Assessing the Epistemological and Pedagogical ... - Springer Link

Chapter 14

Assessing the Epistemological and Pedagogical Beliefs Among Pre-service Teachers in Singapore Chai Ching Sing1, and Myint Swe Khine2

Abstract In response to the challenges posed by a knowledge-based economy, Singapore has initiated a range of reforms. These reforms are essentially geared towards constructivist-oriented teaching in an ICT supported environment. Reforms in this direction usually necessitate a change in beliefs. However, studies on teachers’ epistemological and pedagogical beliefs are rare in Singapore. As such, we attempted to provide an overview of the epistemological and pedagogical beliefs of Singapore pre-service teachers based on the survey data we obtained from the 2005 cohort of pre-service teachers (N = 877). The results indicate that Singaporean pre-service teachers do hold compatible epistemological and pedagogical beliefs that underlie many of the reform initiatives. However, the findings contradict with studies that reported Singapore classroom practice as predominantly teacher-centred. Contextual factors such as time constraint and an over emphasis of examination results could be the reasons why pre-service teachers teach in a manner that is consistent to their beliefs. An alternative interpretation of the contradicting results would be that there are other forms of beliefs such as teacher efficacy that may be more important in determining classroom practices.

14.1

Introduction

With the rapid pace of globalisation and the need for different manpower for knowledge-based economies, educational reforms are taking place at a fast rate in both the developed and developing nations around the world. These educational reforms call for changes not only in teaching but also the relevant beliefs that teachers hold with respect to knowledge and teaching. Since 1997, Singapore has launched a series of educational reform initiatives that aims to move its teaching force towards creating more constructivist oriented student-centred learning environments. However, the success of these reforms has been doubted despite much

1 2

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Murdoch University, Perth, Australia

M. S. Khine (ed.), Knowing, Knowledge and Beliefs: Epistemological Studies across Diverse Cultures. © Springer 2008

287

288

C. C. Sing and M. S. Khine

fiscal provisions being channelled to schools (Koh, 2004). One barrier may be due to the implicit beliefs that teachers hold. Constructivist oriented teaching and learning activities require teachers to view knowledge claims as uncertain and knowing as a process of constructing personally meaningful understanding. This is different from traditional teaching, which treats knowledge as largely unproblematic verified facts to be absorbed by passive recipients. In this chapter, we investigate the epistemological and pedagogical beliefs of pre-service primary teachers (N = 877) in Singapore who are undergoing training at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. We hope that by generating a profile of the pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs, we can gain a better understanding of their readiness to implement the ambitious form of constructivist teaching (Cohen, 1988) that underlies many of the reform initiatives. This study also provides a snapshot of the beliefs of university graduates raised in a Singapore multiracial society. Epistemological beliefs and pedagogical beliefs are beliefs about knowledge and knowing (Hofer & Pintrich, 1997) and how knowledge and knowing should be cultivated in schools. These beliefs are key beliefs that need to be addressed for education to move forward in order to adapt to the challenges posed by a fast changing technological society. As advanced epistemological beliefs is associated positively with a range of learning outcomes (Schraw & Sinatra, 2004) and teacher is the key in cultivating sophisticated epistemological outlooks (Hofer, 2001), we surveyed the pre-service teachers to address the following research questions: 1. What are the general epistemological and pedagogical beliefs that Singapore pre-service teachers hold? 2. What are the variables among gender, ethnicity, major subject, level of programme and prior teaching experience that influence the epistemological and pedagogical beliefs among Singapore pre-service teachers?

14.2 Literature Review on Epistemological and Pedagogical Beliefs In the last three decades, research on personal epistemology has converged into common stages of epistemological development. Hofer & Pintrich (1997) summarised the four main stages of development: dualism, multiplicity, relativism, and commitment within relativism. Generally, an individual starts from a dualistic stage of epistemological beliefs that views knowledge as either right or wrong and that knowledge is certain and is acquired through authoritative sources. As he/she advanced in years, he/she moves towards a more relativistic stance that views knowledge as uncertain. His/her sense of agency in constructing personal understanding also grows. The highest stage of development is committed relativism. At this stage, the individual is committed to certain values with the realisation that one does not have absolute proof of knowledge claims. The variables associated with the studies of epistemological developments include gender and educational level.

14 Assessing the Epistemological and Pedagogical Beliefs

289

Departing from the developmental perspectives, Schommer (1990) proposed an alternative model of five dimensions of epistemological beliefs. These dimensions include “the structure, certainty, source of knowledge, the control and speed of knowledge acquisition” (Schommer, 1990, p. 498). Schommer argues that these dimensions of epistemological beliefs influence a range of learning outcomes. Using the Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ) she had developed, Schommer discovered that students who were more inclined to view knowledge as certain tended to be less open towards alternative views. Those who were inclined to believe that learning could happen quickly were less likely to assess their own understanding accurately and were more likely to simplify complex matters. Further studies using the EBQ strengthened Schommer’s earlier work that naïve epistemological outlooks influenced learning in an unhelpful way (Schommer, 1993; Schommer-Aikins et al., 2000). The EBQ was among the first measures of epistemological beliefs in a questionnaire format employing a Likert-type scale. It has inspired other researchers to develop similar instruments using the questionnaire format that enabled group testing and surveys to be conducted (e.g., see Chan & Elliott, 2004; Schraw et al., 2002). Employing these various measures of epistemological beliefs, researchers were able to document the associations between epistemological beliefs and other variables such as learning strategies, academic achievements, interpretation of text, and conceptual change (see Bråten & Strømsø, 2005; Mason & Boscolo, 2004; Qian & Alvermann, 2000; Trautwein & Lüdtke, 2006). Of these findings, there appeared a consensus among researchers that advanced epistemological beliefs promoted deep learning and higher-order thinking. Studies employing the survey method have also shown that epistemological beliefs was a significant factor that shaped students’ choice of college majors (Trautwein & Lüdtke, 2006), which were associated with students’ view on the certainty of knowledge and the orderliness of learning processes. The studies showed that compared to students majoring in “soft” fields of studies such as humanities and social science, college students majoring in “hard” field of studies such as natural sciences and engineering were inclined to view knowledge as more certain. They also viewed learning as an orderly process (Jehng et al., 1993). The review thus far points out that personal epistemological beliefs affect learning in many ways. It seems clear that to promote better learning among students, teachers should nurture their student to develop advanced epistemological beliefs. However, the teachers themselves must first need to be epistemologically advanced in order that they can foster learning environments that promote epistemological developments. In the next few paragraphs, studies pertaining to teachers’ epistemological beliefs and how these are connected to their pedagogical beliefs are reviewed. Recent studies that investigated teachers’ epistemological beliefs generally reveal that pre-service teachers do not differ much in epistemological development as compared to their counterparts in college. White (2000) and Brownlee (2001) found that student teachers’ epistemological developments lie at the stage of multiplicity or relativism. Of the 29 teachers that Brownlee interviewed, only one was assessed to be in the dualistic stage while two out of twenty teachers that were interviewed by White

290


were just departing the dualistic stage. The general trend is that pre-service teachers were distributed across a range of developmental stages in terms of their epistemological beliefs; with the majority of them holding relativistic epistemological outlooks (see also Richardson, 2003). In addition, it seemed uncommon for pre-service teachers to hold absolutist/dualistic epistemological beliefs. Both White and Brownlee’s studies employed interviews as the method for data collection. This explains why the sample size is less than 30. Bråten and Strømsø (2006) used the EBQ to explore the relationships between Norwegian student teachers’ epistemological outlooks and their views about learning in ICT-enriched environment (N = 80). They reported that students who are inclined to believe that learning occurs quickly or not at all are also inclined to believe that they can process Internet searches quickly. These teachers may have overlooked the complexities involved in evaluating Internet-based information. Student teachers who tend to view knowledge as simple were less likely to appreciate web-based communication that facilitated knowledge negotiation. Ravindran et al., (2005) surveyed pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs and their goals of learning (N = 101). They reported that the pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs are associated with their cognitive engagement. The results of these studies supported other studies that found a positive relationship between pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs and their learning process. Studies on pedagogical beliefs generally classify teachers’ pedagogical beliefs to be either in the category of knowledge transmission or knowledge construction (Calderhead, 1996; Entwistle et al., 2000; Samuelowicz & Bain, 2001). Teachers who are inclined to view teaching from a teacher-centred and content-oriented perspective are more likely to adopt the didactic teaching practice. They emphasise more on teachers’ control of the flow of the lesson and expect students to adopt a passive role in learning. On the other hand, some teachers are inclined to view teaching as a process of facilitating students’ effort in making sense of the phenomenon they encounter. This is usually labelled as student-centred and learning-oriented constructivist teaching. These categories of pedagogical beliefs were derived to a certain extent from the grounded theory perspectives (Samuelowicz & Bain, 2001). In reality, teachers often hold mixed beliefs since they hold varied beliefs about the purpose of teaching, ownership for knowledge organization and transformation, the role of students’ prior knowledge and interest, and the value of teacher–student and student–student interaction (e.g., see van Driel et al., 2005). For the pre-service or beginning teachers, current reviews suggest that they are more likely to view teaching as an uncomplicated process of knowledge transmission (Richardson, 2003; Wideen et al., 1998). Such simplistic view of teaching may be resistant to change since it predisposes one’s interpretation of prior experiences (Ertmer, 2005). To date, the majority of studies on epistemological and pedagogical beliefs were conducted in the Western society. Bråten and Strømsø (2005) suggested that it is necessary to conduct studies in the Eastern cultural context where respect for authority is valued highly. Chan and Elliott (2004) studied the epistemological


291

beliefs and pedagogical beliefs of 385 Hong Kong pre-service teachers. Their results indicated that majority of the pre-service teachers held relativistic epistemological outlooks and expressed beliefs that knowledge is uncertain. However, they were not inclined to see teaching as a process of constructing personal understanding. The mean score reported by participants for traditional conception of teaching (M = 2.63) was higher than their conception of constructivist teaching (M = 1.86). This provided further support that pre-service teachers are more inclined towards teacher-centred teaching. On the other hand, Sinatra and Kardash’s (2004) reported that American pre-service teachers who viewed knowledge as developing and learning as meaning-making processes were also more receptive to the idea of teaching as facilitating knowledge building and beliefs revision. These conflicting findings suggest that the relationship between teachers’ epistemological outlooks and their beliefs about teaching is complex. Teachers’ espoused beliefs and the beliefs reflected through practice can be at odds due to contextual factors such as the school environments or social cultural setting. Despite this, it seems clear that advanced epistemological beliefs is a desirable teacher’s characteristic because it is the basis for advancing constructivist teaching practices (Windschitl, 2002). This study attempts to contribute to existing research by examining the epistemological and pedagogical beliefs of pre-service teachers in Singapore. Singapore is unique in the sense that it is a bilingual society and culturally, it is where the east and the west meet. Previous papers that investigate Asian epistemological outlooks were conducted in places where the Confucius’s influence is strong (Jehng et al., 1993, Taiwan; Chan & Elliott, 2004, Hong Kong; Youn, 2000, Korea). Our study is different from previous studies as the subjects of our study are young Singaporeans who have gone through education with English as their first language.

14.3

Method

For this study, we adopted Chan and Elliott’s (2004) questionnaire and set up an online survey. We invited pre-service teachers attending the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) at the National Institute of Education (NIE) to complete a survey questionnaire in July 2005 to participate in the survey. Out of the 1,244 preservice teachers enrolled, 877 (70.5%) completed the survey. The age ranged from 22 to 45, with a mean of 26.9 years. The gender distribution was 563 females (64.2%) and 314 males (35.8%). Of those who responded to the survey, 340 (38.8%) pre-service teachers were enrolled in the Primary Programme and 537 (61.2%) in the secondary programme. In terms of major subject distribution, first degree classified as hard/soft discipline areas. The “hard” category includes the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering majors while the “soft” category includes subject such as language studies, humanities, and business studies. In the sample 460 (52.5%) had hard discipline background and the remaining 416 (47.4%) had soft discipline background. There is one missing case for this variable.

292


With regard to the distribution of ethnic background of the sample, an overwhelming majority were Chinese 778 (88.7%), Malays 65 (7.4%), and Indians 34 (3.9%). The Malays and Indians are slightly under represented in the sample compared to the national distribution of these ethnic groups. This is due to the fact that Singapore is strictly a meritocracy society. According to the educational statistic fact sheet, the distribution of students passing A level is about 86.7% Chinese, 5.5% Malay, 6.5% Indians, and the rest others (Ministry of Education, 2006). This distribution does not change much for the last 5 years and it determines largely the distribution of ethnicity among the postgraduate pre-service teachers. The questionnaire is made up of three parts. The first part solicits demographic data such as gender and participants’ major subject in their undergraduate studies. We also included years of formal teaching experience, if any, as a variable. Although we agree that this variable is not prevalent in the literature, it is of interest in this study because we believe that, pre-service teachers in Singapore would have undergone some form of teaching experience prior to attending teacher training. It thus presented us with an opportunity to find out the extent to which teaching experiences influences the pre-service teachers’ epistemological and pedagogical beliefs. The second part of the questionnaire asks for the teachers’ epistemological beliefs. The dimensions included were beliefs about Innate/Fixed Ability (IFA), Learning Effort/Process (LEP), Authority/Expert Knowledge (AEK), and Certainty of Knowledge (CK). The last part of the questionnaire deals with the teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. The dimensions included were Constructivist Conception (CT) and Traditional Conception (TT) of teaching. All items employed a 5-point Likert scale (5 = strongly agree, 1 = strongly disagree). A low score indicates the possession of a more sophisticated belief in relation to the IFA, AEK, and CK. A high score in LEP, TT, and CT indicates a strong belief in these dimensions. Table 14.1 shows the dimensions of beliefs and sample items from the questionnaire. Table 14.1 Dimensions of epistemological and pedagogical beliefs with sample items Dimension Sample Item Epistemological beliefs

Innate/fixed ability (IFA) Learning effort/ process (LEP) Authority/Expert knowledge (AEK)

Pedagogical beliefs

Certainty of knowledge (CK) Traditional conception (TT) Constructivist conception (CT)

Some people are born good learners; others are stuck with limited abilities. If a person cannot understand something within a short amount of time, he/she should keep trying. I am very aware that lecturers know a lot more than I do and so I agree with what they say is important rather than rely on my own judgment. Scientific knowledge is certain and does not change Learning means remembering what the teacher has taught. Learning means students have ample opportunities to explore, discuss, and express their ideas.


293

The data collected was analysed using the SPSS: PC Window Program. Descriptive statistics are used to describe the responses of the sample. Reliability analysis is used to check the reliabilities of the scales in the Singapore context. Ttests and one-way analysis of variance are conducted to see if any of the background variables have an influence on the epistemological and pedagogical beliefs. The level of significance was set at the 5% level for the purpose of comparison.

14.4

Results and Discussion

Table 14.2 reports the mean scores of the various dimensions of epistemological beliefs and pedagogical beliefs. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients and standard deviations for the various dimensions are also shown. The reliability coefficients of the scales show that these scales have moderate to high internal consistency with the Singapore sample. The values are comparable to that obtained by Chan and Elliott (2004). Based on the mean scores of the scales, it seems that the strongest belief held by the pre-service teachers is the constructivist conception of learning (M = 4.11). The result does not conform to our expectations. We are uncertain if such beliefs would be manifested in the classroom once the pre-service teachers completed their training. This is because existing studies that were conducted in the Singapore classrooms document another reality. For example, Liu et al. (2004) found that in the Singapore classrooms, “teachers’ talk” usually dominates the classroom discourse and practicing teachers were highly content-focus. In other word, teachers usually behaved in a highly didactic and teacher-centred manner during their teaching practice. There is a need to conduct a follow-up study to trace the preservice teachers “enculturation” processes in schools. It also highlights the need to verify teacher’s espoused beliefs with the observed teaching practice. The second highest score is for learning effort and processes (M = 3.74). This is more congruent with our existing findings. Every school in Singapore holds remedial and enrichment classes throughout the year and this reflects a strong emphasis in hard work by schools. There is a strong belief that with repeated effort to master a subject the students can learn anything and achieve success in examinations.

Table 14.2 Mean scores of the dimensions with alpha reliability and SD Alpha Dimension Mean reliability Innate/fixed ability (IFA) (8 items) Learning effort/process (LEP) (11 items) Authority/Expert Knowledge (AEK) 6 (items) Certainty of knowledge (CK) (6 items) Traditional conception (TT) (18 items) Constructivist conception (CT) (12 items) (N = 877)

2.94 3.74 2.58 2.79 2.62 4.11

0.62 0.63 0.66 0.64 0.85 0.88

Standard deviation 0.44 0.46 0.47 0.62 0.44 0.44

294


The teachers were generally relativistic in their epistemological outlooks, as reflected by the mean scores for the dimensions of (AEK) Authority/Expert Knowledge (M = 2.58), and (CK) Certainty of Knowledge (M = 2.79) which are below the mid-point on a 5-point scale. Coupled with strong beliefs in CT and LEP, the profile of the pre-service teachers seems to be one that is congruent with the reform initiatives in Singapore. However, these findings need to be verified by surveys on in-service teachers (when the same pre-service teachers are posted to schools as trained teachers) in order for us to understand possible gaps between the espoused beliefs and actual practices. Contrary to expectations (based on cultural differences), the scores we had obtained in this study for the epistemological beliefs were close to what Chan and Elliott’s (2004) study obtained but this was not so for the pedagogical beliefs. We envisage that this difference may be due to the recent educational reforms and cultural context in Singapore. Among the variables we examined, level of programme (primary/secondary), gender, major subject (hard/soft), prior teaching experience and ethnicity differences were detected for pedagogical beliefs and some epistemological beliefs. The level of programme (primary/secondary) is related to the AEK and LEP epistemological beliefs. Primary pre-service teachers are more inclined to believe that the authority as a source of knowledge and in the learning effort and processes than the secondary pre-service teachers. Table 14.3 shows the scores based on level of programme. The result also shows that female pre-service teachers are more inclined to believe in authority as a source of knowledge than the secondary pre-service teachers. They are also less inclined to view that ability is innate and fixed when compared to their male counterparts. Table 14.4 shows the scores based on gender differences.

Table 14.3 Programme level differences in epistemological and pedagogical beliefs Programme Item Mean Dimension Level N Mean SD Difference t AEK

Primary Secondary LEP Primary Secondary *p < .05, **p < .01

340 537 340 537

2.63 2.54 3.78 3.70

.45 .48 .41 .48

.09

2.67**

.08

2.30*

Table 14.4 Gender differences in epistemological and pedagogical beliefs Item Mean Dimension Gender N Mean SD Difference t AEK IFA ***p

< .001

Female Male Female Male

563 314 563 314

2.62 2.49 2.79 2.89

.45 .50 .43 .46

.13

3.86***

−.10

−3.43***


295

Three other independent variables that we have investigated in this study are the participants’ major subject at university, ethnicity, and teaching experience. Participants’ major subject at university was collapsed into two categories: hard and soft. The “hard” category includes the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering majors while the “soft” category includes subject such as language studies, humanities, and business studies (see Schommer-Aikins et al., 2003). As reflected in the scores, the teachers majoring in “hard” category are more inclined to view knowledge as certain, and ability is viewed as innate and fixed, and they tend to believe more in traditional teaching. This result is consistent with the findings reported by Paulsen and Wells (1998). The implication for teacher educators may be that if the teachers recruited were mainly from the hard fields, it is necessary to sensitize the teachers to ill-structured teaching environments where teachers need to make a lot of decisions based on imperfect knowledge about the world. Table 14.5 shows the scores based on major subject type differences. Four hundred and seventy-seven participants indicated that they did not have formal teaching experiences while the other 400 were formally employed by schools as contract teachers between 3 months to a year to teach before they enrolled at the NIE. Our results indicate that teaching experience does influence teachers’ pedagogical outlooks but not their epistemological beliefs. Pre-service teachers with teaching experience reported a higher score for traditional conception of teaching, which is significant at the 5% level. Table 14.6 shows the results of the analysis based on the scores of teaching experience differences. These scores were obtained at the beginning of their teacher education. How these pre-service teachers may have changed in the course of their 1-year PGDE programme and subsequently during their first few years of teaching would be an area of interest for the teacher educators and further research in teachers’ epistemological and pedagogical beliefs. One-way analysis of variance was used to examine the influence of ethnicity on epistemological and pedagogical beliefs. The analysis shows that ethnicity has an influence on CK and IFA. Pos Hoc LSD test shows Malays to be different from the Chinese and the Indians. The mean difference between the Chinese and Malay is 0.25 and the mean difference between the Indian and Malay is 0.28. The differences are statistically different at the set 5% level. The Malays subscribe more to the view of certainty of knowledge as compared to the Chinese and Indians. There was no Table 14.5 Differences between soft/hard fields of study Field of Item Mean Dimensions study N Mean SD Difference

t

IFA

.06

1.96*

.11

2.69**

.08

2.50*

Hard Soft CK Hard Soft TT Hard Soft **p < .01, *p < .05

460 416 460 416 460 416

2.85 2.79 2.84 2.73 2.66 2.58

.46 .51 .62 .62 .45 .42

296

C. C. Sing and M. S. Khine Table 14.6 Teaching experience differences in epistemological and pedagogical beliefs Teaching Item Mean Dimension experience N Mean SD Difference t TT *p

None Yes

477 400

2.59 2.66

.42 .46

−.07

−2.15*

< .05

difference between the Chinese and Indians. The Malay difference may be due to the religious–cultural influence that requires them to believe that their Holy Text is the only truth revealed and cannot be altered. Difference is also found in the dimension of innate/fixed ability (IFA). The mean scores of the Chinese, Malays, and Indians are 2.84 (SD.42), 2.74 (SD .52), and 2.59 (SD .55) respectively. The Indians differ from the Chinese significantly. The mean difference is 0.24. The Malays do not differ from the Chinese and the Indians significantly. The Indians subscribe the lowest to the view that ability is innate and fixed. The Chinese seem to have a little more inclination to belief that ability is innate. Such view with pre-service teachers has to be addressed in the teacher education programme as it could lead to biasness towards children with low learning curve and lead to self-fulfilling prophecy. Table 14.7 summarises the influence of pre-teachers background variables on epistemological and pedagogical beliefs. With the exception of the constructivist pedagogical conception one or more of the background variables of Singapore pre-service teachers influences all other dimensions. Pre-service teachers in the Primary programme, female pre-service teachers and pre-service teachers with some teaching experience are more inclined to believe in authority as a source of knowledge. Male pre-service teachers, preservice teachers with majors in the hard fields and Chinese pre-service teachers tend to believe that ability is innate. Pre-service teachers with majors in the hard fields and Malay pre-service teachers subscribe more to the concept of certainty of knowledge. Hard fields have more established facts, rules, principles, and theories as compared to soft fields where knowledge is depended on many variables. This may have influenced pre-service teachers with major subjects in the hard fields to be more oriented to certainty of knowledge. This may also be the reason why hard field pre-service teachers are in favour of the traditional approach where teacher is in control of the content and delivery. It is important that teacher educators take all these variables into consideration in the design and delivery of the teacher education programme. Pre-service teachers in the present study have scored relatively high in their belief about constructivist view of teaching and learning and none of the background variables are shown to have influence on this belief. Coupled with a relative low mean score in the traditional teaching scale seems to indicate a pattern of response with respect to the pedagogical beliefs scales. Perhaps, the strong emphasis by the Ministry of Education officials in constructivist pedagogical approaches in the media may have influenced the pre-service teachers to play to

14 Assessing the Epistemological and Pedagogical Beliefs Table 14.7 Influence of background variables on beliefs Programme Dimension/Variables level Gender Innate/Fixed Ability (IFA) Learning Effort/Process (LEP) Authority/Expert Knowledge (AEK) Certainty of Knowledge (CK) Traditional Conception (TT) Constructivist conception (CT)

X X X

297

Major subject

Ethnicity

X

X

X X

X

X

Teaching experience

X

the gallery or provide politically correct response to these measures. Liu et al., (2004) found that, in the Singapore classrooms, pre-service teachers’ behaved in a highly didactic and teacher-centred manner during their teaching practice. We too observed during the supervision of teaching practice that “teachers’ talk” usually dominated the classroom discourse and pre-service teachers were highly contentfocus. Chan and Elliott (2004) made similar observation in Hong Kong. A genuine change in belief to the constructivist approach to teaching and the transition from teaching-focus to learning-focus is a slow developmental process. Beginning teachers have to be guided in this direction by teacher educators and mentor teachers once they are in school.

14.5

Conclusion

In this chapter, we have generated a profile of the epistemological and pedagogical beliefs of pre-service teachers in Singapore. The profile of beliefs seems to be conducive for the implementation of constructivist-oriented student-centred learning environment. We agree with Sinatra and Kardash (2004) that more dynamic assessments of the teachers’ epistemological and pedagogical beliefs are needed for researchers to achieve a better understanding of teachers’ beliefs. Given the possible gaps between teachers’ espoused beliefs and actual practice, it is necessary to conduct observation to verify teachers’ self-reported data. Longitudinal studies that trace how teachers’ beliefs change as they enter into the profession can also offer valuable information for teacher professional development. Teacher educators also need to take into account the influence of background variables and pre-service teachers’ experiences on their epistemological and pedagogical beliefs. An in-depth research is required to investigate which of the background variables have more profound influence on pre-service teachers’ epistemological and pedagogical beliefs. Such variables need to be addressed in the teacher education programme. The changing beliefs of pre-service teachers may not be a natural process. Any developmental misalignment needs to be recognised and addressed to help guide the pre-service teacher.

298


References Bråten, I., & Strømsø, H. I. (2005). The relationship between epistemological beliefs, implicit theories of intelligence, and self-regulated learning among Norwegian postsecondary students. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 75(4), 539–565. Bråten, I., & Strømsø, H. I. (2006). Epistemological beliefs, interest, and gender as predictors of Internet-based learning activities. Computers in Human Behavior, 22(6), 1027–1042. Brownlee, J. (2001). Knowing and learning in teacher education: A theoretical framework of core and peripheral epistemological beliefs. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education and Development, 4(1), 131–155. Calderhead, J. (1996). Teachers: Beliefs and knowledge. In D. C. Berliner & R. C. Calfee (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 709–725). New York, NY: Macmillan. Chan, K. W., & Elliott, R.G. (2004). Relational analysis of personal epistemology and conceptions about teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20(2004), 817–831. Cohen, D. K. (1988). Teaching practice: Plus ça change. In P. W. Jackson (Ed.), Contributing to educational change: Perspectives on research and practice. Berkeley, CA: McCutchan. Entwistle, N., Skinner, D., Entwistle, D., & Orr, S. (2000). Conceptions and beliefs about “good teaching”: An integration of contrasting research areas. Higher Education Research & Development, 19(1), 5–26. Ertmer, P. A. (2005). Teacher pedagogical beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technology integration? Educational Technology, Research and Development, 53(4), 25–39. Hofer, B. K. (2001). Personal epistemology research: Implications for learning and teaching. Journal of Educational Psychology Review, 13(4), 353–383. Hofer, B. K., & Pintrich, P. R. (1997). The development of epistemological theories: Beliefs about knowledge and knowing and their relation to learning. Review of Educational Research, 67(1), 88–140. Jehng, J., Johnson, S. D., & Anderson, R. C. (1993). Schooling and students’ epistemological beliefs about learning. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 18, 23–35. Koh, A. (2004). Singapore education in “New Times”: Global/local imperatives. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 25(3), 335–349. Liu, Y., Kotov, R., Rahim, R. A., & Goh, H. H. (2004). Chinese language pedagogic practice: A preliminary snapshot description of Singapore Chinese language classrooms. Retrieved 29 August 2005 from http://www.crpp.nie.edu.sg/course/view.php?id=254 Mason, L., & Boscolo, P. (2004). Role of epistemological understanding and interest in interpreting a controversy and in topic-specific belief change. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29(2), 103–128. Ministry of Education, Singapore (2002). Master plan II for IT in Education. Retrieved Jul 25, 2003, from http://www.moe.gov.sg/edumall/mp2/mp2_overview.htm Ministry of Education, Singapore (2004). The next chapter: Innovation and enterprise. Singapore: MOE. Ministry of Education, Singapore, (2006). Educational Factsheet. Singapore: MOE. Retrieved 14 January 2006 from: http://www.moe.gov.sg/esd/Factsheet%202006.pdf Paulsen, M. B., & Wells, C. T. (1998) Domain differences in the epistemological beliefs of college students. Research in Higher Education, 39(4), 365–384. Qian, G., & Alvermann, D. E. (2000). Relationship between epistemological beliefs and conceptual change learning. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 16, 59–74. Ravindran, B., Greene, B. A., & DeBacker, T. K. (2005). Predicting preservice teachers’ cognitive engagement with goals and epistemological beliefs. The Journal of Educational Research, 98 (4), 222–232. Richardson, V. (2003). Preservice teachers’ beliefs. In J. Raths & A. C. McAninch. (Eds.). Teacher beliefs and classroom performance: The impact of teacher education (pp. 1–22). Greenwich, Connecticut: Information Age Publishing.


299

Samuelowicz, K., & Bain, J. D. (2001). Revisiting academics’ beliefs about teaching and learning. Higher Education, 41, 299–325. Schommer, M. (1990). Effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(3), 498–504. Schommer, M. (1993). Epistemological development and academic performance among secondary students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(3), 406–411. Schommer-Aikins, M., Duell, O. K., & Barker, S. (2003). Epistemological beliefs across domains using Biglan’s classification of academic disciplines. Research in Higher Education, 44(3), 347–366. Schommer-Aikins, M., Mau, W. Brookhart, S., & Hutter, R. (2000). Understanding middle students’ beliefs about knowledge and learning using a multidimensional paradigm. The Journal of Educational Research, 94 (2), 120–127. Schraw, G., & Sinatra, G. M. (2004). Epistemological development and its impact on cognition in academic domains. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29(2), 95–102. Schraw, G., Bendixen, L. D., & Dunkle, M. E. (2002). Development and validation of the Epistemic Belief Inventory (EBI). In B. K. Hofer & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing (pp. 261–275). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Sinatra, G. M., & Kardash, C. (2004). Teacher candidates’ epistemological beliefs, dispositions, and views on teaching as persuasion. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29(4), 483–498. Trautwein, U., & Lüdtke, O. (2006, in press). Epistemological beliefs, school achievement, and college major: A large-scale longitudinal study on the impact of certainty beliefs. Contemporary Educational Psychology. van Driel, J. H., Bulte, A. M., & Verloop, N. (2005). The conceptions of chemistry teachers about teaching and learning in the context of a curriculum innovation. International Journal of Science Education, 27(3), 303–322. White, B. C. (2000). Preservice teachers’ epistemology viewed through perspectives on problematic classroom situations. Journal of Education for Teaching, 26(3), 279–305. Wideen, M., Mayer-Smith, J., & Moon, B. (1998). A critical analysis of the research on learning to teach: Making the case for an ecological perspective on inquiry. Review of Educational Research, 68(2), 130–178. Windschitl, M. (2002). Framing constructivism in practice as the negotiation of dilemmas: An analysis of the conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political challenges facing teachers. Review of Educational Research, 72(2), 131–175. Youn, I. (2000). The cultural specificity of epistemological beliefs about learning. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 3, 87–105.