Teaching pedagogies in Maltese primary schools : a study of graduate and non-graduate teachers

Abstract

Through an extensive literature review this study briefly defines "constructivism" as a teaching approach which encourages pupils to construct or build on their previous knowledge in an autonomous manner through new experiences organised by their teacher. We have tried to establish to what extent teachers of Year 5 and Year 6 Primary classes apply this approach. Furthermore, we have tried to find out whether there are differences in the use of a constructivist approach between non-graduate teachers who had been College trained with a Certificate in Education, and graduate teachers with a B.Ed. (Hons.) degree. In order to establish to what extent the two groups of teachers use a constructivist approach, two instruments were utilised, namely a closed item questionnaire, which was answered by College trained and University trained teachers, and personal classroom observations of the two groups of teachers. The questionnaire avoided technical terms but listed activities and teaching aids which contribute to constructivist teaching methods. This study concludes that, on the whole B.Ed. (Hons.) teachers tend to marginally use constructivist teaching approaches more than College trained teachers. The study ends by making tentative suggestions on what can be done in teacher education to promote more the constructivist approach towards teaching at the Primary level.