1, 2National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

1, Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, SINGAPORE.

The knowledge domain of teacher cognition is vast. It comprises knowledge of general and personal pedagogy, personal beliefs and practical experience, knowledge of learners and learning, subject matter knowledge, knowledge of context and pedagogical content knowledge and knowledge of general educational goals, purposes and values. As such, teaching becomes an extremely complex cognitive and affective activity. Beginning teachers with their limited knowledge and unexplored beliefs often struggle to translate theoretical knowledge into meaningful classroom practices. The study employed a qualitative research stance and was postulated on an emergent research paradigm. Case studies based on in-depth interviews with four beginning teachers provided a rich data source. These beginning teachers had just completed a term (10 weeks) of teaching practicum in secondary schools. This paper briefly outlines the teacher knowledge domain, analyzes the data source to see how knowledge and beliefs impact classroom practices and describes the struggles faced by beginning teachers.

Teacher knowledge, Beginning teachers, Classroom practices, and Interviews.

"Teaching is about knowing..." (Harrington, 1994, p. 191), not just knowing about content and the teaching of content but also about self and how to know and how to use this knowledge. Teachers construct their knowledge built upon previous knowledge. Coupled with experience, their knowledge transforms and evolves. It has been acknowledged that "teachers have a knowledge of teaching far more complex than subject matter knowledge or knowledge of teaching techniques" (Beattie, 1995, p. 58). In fact, for this discussion, I have identified the following knowledge components from several models (Carlsen, 1999; Magnusson, Krajcik, & Borko, 1999; Morine-Dershimer & Kent, 1999):

1. Pedagogical Knowledge (General and Personal)
2. Personal Beliefs and Practical Experience
3. Knowledge of Learners and Learning
4. Subject Matter Knowledge
5. Contextual Knowledge (General and Specific)
6. Pedagogical Content Knowledge
7. Knowledge of General Educational Goals, Purposes and Values

Some researchers (Beijaard and Verloop, 1996; Elbaz, 1983) have termed this as the teacher's practical knowledge. Practical knowledge refers to "these kinds of knowledge, as integrated by the individual teacher in terms of personal values and beliefs and as oriented to the practical situation" (Elbaz, 1983, p. 5). In other words, practical knowledge determines or guides a teacher's actions in practice. Beijaard and Verloop (1996) define it as the "core of teaching quality" and place it at "the heart of teacher assessment" (p. 275). Harrington (1994) argues that beginning teachers must be provided with opportunities to struggle with the nature and development of this knowledge; what it means to know, what knowledge is worth most and what implications the answers to these questions have for educating students and learning communities.

A teacher's practice is not just an expression of his or her own professional knowledge that is informed by one's professional background, experience and perceptions but it is also one that is shaped by personal attitudes, beliefs, and goals. While knowledge maybe the most influential conception driving classroom practice (Meyer, Tabachnick, Hewson, Lemberger & Park, 1999), personal views of the knowledge are central to these conceptions (Hewson, Tabachnick, Zeichner, & Lemberger, 1999b). For example, Morine-Dershimer and Kent (1999) emphasize the importance of the interplay between personal pedagogical knowledge which is gained from personal beliefs and personal practical experience and general pedagogical knowledge which is derived from the research literature. Understanding how teachers' "beliefs influence their teaching are critical to teachers' development and change in role conceptions and teaching practices" (Tatto, 1998, p. 66).

Teacher education research has a long history spanning some four decades. During the 1960s and 1970s, the literature was generally quantitative in nature involving large numbers of teachers. In the 1980s, various kinds of qualitative studies emerged involving much smaller sample sizes. By the 1990s, several researchers had reviewed the body of literature to identify common themes and draw inferences for teacher professional development (Borko, 1989; Grossman, 1990; Kagan, 1992; Sprinthall, Reiman, & Sprinthall, 1996). Interestingly, Kagan (1992) noted that the only two developmental models based on empirical research about teachers are Fuller's (1969) and Berliner's (1988) models. Fuller's model (1969) focussed specifically on teachers' concerns. Berliner (1988) used the schema theory and comparative studies of cognitions underlying novice and expert teaching performances to infer a five-stage model of teacher development.

The objective of this research is to explore how teacher knowledge and beliefs of beginning teachers impact their classroom practices. The scope of this paper is confined to four beginning teachers from the one year Post-Graduate Diploma-in-Education (PGDE) Programme at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. I had observed and supervised these teachers during their teaching practicum that lasted a term of ten weeks. The research paradigm adopted is the qualitative stance with an emergent research design (Maykut & Morehouse, 1994). In-depth interviews (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) averaging one and a half hours allowed for prolonged engagement with these four interviewees. The interviews were conducted in two stages: pre- and post practicum periods. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with an interview guide. All interviews were audio-taped and later completely transcribed. The draft transcripts were then given to the interviewees so that where ambiguities arose, the meaning that the interviewee was trying to convey could be clarified. In this way, provisions were made for the trustworthiness of the research data. When analyzing the interview data, the grounded theory research approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) was used to identify, describe, and interpret distinctly different struggles faced by them.

In analyzing the data, at least three struggles confronting these four beginning teachers surfaced. Firstly, their limited knowledge of the vast domain of teacher knowledge presented many problems for their classroom teaching practices. Secondly, the demands of the harsh realities in schools, coupled with their perceptions of a shortage of time, did little to aid their knowledge development. In fact, in some instances, they faced a dilemma in deciding between what they believe they would want to do and what the school expects them to do. Thirdly, the teachers found the entire practicum a very meaningful experience because it allowed them time for reflection about their practice.

It is well documented in the research literature (Kagan, 1992; van Driel, de Vos, & Verloop, 1998) that beginning teachers have limited teacher knowledge. For example, with weak general pedagogical knowledge, they tend to teach from textbooks, rely more on teacher-talk, not use wait-time when questioning, not be able to use probing questions, and not be able to employ appropriate pedagogical strategies to meet the mixed abilities of a heterogeneous class. The following illustrative quotes reflect their struggles in these areas:

Teachers are also aware that they have very little pedagogical content knowledge and are therefore searching for more and better representations.

The second challenge facing the teachers was the perennial complaint of the shortage of time. One teacher felt it so strongly that he complained about it seven times intermittently throughout the interview. He was open to trying other new and innovative strategies "if only time permits" (T4, 31 March 2000). Another teacher gave her class a quiz because she thought it was interesting for them but it "took up so much time" (T2, 8 May 2000) that she never give quizzes anymore after that. They also found a class of forty students to large for them to manage. "The smaller the (class) size, the better you can monitor the students' work" (T3, 8 May 2000). More importantly, one of them actually found the external school demands contradicting her teaching philosophy and beliefs:

For another teacher, his belief that, as a teacher, he must be more knowledgeable than his students actually made him set more difficult tests for them when he found that they were scoring well "for the purpose of seeing who is the smartest one. And I want to prove to myself that they are not so smart after all" (T1, 8 May 2000). For professional growth to occur, prior beliefs are important. These beliefs need to be identified, modified and reconstructed (Kagan, 1992). In fact, "whether a novice is able to accomplish this also appears to depends on the novice's biography - particularly on whether he or she has reached a point in life where dysfunctional beliefs can be acknowledged and altered" (Kagan, 1992, p. 142). However, cognitive dissonance may be necessary for beginning teachers to confront their own beliefs and acknowledge that they need adjustment.

A teacher's passion for the subject also has great impact on the teaching of that subject. When asked how her love for Literature influenced her teaching of it, she felt that it gave her "much more confidence...I can get the students involved in a discussion. I don't think I can do that if I don't like the subject" (T2, 8 May 2000).

Thirdly, although the practicum lasted only ten weeks, the teachers found the experience meaningful as it had provided them the opportunities for reflection. Undoubtedly, reflection is crucial to the developmental process (Rust, 1999). They recognized reflection as a key element in helping them to develop their knowledge. One of them concluded that his experience was "...pretty enlightening. I get to learn about wait-time and a few strategies that I could implement...I think it is good because it makes me reflect on what I did well and what I did not so well" (T1, 27 March 2000).

The findings of this study underscore the important role played by knowledge and beliefs of teachers on their classroom practices. Reflection is key to understanding these intertwining relationships. While the findings may not be entirely new, they posed new challenges for future research. How do teachers develop their teaching knowledge? Are there distinct stages of development? Can teachers simultaneously develop these various knowledge domains? Teaching is intriguing because it is like "a peculiar form of self expression in which the artist, the subject, and the medium are one" (Kagan, 1992, p.164). It is complex, yet we know what good teaching is when we see one.

Ho Boon Tiong, M Ed

Lecturer

Science and Technology Education Academic Group

National Institute of Education

Nanyang Technological University

1 Nanyang Walk

Singapore 637616

Tel: (65) 460-5917

Fax: (65) 469-8952

E-mail: btho@nie.edu.sg

Toh Kok Aun, Ph D

Associate Professor

Head, Science and Technology Education Academic Group

National Institute of Education

Nanyang Technological University

1 Nanyang Walk

Singapore 637616

Tel: (65) 460-5391

Fax: (65) 469-8928

E-mail: katoh@nie.edu.sg