Exploring the instructional beliefs of Maltese student teachers for primary Mathematics

Abstract

In a study of student teachers’ instructional beliefs by Bonnici and Tabone (2012) evidence shows that the instructional beliefs of student teachers vary throughout the B.Ed Primary course; but that the variation decreased considerably during third and fourth year. The current study proposes to explore the instructional beliefs of 12 student teachers following the B.Ed Primary (four students at the second year of their degrees, four students at the third year of their courses and four students at the fourth year). Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with the 12 randomly sampled students. Part of the interview consisted of closed ended questions based on the findings of Askew et al. (1997) and as further developed by Said (2006, 2013 forthcoming) amongst primary school teachers for Malta and more recently tailored in conjunction with the belief held by student teachers by Bonnici and Tabone (2012). A pilot study will be conducted prior to the main data collation exercise. The proposed study is driven by the following research question: Do the instructional beliefs held by Maltese Primary student teachers for Mathematics differ qualitatively depending on the length of the their experience as B.Ed students?