The Nature and Purpose of Research on Teachers' Beliefs

In this chapter, I provide a broad and interdisciplinary overview of the field of research on teachers&s; beliefs. I begin by defining the construct of teachers&s; beliefs: what they are and what I think they are not. Then, I discuss how they have been conceptualized in the research literature and their relation to similar constructs. I introduce distinctions that can help advance research in this area, particularly the notion of full beliefs versus credence/confidence, a debate that is being held in contemporary philosophical discourse. I also discuss the purpose of beliefs and how personally relevant beliefs are resistant to change. I critique inconsistent definitions and measures used in beliefs research and advocate for greater conceptual clarity and interdisciplinary integration. Then, I tackle the key question underlying this field of study: why do teacher beliefs matter? I consider the issue of changing teachers&s; beliefs and briefly discuss several dual-process models of belief change. Finally, I connect research on teachers&s; beliefs to that of work on epistemic cognition and identify some limitations in the research on teachers&s; beliefs. Given the current post-truth era, I call for strategies advocated by researchers of epistemic justification. My overarching goal is to provide a foundational framing of the field of teachers&s; beliefs research to guide future research as I argue, through examples and evidence, that understanding teachers&s; beliefs is integral to understanding and improving educational practice.