Exploring geography teaching in primary education :
perspectives of teachers, teacher educators and pupils
Citation for published version (APA):Bent, G. J. W. (2016). Exploring geography teaching in primary education : perspectives of teachers, teacher educators and pupils. Technische Universiteit Eindhoven.
Document status and date: Published: 31/10/2016 Document Version:
Publisher’s PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication:
• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website.
• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.
• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Link to publication
General rights
Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain
• You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal.
If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement:
www.tue.nl/taverne
Take down policy
If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at:
openaccess@tue.nl
Perspectives
of teachers,
teacher educators
and pupils
x P l o r in g g E o g r a P h y T E a c h in g i n P r im a r y E d u c a T io n gExploring Geography Teaching in Primary Education
Perspectives of teachers, teacher educators and pupils
University of Technology) and University of Applied Science Viaa.
A catalogue record is available from the Eindhoven University of Technology Library ISBN: 978-94-6169-934-3
Layout and printing: Optima Grafische Communicatie, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Cover: Hans Nicolai
Perspectives of teachers, teacher educators and pupils
PROEFSCHRIFT
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr.ir. F.P.T. Baaijens, voor een commissie aangewezen door het College voor Promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen op
maandag 31 oktober 2016 om 16:00 uur
door
Gerrit Johannes Widelo Bent
promotiecommissie is als volgt:
voorzitter: prof.dr. D. Beijaard 1e promotor: prof.dr. P. den Brok
copromotor: dr. A. Bakx (Fontys Hogescholen) leden: prof.dr. W. Kuiper (Universiteit Utrecht)
Prof.dr. R. Martens (Open Universiteit) dr. H. Schellen
adviseurs: prof.dr. J. Pieters (Universiteit Twente) dr. A. Ros (Fontys Hogescholen)
Het onderzoek dat in dit proefschrift wordt beschreven is uitgevoerd in overeenstemming met de TU/e Gedragscode Wetenschapsbeoefening.
Dankwoord 9
Chapter 1 Introduction 13
1.1 Rationale 15
1.2 Theoretical background and relevant literature 20
1.2.1 Self-efficacy beliefs 21
1.2.2 Perceptions and beliefs about the learning environment 23
1.2.3 Key aspects of the learning environment used in this research project
24
1.3 Aim of this research project and research questions 29
1.4 Overview of the dissertation 30
Chapter 2 Primary education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs for teaching geography lessons and their beliefs regarding teaching geography
35
Abstract 36
2.1 Introduction 37
2.2 Conceptual frame work 39
2.3 Research questions 42 2.4 Method 43 2.4.1 Participants 43 2.4.2 Study instrument 44 2.4.3 Data analyses 44 2.5 Results 46
2.6 Conclusions and discussion 49
2.7 Study limitations and implications 51
Chapter 3 Primary education teachers’ self-efficacy and their beliefs of geography education: a qualitative distinction in different categories 53 Abstract 54 3.1 Introduction 55 3.2 Conceptual framework 57 3.3 Research questions 61 3.4 Method 61 3.4.1 Participants 61 3.4.2 Instrumentation 63
3.4.4 Data analysis 64
3.5 Results 66
3.5.1 Teachers’ sense of self-efficacy 66
3.5.2 Relationships between self-efficacy and other education aspects 67
3.5.3 Illustrations of the three categories 69
3.6 Conclusions and discussion 74
3.7 Limitations and educational implications 75
Chapter 4 Comparison between primary teacher educators’ and primary education teachers’ beliefs of primary geography education quality
79
Abstract 80
4.1 Introduction 81
4.2 Conceptual framework 83
4.2.1 Beliefs about primary geography education quality 83
4.2.2 Beliefs regarding primary education teachers’ capability to teach geography
84 4.2.3 Beliefs regarding the importance of learning outcomes and
assessments
85
4.2.4 Beliefs regarding the added value of colleague support 86
4.2.5 Beliefs regarding the importance of the subject in the curriculum 87
4.3 Research questions 87
4.4 Method 88
4.4.1 Participants 88
4.4.2 Instruments and procedure 89
4.4.3 Analysis 92
4.5 Results 93
4.5.1 Teacher educators’ beliefs of primary geography education aspects: quantitative results
93 4.5.2 Primary education teachers’ beliefs of primary geography
education aspects: quantitative results
94 4.5.3 Teacher educators’ beliefs of primary geography education
aspects: qualitative results
95
4.5.4 Comparing various results 100
4.6 Conclusion and discussion 101
4.7 Limitations and future research 102
Abstract 106
5.1 Introduction 107
5.2 The subject of geography 109
5.3 Geography learning goals and learning outcomes 110
5.4 Learning environment 111
5.5 Teacher knowledge and performance 112
5.6 Research questions 112
5.7 Methods 113
5.7.1 Participants 113
5.7.2 Instrumentation and procedure 113
5.7.3 Data analysis 115
5.8 Results 117
5.8.1 Learning goals and learning outcomes 118
5.8.2 Learning environment 121
5.8.3 Teacher knowledge and performance 123
5.9 Conclusion 125
5.10 Implications 127
Chapter 6 Discussion, conclusions and recommendations 129
6.1 Introduction 131
6.2 Summary of the four studies 131
6.2.1 Primary education teachers’ strength of self-efficacy and their beliefs about general geography education quality
131 6.2.2 A qualitative exploration of the relation between teachers’
self-efficacy beliefs and their beliefs about geography education
132 6.2.3 Teacher educators’ beliefs about primary geography education
quality compared to primary education teachers’ beliefs
134
6.2.4 Pupils’ perceptions about primary geography education quality 135
6.3 Conclusions of the research project 136
6.4 Discussion 137
6.5 Limitations and suggestions for further research 142
Summary 156
Samenvatting 173
Appendix 181
I. Survey of primary education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and beliefs regarding primary education
183 II. Interview Protocol for the Survey of Primary education
teachers’ efficacy beliefs and beliefs regarding their teaching geography
185
III. Teacher Educators’ beliefs regarding primary education survey
188 IV. Teacher Educators’ beliefs regarding primary education
interview protocol
191 V. Primary School Pupils’ perception of geography education
interview protocol
194
Publications 197
Curriculum Vitae 199
DankwoorD
Dit proefschrift betreft een onderzoek naar het aardrijkskundeonderwijs op de basisschool. Het idee voor dit promotieonderzoek ontstond gedurende mijn werk op de lerarenopleiding basisonderwijs waarin ik in aanraking kwam met (voor)oordelen van leerkrachten basisonderwijs en pabodocenten over de kwaliteit van het aardrijks-kundeonderwijs op de basisschool en met verschillen in opvattingen over de daaraan ten grondslag liggende oorzaken. De behoefte drong zich steeds meer aan mij op om de relatie te onderzoeken tussen overtuigingen van leerkrachten basisonderwijs ten aanzien van hun capaciteiten om aardrijkskundelessen te verzorgen en hun opvat-tingen over het aardrijkskundeonderwijs. Eveneens was het mijn nadrukkelijke wens om opvattingen van leerkrachten in het basisonderwijs te spiegelen aan opvattingen van pabo docenten en leerlingen van de basisschool teneinde deze opvattingen te kunnen begrijpen. De inzet van de vele participanten vormt ontegenzeggelijk de basis van dit onderzoek. Ik wil alle basisschool leerkrachten, pabo docenten en leerlingen hartelijk danken voor de openheid in het delen van ervaringen met en opvattingen over het aardrijkskunde onderwijs op de basisschool.
Mijn ‘onderzoekingstocht’ was een eenzaam avontuur, maar ik was daarbij zeker niet alleen. Velen hebben mij tijdens (delen van) deze reis vergezeld. Om te voorkomen dat ik individuele personen vergeet te bedanken kan ik ervoor kiezen niemand bij naam te noemen. Hoewel dat het schrijven ervan buitengewoon vergemakkelijkt zou hebben, heb ik niet voor deze weg gekozen.
Zonder de begeleiding, de steun en het vertrouwen van mijn (co)promotoren had dit proefschrift er niet gelegen. Ik wil prof. dr. Perry den Brok en dr. Anouke Bakx hartelijk danken voor de vele adviezen, scrupuleuze manier van commentariëren van mijn vele teksten en persoonlijke betrokkenheid. Vanaf het eerste moment was er de juiste chemie voor een goede en uiterst plezierige samenwerking. Jullie passie voor kwaliteit(onderzoek) in het onderwijs, enthousiasme voor dit onderzoeksproject en onaf latend vertrouwen in een goede afloop zijn van onschatbare waarde geweest, ook tijdens de laatste fase van het traject gedurende mijn wethouderschap. Perry, wat kon jij met jouw verrassend nieuwe inzichten over structuur en richting van het onderzoek de vele besprekingen verrijken. Anouke, wat is het bijzonder dat onze gezamenlijke inzet ter versterking van de kwaliteit van onderzoek op “onze pabo’s” mede heeft geleid tot realisatie van deze dissertatie.
Hoofdstukken 2 en 5. Ook wil ik de collega’s van de hogeschool Viaa en de gemeente Midden-Drenthe hartelijk danken voor de getoonde interesse in mijn onderzoek en voor de tijd die mij is gegund voor dit onderzoek. Met plezier kijk ik terug op de vele gesprekken met mijn “vakbroeders” Kees, Wim, Ruud, Bert, Jos, beide “Henken” en niet te vergeten Jaap tijdens de verschillende fasen van mijn onderzoek. Ton en Aline, dank voor jullie warme belangstelling voor mijn “apolitieke hobby”. Emko en Gerard, ik ervaar het als een voorrecht dat jullie paranimf willen zijn. Antonetta en Gea, jullie behendigheid in het oplossen van de “agendapuzzels” als gevolg van de combinatie van wethouderschap en promoveren is bewonderenswaardig! Lenie en Kees, jullie waardevolle feedback op de teksten was van onschatbare waarde. Dank je Hennie voor jouw hulp want zonder jou was de Award niet zo binnen handbereik geweest.
Vier mensen aan wie ik met een woord van dank geen recht kan doen, zijn mijn ou-ders en schoonouou-ders. De manier waarop zij in alle jaren een steun zijn geweest voor ons als gezin is niet vanzelfsprekend. In het bijzonder wil ik mijn vader bedanken voor de passie die hij bij mij heeft losgemaakt voor geografie. Met genoegen denk ik aan de vele gesprekken over allerlei geografische onderwerpen en aan de vele internationale reizen die wij samen hebben gemaakt.
Een promoverende echtgenoot en vader is niet altijd een pretje, zoveel is mij wel duidelijk geworden. Talitha, Anna Matthea, Matthanja, Hadassa, Susannah en Jonan, ik wil jullie bedanken voor jullie begrip tijdens de ontelbare momenten dat ik mijn werk en studie “net iets belangrijker vond”. Joke, bijzonder veel dank ben ik aan jou ver-schuldigd voor jouw jarenlange steun in woord en daad. Ook al heb ik dit proefschrift niet aan jou opgedragen, het is wel degelijk ook van jou. Een diepe buiging is zeker op zijn plaats.
Chapter 1
Chapter
1
The research described in this dissertation focuses on primary education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs for teaching geography. In addition teachers’ beliefs about geogra-phy education will be investigated and compared with other stakeholders’ (e.g. teacher educators’ and pupils’) perceptions and beliefs. In section 1.1 the rationale for the study will be described. In section 1.2 the theoretical background and main concepts are elaborated and choices made regarding its scope will be explained. The aim of this dissertation and research questions are presented in section 1.3, followed by an overview of the dissertation in section 1.4.
1.1 raTIonalE
In the Netherlands, as in various other countries, there are serious doubts as to whether primary education teachers are capable of teaching geography properly in distinction to a wide range of other subjects (AKOV, 2011; Blankman, Schee, van der, Volman, & Boogaard, 2015; Erebus International, 2008; Notté & Baltus, 2011 Ofsted, 2011a). During recent years, the Dutch governments’ focus on primary education qual-ity has emphasised core subject learning outcomes (e.g. language arts and grammar, reading skills and mathematics) (Government of Education, 2007). The reason for this focus is that although the Netherlands still perform well concerning learning outcomes in comparison to other countries, pupils’ performances for the core subjects decreased between 2006 and 2010 (Dutch Inspectorate of Education, 2011). As a consequence, the Inspectorate of Educations’ control of primary education quality has emphasized core subject learning outcomes. Whereas this is a positive development as such, this has led to a growing concern that the quality of non-core subjects, such as geography, is coming under pressure. The weakening position of the subject within the complex primary school curriculum has led to a lower status of the subject in, for example, Australia (e.g. Maude, 2009), a decrease of time spent on geography education in primary schools in The Netherlands (van der Schoot, 2008), and to a decline in pupil achievement in, and motivation for, the subject of geography in Great Britain and Tur-key (e.g. Catling, Bowles, Halocha, Martin, & Rawlinson, 2007; Ofsted, 2005; Tüzün, Yilmaz-Soylu, Karakus, & Kizilkaya, 2009). Additionally, research reports concerning geography education practice in Great Britain and The Netherlands suggest that pri-mary teachers’ level of geography subject knowledge and understanding is a cause for concern (e.g. Blankman et al., 2015; Ofsted, 2008; 2011b).
Primary education teachers seem insufficiently aware of the problematic quality of geography education within primary schools within the Netherlands. It is therefore im-portant to make them more aware of the importance of their teaching of geography with
Stimulating primary education teachers’ self-efficacy can be expected to result in more innovative geography lessons including more differentiation in the teaching methods used, supposedly also resulting in higher learning outcomes among pupils.
Concerns about the quality of education are an ongoing subject of discussion within the context of society and governmental policy. The main focus of the qual-ity discussions is teacher effectiveness. In turn, teacher effectiveness is considered to be determined largely by the concept of self-efficacy (Allinder, 1994; Fuchs, Fuchs, & Bishop, 1992; Muijs & Reynolds, 2002; Ross, 1998; Tschannen-Moran, & Wool-folk Hoy, 2001). Positive self-efficacy beliefs have been related to effective teaching behaviour and positive student achievement (e.g. Ross, 1998; Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, & Hoy, 1998). Teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs also positively relate to student motivation and achievement (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Ross, 1992) and students’ own sense of efficacy (Anderson, Greene, & Loewen, 1988). Thus striving for high self-efficacy among teachers might contribute positively towards an increase in quality of teaching and in the creation of richer classroom learning environments, resulting in higher learning outcomes. The relationship between efficacy and teaching may also run in the opposite direction, however: higher quality teaching is likely to result in higher self-efficacy beliefs. Self-efficacy beliefs, are not a generalised expectancy with regard to teaching but a context-specific (e.g. Gou, Justice, Sawyer & Tompkins, 2011) and subject-specific construct (e.g. Bong 2006; Zimmerman & Cleary, 2006).
A substantial amount of research on teacher efficacy has been conducted within secondary education (e.g. Canrinus, Helms-Lorenz, Beijaard, Buitink, & Hofman, 2012; Chan, 2008) and higher education (e.g. Jafarigohar & Ganjabi, 2012; Postareff, Lindblom-Ylänne & Nevgi, 2007). Relatively few studies have been conducted on the self-efficacy beliefs of primary education teachers, and even fewer studies have been conducted on teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs for subjects other than languages, math-ematics or science, such as geography. It is interesting to investigate primary education teachers’ self-efficacy because in primary schools there are other types of pupils and teachers compared to secondary schools.
In contrast to secondary schools, primary schools in The Netherlands are composed of groups of pupils encompassing different levels of cognitive ability and other com-petences, which brings its own challenges to the education process. In addition to this, primary education teachers are, in contrast to secondary and higher education teachers, no subject experts. Primary education teachers are responsible for organising a multi-subject learning environment as they teach a variety of subjects to the same class. Teaching these multiple subjects supposes a wide range of general and subject
Chapter
1
specific competences by the teacher for organising effective education. It is unlikely that all teachers are equally competent in teaching all these subjects. Hence, the self-efficacy of teachers in primary education can vary with respect to specific subjects. Indeed, some researchers suggest that concerns about primary geography education quality may result from the fact that in most countries, the majority of primary school teachers are non-experts in geography (Martin, 2000; 2008).
Much of the existing teacher self-efficacy research, however, has focused on general (i.e. not subject specific) teaching (Goddard, Hoy & Hoy, 2000; Richardson, 1996), even with respect to the primary education context (e.g. Sang, Valcke, van Braak, & Tondeur, 2009). This is remarkable because, as said, teachers’ self-efficacy is regarded to be subject dependent (e.g. Bandura, 1997; Pajares, 1996a, b). Given these consid-erations, it might be expected that both primary education teachers’ self-efficacy and their ability to create effective learning environments differ per school subject and as such may be different for the context of geography than, for example, languages or mathematics.
As mentioned before, the relatively small number of studies in primary education often focused on teachers’ self-efficacy with respect to their teaching of core school subjects (e.g. Muijs & Reynolds, 2002; Rimm-Kaufman & Sawyer, 2004). In addition, there is a growing concern that the education quality of the non-core subjects like ge-ography comes under pressure and that teachers’ ability to teach these may be regarded as less important. Similar concerns have been expressed elsewhere for other subjects, such as science and technology education (e.g. Cakiroglu, Cakiroglu, & Boone, 2005), history (e.g. Yilmaz, 2009) and art (e.g. Hudson, Lewis, & Hudson, 2011). Given this situation, and assuming that also in this case teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs are related to teacher effectiveness (Allinder, 1994), there is reason to be concerned with teachers’ views on the importance of teaching a non-core subject and their actual performance. This is another reason for investigating these matters in this research project.
The selection of geography as non-core subject for this research project is interest-ing because it is a remarkably multi-disciplinary subject. Geographers generally agree about the definition of the subject of geography and its desired outcomes (e.g. van der Berg, 2009; Catling & Willy, 2009). Catling and Willy (2009) describe geography as a science, more than learning topographical knowledge (e.g. knowing where Australia is on a map) and factual knowledge (e.g. knowing how many square meters Australia is). In various studies, Haubrich’s (1992, p.4) definition of geography is used. He defines geography as “the science which seeks to explain the character of places and the
dis-the earth”. Bonnett (2008, p. 11) describes dis-the subject of geography as “a fundamental fascination, an exploration and a subject which gives order and meaning to the world”.
Within the disciplines of social-, life-, and physical science, geography is a unique subject with its own distinguishing characteristics, which, for example, are visualised in the definition of the National Research Council (2006, p.37): geography is “the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind to use concepts of space and representations, and processes of reasoning to structure problems, find answers, and express solutions to these problems”. Within the science subjects (e.g. European Commission, 2007), geography can be characterised as a switching subject between various other science subjects because of the combination of spatial thinking and because geography knowl-edge integrates both physical-, social- and life-science elements, including earth sur-face-, climate-, and vegetation characteristics, with human activities in the past, present and (predictable) future (e.g. van der Schee, 2009). Several geographers mention that “geography is not a static entity but an activity where pupils learn to do geography” (Favier, 2011, p. 10), combining geographic thinking with subject knowledge. Van der Vaart (2001) used the concept of geographic spatial consciousness as a combination of a way of thinking and a certain geographic knowledge base. It can be concluded that geography is a complex subject to teach and for that reason it is important to investigate teachers’ perceived self-efficacy and beliefs regarding teaching geography.
In this dissertation primary education teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching a non-core school subject – geography – is investigated in relation to teachers’ beliefs about this subject and the way it is taught. There is a limited number of studies that have investi-gated how teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs are related to teachers’ beliefs about education concerning a specific (school) subject. Teachers’ beliefs about their capabilities for teaching might differ between the different subjects they are responsible for to teach.
Teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs are also subject specific as they are influenced by their subject specific knowledge. For example, primary education teachers who believed that their knowledge about mathematics was limited, also believed that they were less capable to teach that subject compared to their colleagues with more confidence in their knowledge of mathematics (Jones Newton, Leonard, Evans, & Eastburn, 2012; Kahle, 2012).
As it is relatively common in much research, in particular learning environment research, to validate and to obtain an idea of how teachers’ beliefs and efficacy are enacted in the classroom, in this research project also pupils’ perceptions of their teach-ers and the learning environment were included (e.g. den Brok, 2001). Pupils’ percep-tions are useful because (1) their perceppercep-tions can be important intermediating variables
Chapter
1
between teaching and learning outcomes, (2) such perceptions are cheaper and more efficient to gather than observational data, (3) they are based on a large number of lessons, and (4) they are often the composite judgment of all the pupils in the class. In addition, (5) pupils have an advantage in judging classroom environments because they have encountered many different situations and contexts, which may help to obtain a differentiated picture of the subject of geography (den Brok, 2001; den Brok, Telli, Cakiroglu, Taconis, & Tekkaya, 2010; Fraser 2012; Keenan & Fontaine 2012). Although research on geography education has included pupils’ understanding of the subject (e.g. Lambrinos & Bibou 2006), little research has focused on pupils’ perceptions regarding geography teaching, especially within the context of primary education.
Investigating pupils’ perceptions, however, requires special attention because re-searchers need to account for the complexity behind the opinions expressed by pupils by exploring their sometimes multi-layered and non-normative character (James, 2007; Spyrou, 2011). In addition to this, it has to be taken into account that pupils see only a part of the total field of geography education.
In this research project the perspective of teacher educator beliefs was also in-cluded. The apparent absence of studies investigating geography teacher educators’ beliefs about the education practice of a (non-core) subject they prepare their student teachers for, is remarkable. Indeed, teacher educators can be labelled as observers of geography education in primary schools and as experts in supporting student teachers to teach high quality geography lessons (Blankman et al., 2015). Investigating teacher educators’ beliefs can help to understand what subject specialists think about the primary education practice in their function as experts.
This understanding is important because teacher educators teach primary education student teachers how to prepare, conduct and evaluate geography lessons. Comparing teacher educators’ beliefs as alleged geography education specialists with those of primary education teachers’ (as the practitioners) is expected to show similarities and differences and the presence or lack of coherence in beliefs between the two groups. This is likely to give insight into the strength and weaknesses, or challenges and oppor-tunities in teaching geography. Such insight is likely to benefit teacher training institutes and the development of further training programs for primary education teachers.
Another more practical reason for this study is that by comparing teacher educators’ beliefs with primary education teachers’ beliefs, teacher educators can be helped to reflect on the quality of primary education student teachers’ learning, and on the qual-ity of their own behaviour as trainers of future primary education teachers (Neygen, van & Belmans, 2011).
ners, and differ also from the beliefs of geography education among teacher educators as experts, and from pupils’ perceptions as participating observers.
This study is relatively unique in its combination of self-efficacy research with elements of educational effectiveness research in geography, and in investigating and comparing teachers’, teacher educators’ and pupils’ perceptions and beliefs of teaching the subject of geography.
1.2 ThEorETICal baCkGrounD anD rElEvanT lITEraTurE
This section discusses the theoretical background and relevant literature. First, the concept of self-efficacy will be explained in section 1.2.1, followed in section 1.2.2 by the description of beliefs and perceptions. Section 1.2.3 gives the rationale for the choice of the key aspects of the learning environment selected for the beliefs and perceptions in this research project. Table 1.1 provides an overview of all these key as-pects and indicates which asas-pects were investigated with which participants. These key aspects are self-efficacy beliefs, general geography lesson quality, teacher knowledge for teaching geography, importance of pupils’ learning achievement, importance of as-sessments, importance of colleague support and of curriculum emphasis on geography.
Table 1.1
Self-efficacy belief and key aspects of geography education as investigated for the three groups of stakeholders
Primary education teachers’ beliefs about:
Teacher educators’ beliefs about:
Pupils’ perceptions of:
self-efficacy X
Categories of geography education key aspects
general geography lesson quality X X X teacher knowledge for teaching
geography
X X X
importance of pupils’ learning
achievement (i.e. affective and cognitive learning outcomes, also including surface and deep learning outcomes)
X X X
importance of assessments X X X
importance of colleague support X X importance of curriculum emphasis on
geography (i.e. the importance of the subject of geography in comparison to other subjects)
Chapter
1
1.2.1 self-efficacy beliefs
During the last decades, there has been a growing interest in teacher’s self-efficacy (e.g. Allinder, 1994; Bandura, 1977; Guskey, 1988; Skaalvik & Skaalvik 2007). The roots of the teacher’s self-efficacy construct come from the 1976 and 1977 studies conducted by the Rand foundation where sense of self-efficacy was reported to be positively related to pupil achievement (Denham & Michael, 1981). Self-efficacy is grounded in the theoretical framework of social cognitive theory, emphasizing the idea that people can exercise influence over what they do (Bandura, 2006). Based on this theory, people are seen as self-organizing, proactive, self-regulating, and self-reflecting professionals (Bandura, 2006). According to Bandura, self-efficacy is “the belief in one’s capabilities to organise and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations” (Bandura, 1977, p.192).
These beliefs have been described as determinants of how people think, behave, and feel. Self-efficacy is distinct from other conceptions of self, such as self-esteem, in that it is a subject specific construct (e.g. Bandura, 1997; Pajares, 1996a, b; Zimmer-man & Cleary, 2006). Self-efficacy beliefs of teachers are therefore dependent on which subject is taught.
Tschannen-Moran and her colleagues (1998) concluded that self-efficacy has to do with self-perception of competence and not with the actual level of competence, because people regularly overestimate or underestimate their actual abilities; a finding which also has been found within learning environment research (den Brok, Bergen & Brekelmans, 2006). “Insidious self-doubts can easily overrule the best of skills” (Ban-dura, 1997, p. 35). Over- or underestimating capabilities may influence how teachers use their skills and knowledge during education (Tschannen-Moran et al., 1998). As for this research project, not teachers’ actual performance but their self-efficacy beliefs are investigated, in this case for the subject of geography. Specifically in the educational context of this dissertation and in line with the frequently used definition of Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk-Hoy, & Hoy (1998, pp. 203–204), self-efficacy is for this research project defined as primary education teachers’ beliefs in their abilities to organize and execute courses of action necessary to bring about desired results for geography.
Research has shown that teachers who believe strongly in their ability to promote pupils’ learning, create challenging experiences for their pupils, but those beset by self-doubts about their instructional efficacy construct classroom learning environments that are likely to undermine pupils’ judgements of their abilities and their cognitive development (Gibson & Dembo, 1984).
Teachers’ self-efficacy influences teacher behaviour (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) and can predict teachers’ goals and aspirations (Muijs & Reynolds, 2002), teachers’ use of teaching strategies (Allinder, 1994; Woolfolk, Rosoff, and Hoy, 1990), teachers’ attitudes toward innovation and change (Fuchs et al., 1992; Guskey, 1988), pupil motivation and achievement (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Midgley, Feldlaufer, & Eccles, 1989; Moore & Esselman, 1992; Ross, 1992), and pupils’ own sense of self-efficacy (Anderson, Greene, & Loewen, 1988). Also, teachers with a higher sense of self-efficacy have greater commitment to teaching (Coladarci, 1992).
Self-efficacy operates as a key factor for teachers’ performance (e.g. Allinder, 1994; Muijs & Reynolds, 2002; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). Hence, different teachers with similar skills, or the same teacher under different circumstances, may perform poorly, adequately, or extraordinary, depending on fluctuations in their beliefs of personal efficacy.
According to Bandura (1993), links between self-efficacy and pupil achievement might be explained by the type of learning environments teachers create for their pu-pils. For instance, teachers’ self-efficacy could play a role in the (geography) learning goals they set for their pupils, how motivated they are to create a positive geography learning environment and how they react when faced with complex geography lesson situations.
Teachers’ behaviour is influenced by the beliefs they have of their own performance. Research on teachers’ self-efficacy has resulted in a vast and still expanding knowledge base about the influence of self-efficacy on teacher performance and factors that are of influence on teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. Concerning the relationship between teacher efficacy and teacher performance, possibly several intermediating variables could play a role. It has been found that general educational beliefs, e.g., beliefs con-cerning teaching and learning, influence teachers’ perceptions and judgments as well as teachers’ personal ideas of teaching and knowledge (Errington, 2004; Ertmer, 2005; Pajares 1992) and teachers’ instruction quality (OECD, 2009). Concerning personal beliefs, it has been found that teachers with stronger self-efficacy beliefs, believed that they motivate their students, attracting their attention to the lesson, enhanced their creative and critical thinking capacities (Gürbüztürk & S¸ad, 2009). Investigating teachers’ general beliefs about primary geography education aims to contribute to new knowledge about what factors influence (primary) teachers’ self-efficacy in relation to a non-core subject within primary education. Gaining insight into which factors influ-ence teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs probably helps to find means to influinflu-ence teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in a positive way.
Chapter
1
However, several issues remain unresolved in the study of self-efficacy, such as a shortage of self-efficacy research within the domain of (primary) geography education. The present study aims to contribute to new knowledge about which factors influence (primary) teachers’ self-efficacy in relation to the non-core subject geography within primary education. Gaining insight into factors influencing teachers’ self-efficacy of-fers – in the (near) future – the opportunity to influence teachers’ self-efficacy directly and indirectly, and as an effect, their attitude to, and their performance in organising primary geography education.
For this study, also teachers’ background characteristics were investigated in rela-tion to teachers’ self-efficacy. Research has shown that teachers’ beliefs and actual behaviour, but their self-efficacy beliefs as well, are shaped by teachers’ personal char-acteristics (e.g. Datnow, 2000; Huberman, 1989; Wubbels, Brekelmans, den Brok, & van Tartwijk., 2006). In this research project, primary education teachers’ background characteristics, i.e. gender, former education, years of experience and grade level were included because former research showed that these characteristics influenced teach-ers’ strength of self-efficacy beliefs (e.g. Anderson, 2011; Brekelmans, Wubbels, & den Brok, 2002; Buchanan, Burts, Binder, White, & Charlesworth, 1998; Evans & Tribble, 1986; Raudenbush, Rowen, & Cheong, 1992; Mavrikaki & Athanasiou, 2011; Nisbet & Warren, 2000).
1.2.2 Perceptions and beliefs about the learning environment
Primary education teachers’ and teacher educators’ beliefs, and pupils’ perceptions of the primary geography learning environment are included in the present study. In the case of pupils, the term perceptions is used and in case of teachers and teacher educators, the word beliefs is used to indicate that the opinions expressed by teachers and teacher educators include more self-conscious reflection than the pupils’ opinions.
Perceptions
For this research project, pupils’ perceptions regarding their geography lessons were investigated. Pupils’ perceptions of teacher behaviour can be an important intermediat-ing variable between teacher behaviour and students’ learnintermediat-ing outcomes (den Brok, 2001). Perceptions are different from knowledge in that perceptions are propositions, influenced by interpretations of the observer, while knowledge is based on ‘true’ propo-sitions (Struyven, Dochy, & Janssens, 2005).
Perception, for this research project, in accordance to Schacter, Gilbert and Weg-ner (2011, p. 23), is defined as “the organisation, identification and interpretation of
Beliefs
According to Bandura (1997) beliefs are thought to be the best indicators of the decisions people make throughout their lives. In other words, people act upon what they believe (Lumpe, Haney, & Czerniak, 1998). Over the last three decades teachers’ beliefs have received much attention in educational research (e.g. Kang & Keys, 2000). The variety of terms and definitions used when discussing teacher beliefs underscores the complex nature of this construct.
For this study, in line with Pajares (1992) and Mansour (2009), beliefs are defined as an ‘individual judgement of the truth or falsity of a proposition, a judgement that can only be inferred from a collective understanding of what human beings say, intend, and do’. For this study, general educational beliefs about teaching and learning influences were investigated, because general beliefs seemingly influence teachers’ perceptions and judgments as well as their personal ideas of teaching and knowledge delivery (Errington, 2004; Ertmer, 2005; Pajares 1992).
1.2.3 key aspects of the learning environment used in this research project As presented in Table 1.1, this research project investigated teachers’, teacher edu-cators’ and pupils’ general perceptions and beliefs concerning the quality of geography education. Next to this, beliefs about primary education teachers’ capability for teach-ing geography education were investigated.
Beliefs and perceptions regarding geography lesson quality
This study investigated perceptions and beliefs of the quality of geography educa-tion. This means that in this study, primary education teachers, teacher educators and pupils were asked to state their beliefs and perception concerning the quality of primary education geography lessons as they see it. The general geography lesson quality is part of this study because there are concerns about the quality of this subject within Dutch primary schools (van der Schee, 2014), and it is interesting to study whether teach-ers, educators and possibly pupils share these concerns as well. Rawling (2001) noted that beliefs about geography education quality probably change over time, possibly because during the last decennia, goals and aims of school geography education have changed. For example, now there is a stronger emphasis on using geography education for strengthening the sense of citizenship in comparison to several decades ago.
Van der Schee (2014) concluded that over time, the position of primary geography education within schools has become more problematic, including the quality of pri-mary education teachers’ training.
Chapter
1
This conclusion underpins the presence of diverging beliefs between teacher educa-tors and teachers about the position of the subject within primary schools and about the quality of geography education.
Studies investigating teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions’ about education quality showed that teachers’ perceptions often deviate from pupils’ and students’ perceptions (e.g. den Brok et al., 2006). In general, teachers have been shown to be more positive about education quality than pupils. A minority of teachers, however, is less positive about education quality and their own behaviour, possibly because of their concern that students are more critical about their actions than teachers themselves (e.g. den Brok, 2001).
Beliefs and perceptions regarding teacher knowledge for teaching geography education
It is generally accepted that the quality of teacher performance is influenced by their level of knowledge (e.g. Hill, Rowan, & Loewenberg Ball, 2005). Teacher educators believe that both primary education teachers’ content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge “are essential for (student) primary education teachers for teach-ing geography” (Blankman et al., 2015, p. 90). It can be expected that teachers’ own perceptions of their (pedagogical) content knowledge are of influence on their sense of self-efficacy. Both primary education teachers’ geography content knowledge and their knowledge of how to teach geography are being criticised (Bell, 2005; Notté & Baltus, 2011; Ofsted, 2011a). For quite some time research has revealed concerns about Dutch primary education teachers’ competences for teaching geography (Dutch Inspectorate of Education, 2000). In the context of these concerns, it is surprising that Dutch pri-mary school teachers feel they generally have no difficulties with geography education lessons (Notté & Baltus, 2011). Within the Netherlands, a debate is ongoing how to increase the quality of starting teachers and therefore primary teacher education. An important aspect within this discussion is the insufficient level of (student) primary education teachers’ subject knowledge (van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart, 2008; Meijerink, 2012; Notté & Baltus, 2011). Since 2015 Dutch primary education student teachers are required to demonstrate their subject knowledge for various subjects including geography before starting teacher training education.
This study investigated beliefs about teachers’ capability for teaching geography. Teachers’ capability of how to teach geography is related to their level of knowledge about the content and how to teach that content, and with their expertise (Verloop, van Driel & Meijer, 2001). Beliefs about teachers’ capability are probably influenced by beliefs about teachers’ level of content knowledge (Walshe, 2007). As mentioned
knowledge for the subject of geography (Bell, 2005; Notté & Baltus, 2011; Ofsted, 2011b).
Teacher level of knowledge obviously is a major factor in determining geography lesson quality and sense of self-efficacy. Comparing teacher educators’ more theo-retical and primary education teachers’ and pupils’ more practical mind-sets may offer interesting insights into how their beliefs and perceptions about knowledge needed for teaching geography compare to each other. This is interesting because insights into similarities and differences in perceptions and beliefs about teacher knowledge for example might help for mutual harmonization between teacher educators and primary education teachers about which knowledge for teaching geography is of added value for teachers to achieve.
Beliefs and perceptions regarding the importance of pupils’ learning achievement The choice to investigate teachers’ beliefs about pupils’ level of cognitive and affective learning is made because teachers’ beliefs about pupils’ learning outcomes are major sources of teachers’ efficacy (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Roeser, Arbreton, & Anderman, 1993), and also because of the current debate in the Netherlands on the quality of primary education. Teachers influence pupils’ learning outcomes and they gain confidence or lose confidence from the outcomes they observe in their class-rooms. Several studies have pointed to the influence of teacher’s self-efficacy beliefs on pupils cognitive achievements and success at school (Moore & Esselman, 1994; Muijs & Reynolds, 2002; Ross, 1998). The results indicate that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs are particularly high in schools with high-achieving and well-behaved pupils (Raudenbush et al., 1992; Ross, 1998).
Concerning affective learning outcomes, teachers’ self-efficacy has been found to be associated with enhanced pupils’ motivation (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Roeser et al., 1993), increased self-esteem (Borton, 1991), strong self-direction (Rose & Medway, 1981), ease in managing school transitions (Midgley et al.,1989), and more positive attitudes toward school among pupils (Miskel, McDonald, & Krathwohl, 2002).
In the Netherlands pupils’ achievement has been deemed disappointing during more than two decennia (Notté, van der Schoot & Hemker, 2010). It will therefore be interesting to investigate teachers’ beliefs about the importance of learning outcomes and how these beliefs related to their self-efficacy beliefs. Concerning the disappoint-ing level of achievement among primary education pupils, teacher educators’ beliefs and pupils’ perceptions about the perceived learning outcomes were also investigated. Comparing teachers’, teacher educators’ beliefs and pupils’ perceptions can help to
Chapter
1
understand which learning outcomes were preferred by all or by specific groups of par-ticipants and to what extent the currently achieved learning outcomes were perceived.
Beliefs and perceptions regarding the importance of assessments
Primary education teachers’ beliefs about the importance of assessing learning outcomes were added to this investigation. This topic has been selected for this study because beliefs about learning outcomes indirectly mirror teachers’ beliefs about the quality of geography education and possibly influence the self-efficacy beliefs of the teachers themselves. The importance of assessing pupils’ learning outcomes is high-lighted in many national policies, also in the Netherlands. Assessments can support education quality using the feedback teachers and pupils obtain from assessment outcomes. Richardson (2011) found that, in general, teachers tend to consider to what extent their pupils’ learning goals have been reached to evaluate their own behaviour.
In addition, determining pupils’ learning outcomes is also an important tool for education quality management within primary schools and for external accountability (e.g. Shepard, Kagan, & Wurtz, 1998). In view of the importance of assessing pupils’ learning outcomes as suggested above, this research project investigated teachers’ and teacher educators’ beliefs about the importance of assessments for geography educa-tion. In addition to this, pupils’ perceptions about the current and preferred assessment practice may give insights how these perceptions and beliefs relate to the disappointing learning outcomes for more than two decennia (Notté et al., 2010). Gaining insights into perceptions and beliefs about the importance of assessments can reveal interesting information into how assessments were used in practice and for what reason and how they can be altered to improve the quality of geography teaching and learning.
Beliefs and perceptions regarding the importance of colleague support
Primary education teachers are part of a professional team of colleagues; hence, it is to be expected that the support and expertise of these colleagues will be of influence on individual teachers’ behaviour and their self-efficacy within the classroom (see Dop-penberg, 2012). Catling and Willy (2009), amongst others, suggest that geography is a complex subject to study because primary education students have to learn to combine physical and human processes in space and time. Due to the complex nature of the subject, it can be expected that colleague support and interaction with colleagues are especially important for teachers to organise complex learning goals (Harris & Anthony, 2001). Hence, teachers’ beliefs concerning the role of colleague support may affect their self-efficacy beliefs (e.g.Takahashi, 2011).
In general, colleague relationships among teachers are a prerequisite for school and class improvement and make knowledge sharing and innovative practice possible (Fullan, 2001). Therefore, it seems relevant to investigate beliefs with respect to the importance of teacher collaboration.
The question may be asked how teacher educators’ beliefs about the added value of colleague support for teaching a non-core subject such as geography compare to those of primary education teachers. This question is relevant against the background of the complexity of the subject and the limited use in practice of organised colleague support on the other hand. Evidence is increasing that learning together from and with colleague teachers results in higher education quality (Richardson & Placier, 2001).
Beliefs and perceptions regarding the importance of curriculum emphasis on geography
Primary geography is part of a wide range of subjects primary education teachers are responsible for to teach (see also section 1.1). Mainly, non-specialist primary edu-cation teachers teach the entire primary curriculum and are supposed to divide their attention to the teaching of the wide range of subjects. During recent years, the Dutch governments’ focus on primary education quality has emphasised core subject learning outcomes (Government of Education, 2007). This has led to a growing concern that the quality of non-core subjects, such as geography, is coming under pressure (as already mentioned; see 1.1). The weakening position of the subject within the complex primary school curriculum has led to a lower status of the subject and as a supposed effect, to more concerns of teachers themselves about the quality of teaching the subject.
It can be expected that the perceived importance of geography as a subject in the curriculum is of influence on the time spent on preparation of the lessons and on the learning time made available, and consequently on the self-efficacy of teachers as well. Within the Netherlands, a debate is ongoing which subjects are important to pay (increasing) attention to within primary education, for example geography and history (e.g. Boersma, 2012). Catling and Willy (2009) found that primary education teachers who realised the added value of primary geography for pupils’ daily lives pay, relatively to their colleagues, more attention to this subject. Teachers’ and teacher educators’ beliefs concerning the importance of primary geography education in the curriculum of primary schools were therefore investigated. The fact that both the student teach-ers education curriculum and primary education curriculum contain a wide range of subjects adds further practical relevance to this aspect.
Chapter
1
1.3 aIm of ThIs rEsEarCh ProjECT anD rEsEarCh quEsTIons
This research project started from the assumption that a reciprocal relation exists be-tween teachers’ domain specific sense of self-efficacy and their beliefs about teaching and the learning environment (cf. Bandura, 1998; den Brok, 2001; Fraser, 2007; Shuell, 1996). The three core elements of this research project are (1) teacher self-efficacy for teaching geography, (2) primary education teachers’ and teacher educators’ beliefs, and (3) pupils’ perceptions, all concerning relevant aspects of geography teaching and the learning environment.
Based on the aim of this research project, i.e. how teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs relate to their beliefs about key aspects of the primary geography learning environment, and on how the beliefs of teacher educators and perceptions of pupils regarding the primary geography learning environment compare to those of teachers themselves, the three research questions were:
1. What are primary education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, what are their beliefs regarding key aspects of the primary geography education learning environment including their own geography education practice, and how do these beliefs relate to their self-efficacy beliefs?
2. What are teacher educators’ beliefs of primary geography education aspects and how do these beliefs compare with those of primary education teachers?
3. What are pupils’ perceptions of the current and preferred state of primary geography education quality with respect to learning goals and -outcomes, the learning envi-ronment and the role of the teacher?
This research started following discussions of the author with teachers and teacher educators about primary geography education within the Netherlands. The aim was to carry out an exploratory investigation of the beliefs of the main stakeholders and to compare the main outcomes.
The reason for selecting the three stakeholders described earlier for this study was to gain insights into primary geography education by comparing the main messages expressed in their beliefs and perceptions. Each of the three research questions fo-cuses on different stakeholders’ beliefs and perceptions concerning primary geography education. Despite small variations in the details of the methodology used, the overall
This research does, however, not claim to be a detailed and precise comparison of the views of the different stakeholders within the same environments. This would require a single research design using a fully consistent and unified set of variables and questions for all stakeholders that can be linked at the level of the individual classroom
Practical relevance of this study
Investigating how teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs were related to teachers’ beliefs about geography education quality and vice versa is also of practical relevance. Making teachers conscious of their self-efficacy beliefs and beliefs of learning environment aspects can support teachers to improve their self-efficacy beliefs. This, in turn, is expected to benefit their teaching quality as it has been shown before that increasing teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs result in increasing teaching quality (e.g. Ross, 1998; Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, & Hoy, 1998).
Collecting teacher educators’ beliefs and pupils’ perceptions of geography educa-tion quality and comparing these beliefs and percepeduca-tions with teacher beliefs can be beneficial for primary education teachers to be aware how to teach geography more effectively.
In addition to this, knowledge about perceptions and beliefs about the current and preferable geography education practice can be useful for teacher educators to increase (student) primary education teachers’ knowledge and performance for teaching geog-raphy education. In addition, insights into the influence of self-efficacy on education quality might contribute to the way teacher educators organise their geography educa-tion with the aim to strengthen their primary educaeduca-tion student teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs for teaching geography.
1.4 ovErvIEw of ThE DIssErTaTIon
The next four chapters describe the research carried out to address the three research questions in the same order as mentioned above.
Chapter 2 presents the results of the first study in which primary education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and beliefs regarding key aspects of the primary geography educa-tion learning environment were investigated (Research Queseduca-tion 1).
A questionnaire was used to gain insight in primary education teachers’ (N=489) strength of self-efficacy beliefs, their overall beliefs concerning general geography lesson quality, teacher knowledge for teaching, and the importance of pupils’ learn-ing achievement, of assessments, of colleague support and of curriculum emphasis
Chapter
1
on geography. Descriptive analyses (mean scores and standard deviations) were used to obtain a view on teachers perceived subject-related self-efficacy beliefs. Second, correlations between teachers’ subject-related self-efficacy and the other belief scales have been calculated with the aim to investigate associations between teachers’ beliefs.
Third, differences in self-efficacy in relation to background characteristics were established, using an ANOVA with post-hoc Scheffé tests.
Finally, a multiple regression analysis was used with the aim to investigate the best combination of independent (predictor) variables for predicting teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs.
Chapter 3 reports on the results of 23 interviews with primary education teachers, investigating the relationship between primary education teachers’ self-efficacy and beliefs concerning their own geography education practice in a more qualitative sense (Research Question 1).
This in-depth qualitative study was conducted on the basis of the findings in the quantitative study in chapter two. For this second study a semi-structured interview guideline was developed.
The in-depth interview focused on primary education teachers’ self-efficacy and their beliefs about three primary geography education aspects: teachers’ behaviour and content knowledge, teachers’ use of learning materials and teaching methods and teachers’ pupils’ achieved learning outcomes. Cross-case data analysis was used for analysing the data concerning teachers’ self-efficacy and beliefs concerning geography education. During the last phase of the analysis it was investigated to what extent qualitative patterns could be distinguished, based on corresponding self-efficacy beliefs and beliefs concerning geography education aspects in order to search for different cat-egories of teachers with corresponding self-efficacy beliefs and beliefs about geography education aspects.
In chapter 4, teacher educators’ (N=45) beliefs of primary geography education aspects and how these beliefs can be compared to those of primary education teachers’ (N=489, see study 1) beliefs are presented (Research Question 2). In this third study, two questionnaires were used for assessing teacher educators’ and primary education teachers’ beliefs.
In those questionnaires, teacher educators and primary education teachers were asked for their beliefs concerning primary education teachers’ capability for teach-ing geography and the importance of learnteach-ing outcomes and assessteach-ing these learnteach-ing outcomes, colleague support and the curriculum emphasis of geography education. In addition to this survey, a semi-structured guideline had been developed for
interview-insights into their beliefs concerning the aspects which were investigated by the ques-tionnaire. In this second part of this chapter and in line with the chosen methodology of chapter three, an in-depth qualitative study was conducted on the basis of the findings in the first, quantitative part of this study.
For the quantitative part of this study, correlations were calculated between teacher educators’ beliefs and between primary education teachers’ beliefs to investigate asso-ciations among and between the different stakeholders’ beliefs. For the qualitative part of the study, the interview results were analysed for in-depth clarifications of teacher educators’ beliefs which were found in the quantitative part of this study.
Chapter 5 describes the perceptions of a selected number of pupils (N=53) of the current and preferred state of primary geography education with respect to learning goals and outcomes, the learning environment and the role of the teacher (Research Question 3). For this fourth study, a semi-structured interview guideline was devel-oped with the focus on pupils’ perceptions on learning goals and learning outcomes, geography learning activities and the learning environment, and the performance (and knowledge) of the teacher.
The interviews conducted encompassed pupils’ preferred and current perceptions of geography education aspects. The procedure was openly coded by identifying, nam-ing, and categorizing the essential concepts applicable to the subject in combination with codes based on a review of the literature. Categories and subcategories were extracted from the open coding categories through constant and systematic compari-son. Each code was compared to all other codes to identify similarities, differences, and general patterns. This was done to investigate pupils’ current and preferred perceptions of geography learning goals and learning outcomes, geography learning activities and the learning environment, and the performance (and knowledge) of the teacher who teaches geography.
Each of these chapters contains its own presentation of the background, theory, and methodology pertaining to the particular study, which obviously shows some repetition of what has been discussed in this chapter. The four chapters described above have either been published in, or are submitted to peer-reviewed international journals.
Finally, in chapter 6 the overall conclusions from the four studies are presented and discussed. Implications for higher educational practice and suggestions for further research complete this dissertation.
This dissertation is the product of the analysis of a series of individually planned and successively executed studies investigating the quality of primary geography education
Chapter
1
of the different stakeholders. These studies were the result of a need expressed by the university of applied science to the author. Originally, these studies were conducted with the aim to develop education programmes, but after collection of the data, it was decided to publish the results in the form of a dissertation.
Chapter 2
Primary education teachers’ self-efficacy
beliefs for teaching geography lessons and
their beliefs regarding teaching geography
1
1. This chapter has been accepted in adapted form as:
geog-absTraCT
This study was carried out to investigate the primary education teachers’ self-efficacy regarding geography education, their beliefs regarding the classroom learning environment, and how these beliefs were related to each other and to teachers’ back-ground characteristics. Questionnaire data were collected from 489 Dutch primary school teachers. Primary education teachers displayed moderately strong self-efficacy for teaching geography. The overall results suggested that teachers believed that surface learning is relatively an important parameter of teaching geography. The study found out that support from their colleagues was considered less important by teachers in promoting geography education. Teachers’ beliefs concerning geography education quality and students’ attitudes and motivation were the most important predictor vari-ables for explaining differences in teachers’ self-efficacy.
Chapter
2
2.1. InTroDuCTIon
Over the last several decades, there has been a growing interest in teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs (e.g. Allinder, 1994; Bandura, 1977; 2006; Guskey, 1988; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007). It has been argued that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs influence education quality in a variety of ways, including teacher behaviour (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), teachers’ goals and aspirations (Muijs & Reynolds, 2002), teachers’ use of teaching strategies (Allinder, 1994), and teachers’ attitudes towards innovation and change (Fuchs et al., 1992). Positive self-efficacy has been related to effective teaching behaviours and positive student achievement (e.g. Ross, 1998; Tschannen-Moran et al., 1998). Teachers’ self-efficacy also positively relates to student motivation and achievement (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Ross, 1992) and students’ own sense of efficacy (Anderson, Greene, & Loewen, 1988). Teachers’ self-efficacy, how-ever, is not a generalised expectancy with regard to teaching but a context-specific (e.g. Gou et al., 2011) and subject-specific construct (e.g. Bong 2006; Zimmerman & Cleary, 2006). Relatively few studies have been conducted on the perceived self-efficacy be-liefs of primary education teachers, and even fewer studies have been conducted on teachers’ self-efficacy for subjects other than languages, mathematics or science, such as geography.
In this study, Dutch primary education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and beliefs concerning geography education were investigated. The majority of primary education teachers teach geography as one of the about fourteen subject areas: a challenging task. Dutch primary education students spend about one hour on geography educa-tion weekly (Notté et al., 2010). Most Dutch primary teachers organise geography education via text books, worksheets and internet, and assess their students’ learning outcomes with standardised tests (Notté et al., 2010). Dutch primary school geography teaching has been divided into three sections: grade six mainly focuses nationally, on the Netherlands; grade seven explores the European countries; there is an international focus; grade eight studies the world; there is a global focus.
Similar to other countries (e.g. Robertson, 2003), the Dutch government focuses within primary schools on increasing learning outcomes for the core school subjects of native language, reading skills and arithmetic (e.g. Government of Education, 2007; Inspectorate of Education, 2011). While positive in itself, this has led to a growing concern that the quality of the non-core subjects like geography is under pressure and that teachers’ ability to teach these may be regarded as less important.
insufficient learning outcomes for geography (e.g. Dutch Inspectorate of Education, 2000; Notté, Schoot et al., 2010).
The present study was conducted for the following reasons. In the Netherlands, as in various other countries, Dutch primary education teachers are subject-generalists because of their responsibility to organise lessons in about fourteen different subject ar-eas, and there are serious doubts as to whether primary education teachers are capable of teaching all of these properly (Blankman et al., 2015; Notté & Baltus, 2011). This finding means that teachers’ scarce preparation time and lesson time must be divided over different subject areas. Hence, the multitude of subjects within primary education is expected to lead to a lack of geography education quality and, as a consequence, influences primary education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs.
Studying primary education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs within the context of the subject of geography education is of special interest because the image and status of this subject are under pressure within governmental policy and community (e.g. Maude, 2009). Various national governments tend to increase learning outcomes for the core school subjects within primary schools (Robertson, 2003). An interesting ques-tion is whether such developments affect teachers’ own percepques-tions of the subject or their ability to teach it.
This study seems to be unique in its combination of studying links between primary education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, beliefs regarding the nature and status of the subject, and teachers’ background characteristics. Self-efficacy beliefs have been asso-ciated in the majority of educational studies with teachers’ personal beliefs, for example their beliefs about their teaching, job satisfaction, or priorities (e.g. Rimm-Kaufman & Sawyer, 2004). The present study aims to contribute to the rich history of international geography education research. In line with the trend that perceptions about geographi-cal aspects including syllabi, textbooks, curricula and attitudes increasingly attract the attention of researchers (Kidman & Papadimitriou, 2012), this study will relate teachers’ beliefs about geographical aspects to their self-efficacy beliefs.
The present study was aimed at (1) investigating primary education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, (2) what their beliefs are about the primary geography education learning environment, and (3) how these aspects, as well as teachers’ background characteristics, are associated with their self-efficacy beliefs.
