but went beyond to assess in addition mathematical curricular knowledge and knowledge of planning for and enacting mathematics teaching (Tatto et al., 2008 , pp. 37–38).

Influence of Teacher Education’s Opportunities to Learn and Knowledge Levels on Future Teachers’ Beliefs

To understand the influence of teacher education on beliefs differences between faculty and future primary and secondary teachers we used a procedure called regression. 2 We used a series of Weighted Least Squares (WLS) regressions to model the influence of opportunities to learn on variability in effect sizes (e.g., the difference in beliefs between faculty and their FTs) in programs aggregated at the country level. 3 Regressions for future primary teachers (FPTs) and future secondary teachers (FSTs) were run for each country (see Tables 1 to 6 ). To understand the tables a brief explanation is necessary. The R 2 coefficient indicates the proportion of the variance explained by the opportunity to learn variables (OTL) and the knowledge variables included in the model (MCK and MPCK). The magnitude of the regression coefficients in each row across the columns indicate the variability in effect sizes (i.e., the difference in beliefs between FTs and their faculty) in relation to the opportunities to learn provided by the program, and the degree to which these coefficients are significant (* p < .05). R 2 values range from 0 to 1 and are commonly stated as 0% to 100%, where 100% represents a model that explains all of the variance. The sign of the intercept at the top of each column and the sign of the regression coefficients in each row for all of the regressions are also key to interpreting these results. A positive intercept indicates that, on average, when all other variables are held constant, FTs had higher scores on the given belief than their educators (i.e., they were more likely to agree with the statements comprising the belief). A significant positive OTL regression coefficient suggests that a one standard deviation increase in the OTL will increase the difference in belief, widening the gap in the level of belief between FTs and their educators. Conversely, if an OTL has a negative coefficient, every standard deviation increase in the OTL will reduce the difference in belief between FTs and their educators. The same applies for the knowledge regression coefficients.

For instance, Table 4 shows that the intercept for future primary teachers (FPTs) in the United States regarding the belief that teaching mathematics should engage students in active learning is –0.12, meaning that, for institutions with average OTLs in that country, FPTs are less likely to believe in teaching as active learning than their educators do. Looking for the influence of programs’ opportunities to learn on differences in beliefs between educators and their FTs, see for instance the regression coefficient for OTL from “instructional practice” (e.g., the opportunity to learn to apply mathematics to real-world problems and to distinguish between procedural and conceptual mathematics when teaching), which is 0.40. This indicates that a 1.0 standard deviation (SD) increase in the OTL from instructional practice is associated with a shift in the difference in beliefs between faculty and FTs of 0.28 (–0.12 + 0.40 = 0.28), essentially reversing the difference in beliefs. In other words, FPTs in U.S. programs offering OTL from instructional practice were more likely to believe in teaching as active learning, and these beliefs were strongly held relative to the beliefs of their faculty.

A simpler way to understand the results in the tables is to look at the intercepts and at the regression coefficients by OTL or knowledge variables. When the regression coefficient is the same sign as the intercept this results in an increased difference in beliefs among FTs and their educators. When the intercept is the opposite sign of the coefficient this will result in a reduction (or reversal) of the difference, to a point where additional OTL or knowledge levels may actually reverse the difference (essentially serving as an indicator of teacher education influence on FTs’ beliefs).

An important finding from the TEDS-M study was the great variability in the way programs organize OTL across and even within institutions in the participating countries (Tatto & Senk, 2011 ). Because of this variability, we found that OTLs were rarely uniform and significant predictors of the difference in beliefs between FTs and their educators, indicating possible program misalignment. This finding is consistent with that of Hammerness and Klette ( 2015 ), who found considerable national sources of variation in teacher education in their study.

The levels of MCK and MPCK demonstrated by FTs in the TEDS-M assessments, however, were often significant predictors of belief differences between educators and FTs (typically, higher levels of MPCK were associated with higher levels of alignment). This finding confirms the cognitive nature of these constructs and the likely conclusion that beliefs are more effectively affected by important changes in cognition of the subjects and of pedagogy.

In the next section six sets of beliefs are examined (mathematics as a process of inquiry, mathematics as a set of rules and procedures, teacher-directed mathematics learning, active learning of mathematics, mathematics as a fixed ability, and preparedness for teaching), together with the influence of OTL and knowledge on FTs’ beliefs, including the degree of alignment between faculty and their FTs as an indicator of program influence.

Mathematics as a Process of Inquiry

Table 1 shows that across each country, for primary and secondary programs, educators were more likely to agree that mathematics learning can be advanced through processes of inquiry than FTs were (note the negative intercepts in Table 1 ). In Poland, the WLS regression models explained 43% of the variance in difference in beliefs between educators and their FPTs and FSTs. In the Russian Federation, the model explained 55% of the variance in beliefs for FSTs and their educators across institutions. Programs’ OTLs about national or state standards and assessments as related to pupils’ learning (assessment practice), reduced and reversed the difference in this belief for FSTs in Poland and for FPTs and FSTs in the Russian Federation (e.g., with more OTL assessment practice, FTs tend to agree with their educators, reversing the differences and indicating the influence of teacher education on this view). Similarly, OTL from school experiences, such as observing and practicing teaching, and collecting and analyzing evidence about pupil learning as a result of FTs’ teaching methods (classroom learning to practice), also reduced the difference for FPTs in Poland and the Russian Federation and for FSTs in the United States. The associations between the measures of knowledge and beliefs in this case were not consistent across countries and levels of teacher preparation programs. Overall, OTL explained about half of the variation in differences in beliefs.

Table 1. WLS Regression Results for Future Primary and Secondary Teachers on Mathematics Learning as a Process of Inquiry

Note : POL = Poland; RUS = Russian Federation; U.S. = United States. MCK = Mathematical Content Knowledge; MPCK = Mathematical Pedagogical Content Knowledge.

* p < .05

Source : Rodriguez, Tatto, Palma, and Nickodem ( 2018 )

Mathematics as a Set of Rules and Procedures

Table 2 shows that in all cases the FTs who participated in our study were more likely to agree that mathematics consists of the application of a set of rules and procedures (consistent with their lower scores on beliefs regarding mathematics as a process of inquiry) relative to their educators (positive intercepts). The WLS regression models explained 23% (Poland primary programs) to 78% (Poland secondary programs) of the variance in differences between FTs and educators. FTs’ opportunity to participate in class (e.g., ask questions, participate in discussion and to teach a class during their program) tended to reverse the difference in beliefs in the Russian Federation primary programs, but increased the differences for secondary programs in all three countries. Similarly, having opportunities to develop instructional plans to accommodate pupils’ diverse learning needs significantly increased the differences in views between teacher educators and their FPTs and FSTs in Poland, and FSTs in the Russian Federation, an outcome that may occur because instructional plans are more attuned to school norms than to program norms, and, in some cases, these norms differ. In most cases, institutions where FTs had higher levels of MCK also had views that were more closely aligned with those of their educators (i.e., they were more likely to reject the view that learning mathematics for the most part means memorizing and applying a set of rules and procedures).

Table 2. WLS Regression Results for Future Primary and Secondary Teachers on Mathematics Learning as a set of Rules and Procedures

Source : Rodriguez, Tatto, Palma, and Nickodem ( 2018 ).

Teacher-Directed Mathematics Learning

Table 3 shows that in all cases FTs were more likely to believe that mathematics instruction should be teacher-directed relative to their educators (positive intercepts). Regarding variation in these differences, the models produced R 2 values ranging from 0.39 (Russian Federation secondary programs) to 0.55 (Russian Federation primary programs), with very few consistent predictors across countries and teacher level. None of the OTL measures were significant predictors for more than two of the six teacher types (primary or secondary) by country combinations. Even then, the direction of the impact varied across country and teacher level. In two cases for MCK and in three cases for MPCK, institutions with FTs with higher knowledge scores were less likely to believe that mathematics instruction should be teacher-directed, toward a view generally more common among their educators. Overall, OTL appears to explain about half of the variation in differences in this belief, although there is variation across countries.

Table 3. WLS Regression Results for Future Primary and Secondary Teachers on Mathematics Teaching as Teacher Directed

Active Learning of Mathematics

Table 4 shows that in all cases, and relative to their educators (negative intercepts), FTs were less likely to believe that mathematics instruction can be done through active learning (e.g., instruction should allow time for investigations and discussion so that pupils can figure out their own solutions to mathematical problems and to understand why an answer is correct). The model only explained 10% of the variation in the gap in this belief between educators and their FPTs in the Russian Federation, but explained 83% of the variation for FSTs in Poland. However, there was little consistency in the predictors for primary programs in all three countries. Higher quality of feedback provided by the supervising teacher (supervising teacher feedback quality) uniformly increased the differences between FSTs and their educators regarding the notion that mathematics learning can be inquiry-based, indicating a lack of alignment between program and school goals. In addition, having more OTL about standards and assessments, including the analysis of assessment results in relation to pupils’ learning (assessment practice), increased the difference in views among educators and their FPTs in Poland and in the United States. For FSTs, learning how to address the learning needs of diverse students (teaching for diversity) increased the difference in views among educators and FTs in Poland and the Russian Federation on the need for active learning in mathematics. These results indicate the preponderance of performativity and testing concerns over one of the most important core beliefs in the teaching and learning of mathematics under a constructivist approach (Richardson, 2003 ).

Higher levels of program alignment with standards were related to larger differences between FTs and their educators. This was true for FPTs in the United States and for FSTs in Poland, but this difference was reversed for the Russian Federation’s FSTs (e.g., 1 SD increase in program alignment with standards reversed the difference in beliefs about active learning, –0.26 + 0.25 = –0.01) likely indicating the qualitative difference in standards in the Russian Federation in contrast with those in the United States and Poland. Levels of MCK knowledge did not have a consistent relationship on differences in this belief, but levels of MPCK had significant effects in Poland on primary and secondary programs: greater knowledge of MPCK tended to reverse differences, with FTs supporting the notion that mathematics learning can be inquiry-based, an indication of teacher education influence.

Table 4. WLS Regression Results for Future Primary and Secondary Teachers on Mathematics Teaching as Active Learning

Mathematics as Fixed Ability

Table 5 shows the results of the analysis of the belief that doing well in mathematics can be explained by a natural ability or a mathematical mind (mathematics as fixed ability). In Poland’s secondary programs an R 2 equal to 0.94 tells us that the OTL variables explained nearly all of the variation in differences across institutions. On average, Poland’s FSTs believe that mathematics learning is a fixed ability just slightly less than their educators, whereas FTs in the other countries had strong beliefs supporting the fixed ability notion relative to their educators (positive intercepts). The WLS models explained 21% of the variation in the differences of belief that doing well in mathematics can be explained by a natural and fixed ability, with little consistency in the significance of OTL predictors in the models between country and teacher level in the Russian Federation secondary programs. Class participation and instructional planning significantly reversed the difference in this belief between FPTs and their educators in the Russian Federation and FSTs and their educators in the United States. Although the opposite effect was found for FSTs in Poland, opportunities to participate in discussions and teach a class (class participation) and to develop instructional plans (instructional planning) also reversed the difference and indicated the strength of school norms over program norms. Consequently, future secondary teachers were relatively more likely than their educators to believe that mathematics learning is a function of fixed ability, a finding that is consistent with the average differences (given intercepts) of other countries and teacher levels.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that differences in beliefs between FTs and educators narrow across institutions by accounting for variation in OTL and levels of knowledge (MCK and MPCK).

Table 5. WLS Regression Results for Future Primary and Secondary Teachers on Mathematics Learning as a Fixed Ability

Preparedness for Teaching

Table 6 shows that in Poland, in both primary and secondary programs, FTs were less likely to believe that they were well prepared for teaching than were their educators; in contrast, at both program levels in the Russian Federation and the United States, FTs were more likely to believe that they were well prepared than were their educators. The WLS models produced R 2 values ranging from 0.22 (Poland primary programs) to 0.99 (Poland secondary programs) for differences in this belief. Programs offering OTL to teach diverse students, however, significantly increased differences in the perceptions of preparedness to teach among FPTs and FSTs in Poland. Learning in a “coherent” program significantly increased differences in the perceptions of preparedness among educators and their FSTs in Poland and the United States, but in different ways. In the United States, where teacher education is highly variable, FTs felt well prepared to teach in programs that are more coherent and where there is a balance of subject, pedagogical and practical preparation. In Poland, however, because of the Bologna Agreement, new regulations mandated that subject-related training for teachers should be implemented in accordance with the standards for a given field of study. These standards in turn define the general content of the teacher-related subjects and competencies to be developed in teacher education programs. Consequently, teachers for higher grades (FSTs) are trained in mathematical studies with only minimal attention paid to pedagogical studies (Schwille, Ingvarson, & Holdgreve-Resendez, 2013 , p. 184). This kind of program coherence resulted in FSTs feeling less prepared to teach relative to the views of their educators. Indeed, in institutions where FTs demonstrated higher levels of MCK, in our assessments of Polish primary and secondary programs differences in perceptions of preparedness were increased; whereas greater MPCK reversed the difference in Polish secondary programs. In the United States, FTs reported more positive perceptions of preparedness than their educators, especially those who did better on the MCK assessment; however, those who obtained higher scores in the MPCK assessment tended to report more negative perceptions of preparedness.

Table 6. WLS Regression Results for Future Primary and Secondary Teachers on Preparedness for Teaching

This article began by posing the difficulties involved in defining, measuring, and analyzing the influence of teacher education on FTs’ beliefs. Using the approach originated by Tatto through the TEDS-M study, and aided by more powerful analytical methods (Rodriguez, Tatto, Palma, & Nickodem, 2018 ), this article shows the ability to arrive at common definitions and measures, and to explain teacher education influence on FTs’ beliefs as mediated by the knowledge levels attained close to graduation. Teaching FTs about standards and assessments and providing structured opportunities to learn from practice in real school settings seem to have an important influence on belief change. Certain beliefs about the nature of mathematics teaching and learning are strongly ingrained, such as beliefs that support the notion that teacher-directed approaches are more effective than active learning approaches, and that there seems to be a natural ability to learn mathematics rather than a learned ability. While some FTs benefit from programs’ OTLs, others do not, given the variability in OTL implementation across programs within countries. The experience of Poland concerning the introduction of subject-based standards above OTL pedagogy or content pedagogy shows mixed results as far as how prepared FTs believe they are. Importantly, acquired levels of MCK and MPCK knowledge seem to exert powerful influences on beliefs in these important areas.

Another finding is the pervasive nature of what seem to be universal norms. We found that averaged differences in beliefs between educator and FTs across institutions within a country (i.e., a cultural norm) are similar across countries. That is, when on average FTs are less likely to agree with their educators on a given belief in one country, similar patterns are found in the other two countries, possibly indicating a tendency toward a universal norm. For example, regarding the belief that learning mathematics is a process of inquiry, FPTs and FSTs were less likely to agree with this belief (i.e., they had lower scores on this belief) than their educators on average across all three countries. This was also true for believing that mathematics teaching should involve active learning (FTs were less likely to agree with this belief than their educators). In contrast, there were beliefs that FTs were more likely to agree with than their educators, including that mathematics is a set of rules and procedures, that learning mathematics should be teacher-directed, and that mathematics ability is fixed. These tendencies indicate a weaker, albeit not generalized, influence of teacher education programs in altering such beliefs, and underscore the influence of cultural beliefs on teacher education.

For instance, we observed significant variation across institutions preparing FPTs in Poland and the United States regarding the belief about mathematics learning as a process of inquiry; the same was true in institutions preparing FPTs in Poland and the Russian Federation with respect to the belief that mathematics learning consists of memorizing a set of rules and procedures. Regarding the belief that mathematics learning should be teacher-directed, significant variation in institutional differences from educators was found for all FPTs and for FSTs in Poland. Regarding mathematics as a fixed ability, only U.S. programs showed significant variation across institutions. Finally, regarding being prepared for teaching, significant variation across institutions was seen in both the Russian Federation and the United States.

In sum, for most countries, as much as half (or even more) of the variation across institutions was accounted for by OTL and mediated by knowledge levels. These findings suggest that the degree to which teacher education programs are able to influence beliefs (e.g., the differences in beliefs between FTs and educators) is a function of the teacher education curriculum and experiences, and in some cases of FT knowledge, which entails a careful balance of MCK and MPCK. These findings are correlational and not causal, corresponding to the design of TEDS-M. While national longitudinal or experimental studies would provide conclusions that are more definitive, these studies are logistically and financially unaffordable.

The evidence presented here, with replication across multiple institutions and countries, provides relevant information regarding the value of exploring alignment between FT and educator beliefs as an indicator of teacher education influence. Higher levels of knowledge, specifically MPCK and carefully designed OTL, as expressed in the teacher education curriculum and in field experiences, are the potential levers that teacher preparation programs can control in an era of increased external regulation and fast-paced reform.

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1. For more detail on how we measured beliefs, see Tatto et al. ( 2008 ) and Tatto ( 2013 ).

2. In statistical modeling, regression analysis is a statistical technique to assess the relationships among two or more independent variables (or “predictors,” in this case programs opportunities to learn) and their correlation with a dependent variable (in this case beliefs) and other mediating factors (in this case knowledge: mathematical content knowledge, or MCK, and mathematical pedagogical content knowledge, or MPCK).

3. Weighted Least Squares (WLS) in the regression procedure is a weight that is used to correct for unequal variability or precision in observations, with weights inversely proportional to the relative variability of the data points. The full rationale and procedures used in calculating the weights and in doing the overall analysis is explained in detail in Rodriguez, Tatto, Palma, and Nickodem ( 2018 ).

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Teaching Philosophy Statement and Beliefs Essay

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Teaching philosophy

Beliefs about adults as learners, beliefs about aims, beliefs about the subject matter, beliefs about teaching and learning, works cited.

My teaching philosophy lies in enhancing the development of critical thinking in students. I believe that the learning influence originates from the urge to find information about different life concepts. Since humans are naturally curious, it is relatively easy to support learning by guiding them to get answers to their questions. My teaching philosophy lies in the values of rational thinking. I believe in delivering legit information to students and reaching beyond their immediate questions in different subjects. I strive to teach through example and influence students to hunger for information beyond the classroom. Teachers require the development of curiosity to learn from their adult students to control effective learning.

My teaching philosophy banks on some core values, including effective communication, teaching through words and actions, and ultimate honesty. My aim in teaching is developing the urge for students to look for answers by asking questions. I strive to trigger problems to create an environment where students keep searching for solutions for the unknown. It does not matter whether I am in a classroom or outdoor setting; I always avail time for people to ask questions. This way, curiosity guide the learning process in students, and it focuses on the objectives of the curriculum in use (Pratt 16).

I believe that human beings create challenging situations in their daily lives, problems that need the employment of rational thinking to find viable solutions to counter the challenges (Rogers and Horrocks 5). I also believe that learning is a continuous process that is guided by environmental factors. For instance, companies employ learned people, but in their respective careers, they have to keep learning new ways to go around challenges in their work. Natural learning is also a constant system in active minds, and it goes on from childhood through to adulthood. I believe education should be an integral part of society. This form of learning should focus on developing unique relationships between the teacher and students because, unlike teaching children, adults have the knowledge of their specific learning objectives (“What is adult education?” par. 3). My teaching policy on children incorporates giving students detailed dreams about what they should look forward to learning. Using an adult-learning-perspective in teaching enables a teacher to focus on preparing students for life. I believe that adult learners should be preparing for energy rather than looking for knowledge to guide them to success. Adult learning should focus on instilling knowledge and skills that the learners can use to become innovative in developing solutions to life’s challenges (Mezirow 8).

The main aim of my teaching philosophy is to influence students to keep seeking answers. I believe in using an individual-based teaching approach; hence, allowing students to pose questions is the most feasible method of identifying their personal needs in learning. My goals in teaching include delivering quality information to clarify the principles that answer their questions. My practical approach to education is instrumental in providing theoretical knowledge in a useful way to influence faster learning. Most teachers identify their students’ needs by reviewing their performances in different subjects, but I aim at identifying learning needs by encouraging students to communicate directly about their weaknesses (Barker and Annerstedt 6).

My personal objectives in teaching include captivating students with interesting teaching approaches, clarifying difficult concepts, and developing practical strategies that make the knowledge delivered relevant to the students. I also aim at learning in the process of teaching. I view myself as a teacher with essential experience, and I need to maintain continuity in understanding details about various concepts. I strive to facilitate learning in students while learning from them at the same time. I aim at developing interpersonal relationships with students to create a free environment where they can ask questions and brainstorm for answers in an open social environment.

Delivering the subject matter in the curriculum is the most important thing for a teacher looking to help his or her students to acquire knowledge and skills. While I believe in influencing curiosity to learn in students, I strongly believe in teaching them everything they need to know about different topics, but I strictly use the subject matter as the backbone of the lessons offered. I think in acquainting students with some general knowledge encompassing the subject matter in their curriculum; hence, I am open to answering any questions by students as long as I can tie them up to the subject matter in class. Perhaps, this is one of the most vital points of my teaching philosophy because, unlike most teachers, I am flexible and willing to give students a chance to decide where to start with the delivery of the subject matter (Van Driel and Berry 27). I believe that it does not matter the approach used to deliver content to students as long as I cover the subject matter comprehensively and objectively. My philosophy in content delivery is influencing students to keep questioning themselves and helping them to develop an understanding of the subject matter.

As highlighted in Piaget’s theory, learning is a gradual process that takes place mainly through the delivery of instructions from teachers and the execution of instructions by the learners. Following this definition of education, I believe that teaching should be focused on instilling essential concepts in the minds of learners. I think that teaching should always happen in an objective way. The subject matter should form the basis of the entire process, but this should not be the only content delivered to students. I believe in equipping students with a general knowledge surrounding the subjects in their curriculum. This approach in teaching commonly applies to adult learning, and it is quite useful in preparing adults for life.

In the same context, I believe in preparing students for more complex topics in the future by highlighting some of the details they should expect to learn later in their respective curriculums. This approach also raises the curiosity of students, and they keep asking questions that guide teaching. Learning, on the other hand, is a process of conceptualizing information. I believe that learning only occurs when students grasp the ideas presented by their teachers, as well as the knowledge they acquire while reading alone. Following this sentiment, I always clarify concepts to influence faster learning for students. I experienced teaching through offering assistance to fellow students in school, and just like Vygotsky’s theory indicates, a teacher influenced the potential of learning in his or her students. This theory is not only applicable to teaching children but also in teaching adults (Alfieri et al. 1). In conclusion, I believe that practical teaching skills and students’ curiosity to learn should be the integral factors influencing learning for adults.

Alfieri, Louis, Patricia Brooks, Naomi Aldrich, and Harriet Tenenbaum. “Does discovery-based instruction enhance learning?” Journal of Educational Psychology 103.1 (2011): 1. Print.

Barker, Dean, Mikael Quennerstedt, and Claes Annerstedt. “Inter-student interactions and student learning in health and physical education: a post-Vygotskian analysis.” Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (2013): 1-18. Print.

Mezirow, Jack. “Transformative learning: Theory to practice.” New directions for adult and continuing education 1997.74 (1997): 5-12. Print.

Pratt, Daniel, D. Five Perspectives on Teaching in Adult and Higher Education , Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing, 2008. Print.

Rogers, Alan, and Naomi Horrocks, N. Teaching adults . 4th ed. 2010. London: Open University Press. Print.

Van Driel, Jan, H, and Amanda Berry. “Teacher professional development focusing on pedagogical content knowledge.” Educational Researcher 41.1 (2012): 26-28. Print.

What is adult education? 2009. Web.

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Teaching values and beliefs

Use these questions to draft a statement of your values and beliefs.  These statements can be used directly in writing the personal statement for your file for tenure and promotion or contract renewal.     

• Describe how you teach and why you teach that way. (approach, philosophy) 
• What is most important to you in teaching? (values) 
• How do you believe your students learn? (beliefs) 
• How do your values and beliefs align with your approach? 

The Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI)  can offer you additional insight into the reasons you choose a particular teaching approach(es).  

Note that to receive a personalized TPI report, you need to provide some personal information. If you are uncomfortable doing so, "prefer not to say" will work for many of the questions. 

Also note that gaining insight from completing the instrument and reading the report takes about 15 minutes, longer if you watch all the video content. 

Connecting values, beliefs, and teaching approach

When your teaching approach connects well with your values—what you think is important in teaching—and your beliefs—how you think your students learn—that approach feels right.  You feel prepared, class time flows well, and you leave with a sense of accomplishment. This can happen in many ways. Here are a few examples: 

• A content-centered approach. If you think that it is important for your courses to cover specific topics (value), and you believe that learning is a matter of transferring knowledge from an expert teacher to a student (belief), then your approach to teaching might be to organize your course into a series of key topics and spend much time preparing clear lectures on each. 
•  A learner-centered approach. If you think it is important to meet students’ needs and develop their interests (values) and you believe that learning is an individual and social process of making sense of experience (belief), then your approach to teaching might be to foster engagement through discussions, collaborations, and group work. 
• A problem-centered approach. If you think it is important to prepare students to solve problems like those they will encounter after your course, say in a professional practice (value), and you believe that students learn through observing and mirroring the performance of those with more experience (belief), then your approach to teaching might follow some sort of apprenticeship model, pairing students with experts or more experienced students. 
• A discipline-centered approach. If you think it is important to introduce the special questions, methods, and norms of your discipline (values) and you believe that learning is a matter of socialization to a way of thinking and acting (beliefs), then your approach to teaching might be to have students work through classic cases in your field, guiding them to think as professionals are expected to think in that field. 

These examples are certainly not exhaustive. For example, your teaching approach may be shaped mostly by priority given to workplace preparation or to liberal education. And the examples are not necessarily exclusive. You might use different approaches, or combinations of approaches, with different students, in different courses and contexts, and so on. The point is that making conscious connections between your values, beliefs, and approach(es) helps you deepen your understanding and develop your skills as a teacher. This will prove invaluable as your courses become more flexible by design. 

• Return to the statements of values and beliefs in the “Guiding Questions.” Refine them based on what you have learned through exploring the topic 
• How could you approach teaching in a different way, yet still honor your values and beliefs? What other strategies could you try? 
• Take this reflection a step deeper by answering these questions: What is special about your teaching? How does your approach compare with that of others, for example, your former teachers? How do your courses contribute to a unique IC education? 

External resources

Writing your teaching philosophy . University of Minnesota, Center for Educational Innovation

Please send comments, corrections suggestions

This material was adapted from the Summer Institute 2020, CFE, Ithaca College.

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Our initial purpose of writing this chapter was to review the research on preservice and practicing teachers’ general beliefs about teaching and learning. The number and kinds of beliefs that teachers hold and researchers examine are evidenced in the 27 chapters of this volume. We sought to examine those studies that looked across subject/content area specialization at teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning. We argue that beliefs about teaching and learning may be at the forefront of teachers’ work and as such serve as filters, frames, and guides for teacher practice including: Engagement in professional learning experiences, instructional planning, and classroom interactions (Fives & Buehl, 2012).

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T1 - Teachers’ beliefs about teaching (And learning)

AU - Fives, Helenrose

AU - Lacatena, Natalie

AU - Gerard, Laura

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Taylor & Francis.

PY - 2014/1/1

Y1 - 2014/1/1

N2 - Our initial purpose of writing this chapter was to review the research on preservice and practicing teachers’ general beliefs about teaching and learning. The number and kinds of beliefs that teachers hold and researchers examine are evidenced in the 27 chapters of this volume. We sought to examine those studies that looked across subject/content area specialization at teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning. We argue that beliefs about teaching and learning may be at the forefront of teachers’ work and as such serve as filters, frames, and guides for teacher practice including: Engagement in professional learning experiences, instructional planning, and classroom interactions (Fives & Buehl, 2012).

AB - Our initial purpose of writing this chapter was to review the research on preservice and practicing teachers’ general beliefs about teaching and learning. The number and kinds of beliefs that teachers hold and researchers examine are evidenced in the 27 chapters of this volume. We sought to examine those studies that looked across subject/content area specialization at teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning. We argue that beliefs about teaching and learning may be at the forefront of teachers’ work and as such serve as filters, frames, and guides for teacher practice including: Engagement in professional learning experiences, instructional planning, and classroom interactions (Fives & Buehl, 2012).

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042748993&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4324/9780203108437-23

DO - 10.4324/9780203108437-23

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85042748993

SN - 9780415539227

BT - International Handbook of Research on Teachers' Beliefs

PB - Taylor and Francis

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Teacher Beliefs and Epistemologies

Introduction.

• General Overviews—Teacher Epistemologies
• Conceptualization—Teacher Epistemologies
• Relationships between Teachers’ Epistemologies and Practice (Teaching and Learning)
• Measuring Teachers’ Epistemologies
• Changing Teachers’ Epistemologies
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Teacher Beliefs and Epistemologies by Leila Ferguson , Joanne Lunn Brownlee LAST REVIEWED: 26 May 2021 LAST MODIFIED: 26 May 2021 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0276

Teacher beliefs are implicit and explicit suppositions held by educators which have relevance for their professional and instructional practices, interactions with students, and learning processes. They may include beliefs about students, self, learning, knowledge, and knowing. Beliefs about knowledge and knowing—teacher epistemologies—are a specific and important type of teacher belief. Teacher beliefs and epistemologies merit investigation given their influence on teaching practices and student learning, yet the form, nature, development, and propensity to change with respect to these constructs are open to question. Further, their expression in teachers’ practice is complex, not least because both the construct and content of “belief” and “epistemology” are equivocal, elaborate, and closely connected to other constructs. Much of the teacher beliefs and epistemology research has emerged from the field of educational psychology. This chapter describes five central issues related to teachers’ beliefs and epistemologies during recent decades. Similar core issues were identified in the Oxford Research Encyclopedias in Education article “ Reviews of Teachers’ Beliefs .” Within each of five sections, which represent the core issues in the field, we first explore teacher beliefs in general followed by teacher epistemologies specifically. In the first section, we provide general overviews of teacher beliefs and epistemologies to introduce the reader to key texts in both fields. The second section is a review of conceptualizations of teacher beliefs and epistemologies, in which we highlight the ways in which beliefs and epistemologies are characterized. The third section explores relationships between teachers’ beliefs/epistemologies and teaching and learning practices. Measuring teachers’ beliefs and epistemologies is the focus of the fourth section, which explicates different ways in which beliefs and epistemologies have been studied. Finally, in the fifth section, we examine research and theorization about the ways in which teachers’ beliefs and epistemologies might undergo change.

General Overviews—Teachers’ Beliefs

While beliefs are propositions that are held to be true, as Fives, et al. 2019 highlights, teachers’ beliefs refer to those propositions relating to teaching practices. Teacher beliefs have been framed as suppositions such as attitudes, values, assumptions, images, intuitive screens, (pre-)conceptions, personal teaching styles, and personal history–based lay theories, which was already apparent in Clark and Peterson 1984 . Interest in teacher beliefs seems to have arisen with the emergence of cognitive views of education. Early accounts of teacher beliefs such as Calderhead 1996 and Clark and Peterson 1984 focused on teacher knowledge, cognition, and beliefs. These accounts tended to focus on conceptual clarity with respect to the nature and structure of teacher beliefs. Richardson 1996 incorporated teacher attitudes and Clark and Peterson 1984 thought processes, as part of a bid to understand the link between what teachers know and how this is expressed in practice. Richardson 1996 and Raths and McAninch 2003 have a strong focus on the reciprocal role of teacher beliefs and teacher education. That is, not only does education help develop beliefs, but future teachers’ attention will be guided by their pre-existing beliefs and in that way shape the parts of teacher education that they value and attend to. Since the turn of the 21st century, there has been a growth in research that explores the connections between teacher beliefs and student outcomes, and the challenges associated with supporting belief change, as overviewed by Ashton 2015 . An overview of the background and development of the research relating to teacher beliefs can be gained by reviewing Ashton 2015 . See also the Kane, et al. 2002 account of teacher beliefs at the tertiary level. The OECD 2009 report provides an overview of international trends with respect to teachers’ beliefs about student learning and teaching, co-operation, self-efficacy, and knowledge. Newer comprehensive reviews identifying core issues in the field have been published, namely, Fives and Buehl 2012 and Fives and Gill 2015 . More recently, Fives, et al. 2019 has provided an excellent meta-review of the field.

Ashton, Patricia T. 2015. Historical overview and theoretical perspectives of research on teachers’ beliefs. In International handbook of research on teachers’ beliefs . Edited by Helenrose Fives and Michele Gregoire Gill, 31–47. New York: Routledge.

This chapter in the International Handbook of Research on Teachers’ Beliefs provides a framing historical narrative about research on teachers’ beliefs from its beginning until 2015, showing the role of different theoretical perspectives. Ashton’s overview shows how teachers’ beliefs and epistemologies have both been the focus of research (though not always together).

Calderhead, James. 1996. Teachers: Beliefs and knowledge. In Handbook of educational psychology . Edited by D. C. Berliner and R. C. Calfee, 709–725. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

This chapter reviews research into teachers’ cognitions. Calderhead argues that knowledge and beliefs are different based on four features, that is, “existential presumption, alternativity, affective and evaluate loading, and episodic structure” (p. 719). He also overviews the content of teacher beliefs as including beliefs about learners and learning, teaching, subject, learning to teach, and self and the teaching role.

Clark, Christopher M., and Penelope L. Peterson. 1984. Teachers’ thought processes . Occasional Paper No. 72. East Lansing: Inst. for Research on Teaching, Michigan State Univ.

This article is an interesting historical piece, explaining the emergence of research on teacher thinking, which was motivated by attempts to understand teaching behavior. It references research on human information processing that suggested that humans behave based on “simplified models” (p. 5). A heuristic for teacher thoughts and actions is also presented where beliefs are represented as part of teachers’ thought processes.

Fives, Helenrose, Nicole Barnes, Candice Chiavola, et al. 2019. Reviews of teachers’ beliefs . Oxford Research Encyclopedias in Education. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

In this meta-analysis, the researchers overview key research areas. A main focus is belief change, and the need to be mindful of ethical aspects in suggesting change is needed, as well as the danger of focusing on teacher beliefs in isolation, without attending to emotional and social factors or the teaching context.

Fives, Helenrose, and Michelle M. Buehl. 2012. Spring cleaning for the “messy” construct of teachers’ beliefs: What are they? Which have been examined? What can they tell us? In APA educational psychology handbook . Vol. 2, Individual differences and cultural and contextual factors . Edited by Karen R. Harris, Steve Graham, Tim Urdan, et al., 471–498. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

This chapter is an exhaustive review highlighting teacher beliefs’ that are addressed in the literature. The authors posit that the function of teacher beliefs is triadic in filtering, framing, and guiding practice, for example, filtering “what . . . teachers recognize as worth discussing with students” (p. 470). Teacher beliefs are represented as implicit and explicit in nature, more or less stable, activated by contextual demands, and “interwoven” (p. 476) with knowledge.

Fives, Helenrose, and Michele Gregoire Gill, eds. 2015. International handbook of research on teachers’ beliefs . New York: Routledge.

This edited volume provides a comprehensive overview of research on teachers’ beliefs. It includes a review of the historical foundations and current research trends, as well as state-of-the-knowledge chapters on teachers’ beliefs about content, instruction, students, and learning. This volume is a good starting point for students and scholars wishing to orientate themselves in the broad and varied field of teachers’ beliefs.

Kane, Ruth, Susan Sandretto, and Chris Heath. 2002. Telling half the story: A critical review of research on the teaching beliefs and practices of university academics. Review of Educational Research 72.2: 177–228.

DOI: 10.3102/00346543072002177

This review overviews research on teacher beliefs at the tertiary level. Teachers in higher education may be a particularly interesting group to study given that they generally have long academic training and experience, yet often lack formal teacher education. This may make their beliefs more influential, tacit, and difficult to change. The authors also highlight the lack of behavioral data/observational studies and the shortcomings of relying on self-reported data about beliefs.

OECD. 2009. Creating effective teaching and learning environments: First results from TALIS .

This is an easily accessible overview of results from the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Study. Chapter 4 focuses on teaching practices and teachers’ beliefs and attitudes. It presents international trends with respect to teachers’ beliefs about student learning and teaching, co-operation, self-efficacy, and knowledge.

Raths, James, and Amy C. McAninch, eds. 2003. Teacher beliefs and classroom performance: The impact of teacher education . Greenwich, CT: Information Age.

This text is an early attempt to review and draw attention to the important role of teacher education in facilitating belief changes for preservice teachers. Key questions addressed by authors include whether and how preservice teachers’ beliefs should be changed by teacher educators, related ethical questions, and the role of emotions and external contextual factors in influencing teacher beliefs.

Richardson, Virginia. 1996. The role of attitudes and beliefs in learning to teach. In Handbook of research on teacher education . Edited by John Sikula, T. Buttery, and E. Guyton, 102–119. New York: Macmillan.

Richardson provides an early review which has a focus on attitudes and beliefs in terms of i) the way beliefs influence incoming information for preservice teachers, and ii) how beliefs are changed through teacher education. In this way, teacher beliefs and teacher education may be reciprocally related. The chapter also details central quantitative and qualitative methods of assessing teacher beliefs.

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Home / Essay Samples / Education / Teaching Philosophy / Evolution of My Beliefs on Teaching and Learning Pre and Post

Evolution of My Beliefs on Teaching and Learning Pre and Post

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