Pre-Service Teachers' Beliefs About Ability And "The Learner"

Author(s):

Anna-Carin Jonsson(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 02 C, Exploring Teachers' Beliefs

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-22

15:15-16:45

Room:

K1.04 Auditorium 3

Chair:

Rose Dolan

Contribution

Teachers’ beliefs about ability as fixed or dynamic is an important subject to study because these beliefs influence students’ motivation, strategies to learn, expectations of their own performance, self-concept and achievement (Dweck, 1999; Boaler, 2016; Jonsson, Beach, Korp & Erlandson, 2012). For instance teachers with a preference for ability as something genetic and unchangeable (entity theories of intelligence/fixed mindset) do not promote the pupils inner motivational resources (Leroy, Bressoux, Sarrazin, & Trouilloud, 2007), have stronger tendencies of creating a competitive climate in class (Trouilloud, Sarrazin, Bressoux & Bois, 2006) and prefer to diagnose a pupils ability from their initial achievement (Butler, 2000).

Implicit theories of intelligence (ITI) differentiates between entity theories of intelligence, ability as fixed, and incremental theories of intelligence, ability is dependent on effort and therefore possible to change. Implicit theories of intelligence drive student’s goals, motivation, the challenges they are willing to tackle, the effort they will extend and persistence in the face of difficulties (Blackwell, Rodriguez & Guerra-Carrillo, 2015). Teachers with fixed beliefs about ability provide unsolicited help, pity following failure and assign easier work to students. Students that were given this form of feedback perceived their teachers to have lower expectations of and investment in their achievement and these students showed lower motivation and expectations for their own performance (Rattan, Good & Dweck, 2012). Research has demonstrated the importance to establish the norm that ’everyone can learn to the highest level’ in classrooms (Boaler, 2016). This norm relates strongly to the beliefs that ability is changeable and something anyone can grow (Blackwell et a., 2007). The aim of this study is to explore how implicit theories of intelligence relates to other beliefs about ‘the learner’ among pre-service teachers and if gender influence beliefs about ability.

Competence and an interest for the learner are key concepts in present days policy discourses and policy initiatives dominated by ideas of neo-liberalism and performativity (Ball, 2012; Meyer & Benavot, 2013; Rizvi & Lindgard, 2010). Within such context the study explore pre-service teachers approach to “the learner” where a specific interest is taken in OECD project reporting the 21 century competences (Dumont et al. 2000) focusing on the adaptive, self-regulative learner, a more traditional view with focus on knowledge within disciplines, and also approaches to sustainability and performativity. The question is if these beliefs relate in any systematic way to beliefs about ability as something fixed and genetic or dynamic and changeable?

In the Swedish context, boys’ growing underperformance relative to girls in school has become a major concern. It has been argued that boys base their more laidback attitude and approach towards learning on a combination of beliefs about intelligence as fixed and effort as a proof of one’s dumbness, which is linked to ideas of masculinity and femininity (Holm & Öhrn, 2014). Boys in particular have been observed to avoid schoolwork that requires effort and persistence (e g Nyström, 2012). When effort and persistence in learning is interpreted as low-status behavior because academic effort is equated with low ability there is a serious problem. In this matter it is of interest if there also seems to be gender differences within ITI. Dweck and Legget, (1988) showed that girls preferred a fixed entity theory of intelligence compared to boys which also Rattan et al. (2012) confirmed however. The results are contradictive and needs further research.

Questions

How does beliefs about ‘the learners’ ability relate to 21 century competences, sustainability and performativity among pre-service teachers?

Are there gender differences in beliefs about ability as fixed or changeable among pre-service teachers?

Method

432 pre-service teachers (Females = 235, Males = 197) in the middle of their first and last semester at the teacher education participated. The students were informed in accordance with research ethical principles that they had the right not to participate and that their answers would be treated confidential. After this they filled in the paper questionnaire where trained researchers collected the data. The pre-service teachers did not receive any information about the aim of the study before giving their response and were asked not to speak to each other. When they finished they were fully informed and thanked for their participation. The Questionnaires consisted of statements that always started with “The most important for your pupils to develop is…” and after this different statements were added such as the 21century competences reflecting self-regulation/metacognition for example “/…/ to self-regulate their learning”, competences from curriculum in the Swedish school reflecting traditional perspective of the value of knowledge in disciplines for example “/…/ knowledge in specific disciplines”, the importance of developing sustainability for example “/…/ environmental and social sustainability” in their classrooms, and attitudes toward performativity “The most important is that your teacher believe that you are intelligent, not that you really are”. Also Dweck’s (1999) Theories of Intelligence Scale was added. A ten-point numerical scale was used ranging from 1 to 10. First a principal component factor analyses was conducted revealing 4 factors with eigenvalues larger than 1.00, 1) Sustainability, 2) Self-regulation, 3) Traditional perspective of knowledge within discipline and 4) Performativity. In a stepwise multiple regression adaption to Performativity, a Traditional perspective of knowledge and lower preference for Sustainability (F 3, 413 = 9.92, p < 0.001) explained 6.1% (Adj. R2) of the variance of fixed beliefs/entity theories in ability. Another stepwise multiple regression showed that higher preference for Sustainability and Self-regulation (F 3, 412 = 17.9, p < 0.001) explained 7.6% of the variance (Adj. R2) of dynamic beliefs/incremental theories in ability. A one-way ANOVA (Female, Male) with the dependent variable Entity theories of Intelligence showed one effect for gender F(1, 426) = 9.25, p < 0.002 where the female pre-service teachers (M = 2.5) had lower preferences for fixed beliefs compared to males (M = 3.0). Another one-way ANOVA was performed with the dependent variable Incremental theories of Intelligence but the results were only close to a significant with the females showing higher preference for dynamic beliefs.

Expected Outcomes

Beliefs about ability as something inborn and genetic seems to be related to performativity, more specifically, that it is more important to “look good” than to actually “be good” (Ball, 2012). A higher value in developing knowledge within a specific subject discipline was also related to these fixed mind-sets and a lower preference for the importance to develop sustainability among future pupils. However, beliefs that ability is something changeable that can be developed through effort (Blackwell et al., 2015; Dweck, 1999), was related to stronger preference of developing environmental and social sustainability and the importance of self-regulation (Dumont et al., 2000) for pupils among the pre-service teachers. There seems to be different pedagogical discourses among Swedish pre-service teachers, one more traditional were fixed, genetic ability also relates to performativity, knowledge in specific disciplines and less interest in developing sustainability among future pupils. The other pattern reveals a different mission among the pre-service teachers that focus on the beliefs that ability always can be developed, as well as that self-regulation and to teach about environmental and social sustainability in their future classrooms is important. Ball (2012) and Lyotard (1984) discuss the reorientation of pedagogical discourses where performativity regulation has a strong impact on culture and education. However, there seems to be concurring discourses. There were differences between the female and males in what degree they preferred the fixed mind-sets. In our Swedish sample, the females had lower beliefs in entity theories/fixed min-sets compared to males, which is in line with Holm and Öhrn’s (2014) Swedish sample. Dweck and Legget (1988) and Rattan et al. (2012) pointed out that it was the girls in their American sample that preferred the fixed mind-sets. There is a need to further investigate cultural gender differences.

References

Ball, S.J. (2012). Performativity, commodification and commitment: An I-Spy guide to the neoliberal university. British Journal of Educational Studies, 60(1), 17-28. Blackwell, L.S., Trzesniewski, K.H., & Dweck, C. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78(1), 246-263. Blackwell, L. S., Rodriguez, S., & Guerra-Carrillo, B. (2015). Intelligence as a Malleable Construct. In Handbook of Intelligence (pp. 263-282). New York: Springer. Boaler, J. (2016). Mathematical Mindsets. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Butler, R. (2000). Making judgments about ability: The role of implicit theories of ability in moderating inferences from temporal and social comparison information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78 (5), 965-978. Dweck, C. S. (1999). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Philadelphia: Psychology press. Dweck, C.S. & Legget, E.L. (1988). A social cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256-273. Holm, A-S., & Öhrn, E. (2014). Diskurser om prestationer, begåvning och arbete. (ss. 31-55). I E. Öhrn och A-S, Hom (Reds.) Att lyckas i skolan. Om skolprestationer och kön i olikaundervisningspraktiker. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Jonsson, A-C., Beach, D., Korp, H & Erlandsson, P. (2012). Teachers’ implicit theories of intelligence: Influences from different disciplines and scientific theories, European Journal of Teacher Education, 35, (4), 387-400. Loytard, J-F. (1984). The Postmodern Condition. A Report on Knowledge. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Leroy, N., Bressoux, P., Sarrazin, P., & Trouilloud, D. (2007). Impact of teachers’ implicit theories and perceived pressures on the establishment of an autonomy supportive climate. European Journal of Psychology of Education, Vol. XXII (4), 529-545. Meyer, H. & Benavot, A. (2013). PISA, power and policy: The emergence of global educational governance. Didcot: Symposium Books. Rattan, A., Good, C., & Dweck, C.S. (2012). “It’s ok – Not everyone can be good at math”: Instructors with an entity theory comfort (and demotivate) students. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 731-737. Rizvi, F., & Lingard, B. (2010). Globalizing Educational Policy. London: Routledge. Trouilloud, D., Sarrazin, P., & Bois, J. (2006). Teacher expectation effects on student perceived competence in physical education classes: Autonomy-supportive climate as a moderator. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(1), 75-86.

Author Information

Anna-Carin Jonsson (presenting / submitting)

University of Gothenburg

Department of Education and Special Education

Gothenburg

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