Research on the development of children’s temporal concepts concludes that the concept of time is complex and difficult to teach to children (Fraisse 1984, Kelly, Miller, Fang & Feng, 1999; Piaget 1969; Zakay 1989). As there is no evidence-based practice in the teaching of time-related competences - such as clock reading and using a calendar - many primary school teachers have developed their own methods for teaching this subject, based on their teaching experience, beliefs and knowledge. The current study aims to define how these teaching methods are being developed and what impact they have on student's outcomes It is generally accepted that teachers’ classroom practice is influenced by their knowledge, beliefs, thoughts and decisions (Peterson, 1988; Peterson, Fennema, Carpenter & Loef, 1989). Lee Shulman (1986) defined several types of knowledge, forming the necessary knowledge base for teachers. Especially Shulman’s concept of pedagogical content knowledge offers an interesting theoretical framework it refers to the special nature of the subject matter knowledge required for teaching and involves the teacher’s way of representing and formulating the subject in a way that makes it comprehensible to his pupils (Shulman, 1986). Moreover, pedagogical content knowledge contains an understanding of what makes the learning of specific topics easier or more difficult. This integration of both content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge is crucial for effective teachers. Next to the pedagogical content knowledge, also teachers’ beliefs about learning and instruction have an influence on how one teaches his pupils and what the students learn (Capraro, 2005). All teachers have certain (explicit and implicit) beliefs about their profession, their students, how learning takes place and about the subject areas they teach. Consequently, teacher practices flow from these beliefs. Although many researchers have studied teachers’ general beliefs on learning and instruction, Carpenter and Peterson (1988) noted that an analysis of beliefs within a specific content domain leads to greater prediction and understanding than an analysis of general conceptions about teachers’ roles. Peterson et al. (1989) introduced the term pedagogical content beliefs (PCB) to point at teachers’ beliefs about a specific content domain. The current study examines teachers’ pedagogical content beliefs and knowledge about the instruction of time-related competences, and the impact of both on students’ learning outcomes in this domain. The aim of the study is to define the role of teachers’ pedagogical content beliefs and knowledge in the way they teach time-related competences and the impact on student outcomes.

Eighty-four Flemish primary school teachers completed a questionnaire on pedagogical content beliefs and an interview on pedagogical content knowledge about time-related competences. The questionnaire includes 18 items of the Revised Mathematics Beliefs Scale (Capraro, 2005) and 15 items on beliefs about time-related competences. The teachers responded to each item on a 5-point Likert scale by indicating strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, strongly disagree. In a semi-structured interview teachers were asked for their teaching methods, knowledge of student strategies, difficulties, common mistakes, etc. The teachers’ pupils completed a short test on time-related competences, including exercises on clock reading, measuring time-intervals, using a calendar and solving word problems involving time. Data-analysis will occur with SPSS

Based on former research of Carpenter et al. (1989) we expect teachers’ pedagogical content beliefs to be significantly related to their pedagogical content knowledge: teachers whose beliefs are more constructivist are expected to believe that understanding of time is the basis for time-related competences such as clock reading, whereas less constructivist teachers are expected to believe that children acquire their understanding of time through the practicing of clock reading. With regard to teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, we expect teachers with more profound pedagogical content knowledge to have better performing students as these teachers are expected to have more insight in what is difficult for their pupils. Furthermore, it is expected that these teachers will have less low-performing students in their classroom as they are expected to have a broader range of teaching strategies. Teachers with more constructivist beliefs towards the teaching of time-related competences are expected to have students with a more profound understanding of time, which may be reflected in the students’ performance on word problems involving time. Teachers with less cognitively based beliefs are expected to focus more on drill and practice., resulting in better performance on clock reading but less insight in the concept of time.