The Relationship between Teachers' Beliefs and Teachers' Practices

For this chapter, we were tasked with discussing teachers’ beliefs and teachers’ practices. The importance of research on teachers’ beliefs stems from the possible relationship between beliefs and practice (Calderhead, 1996; Pajares, 1992; Richardson, 1996; Woolfolk-Hoy, Davis, & Pape, 2006). However, there is evidence that teachers’ espoused beliefs are not present in their enacted practices and that teachers engage in practices they indicate that they do not support (Lee, 2009; Liu, 2011). We argue that this lack of congruence is no reason to discount the power of beliefs. Instead, it is necessary to understand the potential relationship between beliefs and practice as well as the possible internal and external factors that may support or hinder this connection.