Student-teachers’ pedagogical beliefs: Learner-centred or teacher-centred when using ICT in the science classroom?

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative case André du Plessis study explored the pedagogical beliefs and classroom practice of four Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students when they implement Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for teaching and learning, including what influences their beliefs. Data were gathered by means of a teacher belief system (TBS) tool, drawing prompts that led to individual interviews, an open-ended questionnaire, lesson plans and assessment feedback forms, short summaries of how they used the ICT resources and feedback from the method lecturer and an appointed mentor teacher. The findings suggest that there appears to be a mismatch between the participants’ espoused beliefs and enacted beliefs when using ICT at this point in time. The participating student-teachers used ICT tools predominately in teacher centred ways, yet they indicated that they held learner-centred beliefs. At the same time, this does not imply that there were no learner-centred activities during their lessons. The data seems to suggest that their exposure to teacher-centred pedagogy while being learners at school, as well as their tertiary experience could have played a role in how they taught Science. It is therefore important that lecturers model constructivist learner-centred pedagogy to students and provide opportunities for students to plan and model such practice.