A question that needs to be deeply explored in the literature is whether there is a relationship between teachers’ beliefs about their own learning and their students’ learning. Do teachers themselves prefer to learn a new topic with learner-based approaches or traditional instruction, which is characterized by the direct transmission of knowledge? If teachers prefer learner-based or transmissive learning environments, do they prefer the same approach in their instructional processes? The way a teacher organizes teaching and learning environments is affected by various factors, one of which are teachers’ beliefs. In his comprehensive review of studies on teachers’ beliefs, Kagan (1992) divides beliefs into two forms: teachers’ sense of self-efficacy and content-specific beliefs. While the former concerns how a teacher perceives his/her teaching skills and abilities, the latter is described as “a teacher's orientation to specific academic content” (p.67).

Teachers’ beliefs about their students’ learning, and thus classroom practices, are related to teachers’ beliefs about their own learning (Brauer & Wilde, 2018). Teachers first develop a perspective on their own learning and later develop one for their students (Meyer et al. 1999). During all these processes, teachers might hold different beliefs for their own learning and their students’ learning. At this point, we raise another question for our readers: “Which beliefs about teachers’ own learning are of most worth and should be transformed into practice?” which is the very same to Apple’s (1998): “Whose knowledge is of most worth?” (p. 339). Here, Kagan’s (1992) argument is also noteworthy: “...researchers may ultimately have to provide evidence that certain beliefs and reflections are related to desirable student outcomes” (p.83). A number of studies indicated that learner-based approaches are related to desirable student outcomes (e.g., Granger et al., 2012; Kim, 2005).  Therefore, understanding teachers’ beliefs about their own learning and their students’ learning could provide valuable information for developing an understanding of how teacher educators can help teachers use learner-based practices in the classroom, illuminating the black box.

Although a considerable amount of literature has been published on teachers’ beliefs and practices in different teacher education contexts - i.e., pre-service teacher education (e.g., Richardson, 2003, Yuan & Lee, 2015) and teacher learning (e.g., Borg & Alshumaimeri, 2017; Wideen et al., 1998), it seems that a systematic understanding of how teachers’ beliefs about their own learning affect their own classroom practice is still lacking (Bolhuis & Voeten, 2007).

With this in mind, the purpose of this study is to deconstruct secondary school teachers’ beliefs about their own learning and capture the interplay between teachers’ beliefs about their own learning and their classroom practices. This study aimed to answer the following research questions:

1. What kind of relationship exists between teachers’ beliefs about their own learning and their instructional practices?

2.   Which factors cause teachers to not teach in parallel with their beliefs about their own learning?

3. Method We conducted a qualitative phenomenological study to explore the connection between secondary school teachers’ beliefs about their own learning and their actual classroom practice utilizing a phenomenological study design. 3.1. Participants A maximum variation sampling strategy was used to select participants on the basis of gender, field of specialization, and teaching experience. Purposeful sampling continued until the researchers reached data saturation. 50 secondary teachers (19 male; 31 female) from 12 different fields (computer education, biology, physics, mathematics, technology design, English language, German language, history, Turkish language and literacy, psychology, philosophy, geography) participated in the study on a voluntary basis. Participants ranged in age from 21 to 57, and their teaching experience ranged between 1 and 31 years. 3.2. Data Collection Instrument A semi-structured in-depth interview guide developed by the researchers was used in the study to answer the research questions. The guide included two parts. The first section encompassed demographic questions (e.g., teachers’ gender, age, field, and work experience). The second section was composed of questions about the schools in which the teachers were currently working (e.g., socio-economic status, level of parental support), teachers’ instructional practices, and teachers’ beliefs about their own learning. The researchers received expert feedback on the guide from two experts in curriculum and instruction and revised the guide accordingly. 3.3. Procedures Data collection began upon receiving approval from the institutional review board. Firstly, schools were visited and school principals were informed about the study. The rationale and purpose of the study was explained to teachers, who could then volunteer to participate. Meetings with the first author were arranged according to teachers’ availability. Each individual interview lasted around 20-30 minutes. The interviews were conducted during the 2016-2017 spring semester in the capital city of Turkey. All interviews were audio-recorded with the participants’ permission. 3.4. Data Analysis All interviews were transcribed verbatim by the researchers. In order to better capture secondary teachers’ expressed beliefs and experiences in the teaching-learning environment, the NVivo 11 plus program was used to facilitate data analysis. Data were double-coded by the researchers, as suggested by Creswell (1998).

The results indicated that the teachers fell into two groups in terms of the interplay between their beliefs about their own learning and their instructional practices. The first group (n=33) were found to teach in line with their beliefs about their own learning. There was a close fit between these teachers’ beliefs about their own learning and their in-class practices. The second group (n=17) exhibited a misfit between their beliefs about their own learning and instructional practices. If we expect teachers to transfer their beliefs about their own learning to their practices, defining appropriate or desired beliefs to transfer is an important point to be considered. Learner-based teaching is currently implemented as a desired approach almost all around the world including Turkey. The results indicated that out of 33 teachers who demonstrated a close fit between their beliefs about their own learning and their instructional practices, 26 were found to hold desired beliefs and practices, while 7 were found to have neither desired beliefs nor desired practices. Similarly, out of 17 teachers who exhibited a misfit between their beliefs about their own learning and their instructional practices, 12 teachers were found to hold desired beliefs about their own learning but undesired instructional practices, while 7 teachers were found not to have desired beliefs about their own learning but did have desired instructional practices. Moreover, the results indicated that 19 teachers still use traditional instruction in their classrooms despite curriculum-based expectations. In addition, although a majority of the teachers believed that they learn best through learner-based approaches, 12 of these teachers did not mostly use learner-based teaching as part of their in-class practices, which was found to result from external factors such as class size, high-stakes exams, and lack of pedagogical content knowledge, as discussed in the literature (e.g., Remillard, 2005).

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