Cognitive, educational and psychological determinants of prospective preschool teachers’ beliefs

Abstract

This study examined the level, structure and cognitive, educational and psychological determinants of beliefs about the relevance and nature of mathematics, about gender-stereotypes with respect to mathematics abilities and about enjoyment of mathematics. Prospective preschool teachers from programs at vocational schools and higher education institutions as well as in the first and last years of their programs were compared. As hypothesized, the beliefs were significantly correlated to each other which pointed to a coherent belief system. Differences between types of institutions and program stage supported the notion of development during the program. Knowledge of mathematics and opportunities to learn mathematics pedagogy were significantly related to beliefs. This may point to a need to include these domains in preschool teacher education or to require them as prerequisites before intake to a program. Gender-stereotypes were more strongly related to flexibility than to domain-specific predictors which points to the personality-related nature of beliefs.