An investigation into the Pedagogical Trajectories of PGCE Trainees Using Espoused 'Beliefs'

Abstract

Postgraduate trainee teachers undergo profound ���shifts��� in their pedagogical understanding and practices through the year that they are taught at a UK Higher Education Institution. This study ���investigated, in a paired pre���post design, the espoused pedagogical beliefs of three cohorts of PGCE trainees, at two time points ��� at the onset and toward the end of their studies in a teacher education department in a major HEI in the UK, with corroborative results from a fourth cohort and from a wider set of institutions. Using an adaptation of the ���practices��� scale of Swan (2006), trainees��� pedagogical beliefs were charted and described on a continuum running from transmissionist to child-centred through answering 25 items, and shifts from pre-course to post course were investigated on two fronts ��� individually and for each item. Two general principles are represented in the data: trainees seem to either make rather more radical shifts towards child-centeredness (75/117 trainees [64.1%] at an average shift of +0.28) or more slight shifts towards a more teacher centred orientation (37/117 trainees [31.6%] at an average shift of -0.18. The average shift was +0.14 per trainee (from 3.35 to 3.49) - a significant trend towards a greater learner-centrism across the longitudinal study