Impact of teachers’ knowledge and beliefs on classroom practices

Abstract

Teaching is a highly complex activity. We can recognize good teaching when we see one; yet, it is very difficult to describe what constitutes good teaching. This is so because teachers often have to apply knowledge from multiple domains of teacher knowledge or teacher cognition. Among these domains are knowledge of pedagogy (general as well as personal), knowledge of learners and learning, subject matter knowledge, knowledge of context (general as well as specific) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Furthermore, knowledge is intricately linked to a teacher’s beliefs. This paper describes the various domains of teacher knowledge and beliefs and how these impact classroom practices, based on in-depth interviews with four student teachers who had just completed a term of teaching practicum in schools.