International Handbook of Research on Teachers' Beliefs

Helenrose Fives, Ph. D. is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Teacher Education at Montclair State University in New Jersey.Michele Gregoire Gill, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Central Florida.

'When teachers walk into classrooms, their beliefs about their role can be more critical than their lesson plan, the assessment, the students, or the structure of the class. A book dedicated to these beliefs is welcome. This book, one of the first on this topic, is more an introduction via a pleasant dip than full immersion...‘the key construct of the field, the one of beliefs is ill defined; its methods are acknowledged to be problematic; and the fundamental rationale, the one of beliefs as an explanatory principle for practice, is refuted as much as confirm’. This is why this book is so critical. It brings together various perspectives, and poses a great direction for future researchers, for PhD teams, and for those who have innovative measurement skills. If, as I would defend, it is the beliefs of teachers that matter most, then this field needs to grow up. I commend this book, warts and all, as a forerunner for exciting things to come. That, at least, is my belief.'- Professor John Hattie, Director, Melbourne Education Research Institute Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist

• Chapter 1. Introduction. Section One. Foundations of Teachers’ Beliefs Research. Chapter 2. The Promises, Problems, and Prospects of Research on Teachers’ Beliefs. Chapter 3. Historical Overview and Theoretical Perspectives of Research on Teachers’ Beliefs. Chapter 4. The Development of Teachers’ Beliefs. Chapter 5. The Relationship between Teachers’ Beliefs and Teachers’ Practices. Section Two. Studying Teachers’ Beliefs. Chapter 6. Assessing Teachers’ Beliefs: Challenges and Solutions. Chapter 7. Measuring Teachers’ Beliefs: For What Purpose? Chapter 8. Qualitative Approaches to Studying Teachers’ Beliefs. Chapter 9. Methods for Studying Beliefs: Teacher Writing, Scenarios, and Metaphor Analysis. Section Three. Teachers’ Identity, Motivation, and Affect. Chapter 10. The Intersection of Identity, Beliefs, and Politics in Conceptualizing ‘Teacher Identity’. Chapter 11. A Motivational Analysis of Teacher Beliefs. Chapter 12. The Career Development of Preservice and Inservice Teachers: Why Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs Matter. Chapter 13. A “Hot” Mess: Unpacking the Relation between Teachers’ Beliefs and Emotions. Section Four. Contexts and Teachers’ Beliefs. Chapter 14. Teachers’ Beliefs about Teaching (and Learning). Chapter 15. Teachers’ Instructional Beliefs and the Classroom Climate: Connections and Conundrums. Chapter 16. Teachers’ Beliefs about Assessment. Chapter 17. Context Matters: The Influence of Collective Beliefs and Shared Norms. Section 5. Teachers’ Beliefs about Knowing and Teaching within Academic Domains. Chapter 18. Personal Epistemologies and Teaching. Chapter 19. The Individual, the Context and Practice: A Review of the Research on Teachers’ Beliefs Related to Mathematics. Chapter 20. Beliefs about Reading, Text, and Learning from Text. Chapter 21. Science Teachers’ Beliefs: Perceptions of Efficacy and the Nature of Scientific Knowledge and Knowing. Chapter 22. Teachers’ Beliefs about Social Studies. Chapter 23. Teacher Beliefs and Uses of Technology to Support 21st Century Teaching and Learning. Section Six. Teachers’ Beliefs about Learners. Chapter 24. Preschool Teachers’ Ideas about How Children Learn Best:  An Examination of Beliefs about the Principles of Developmentally Appropriate Practice. Chapter 25. Teachers’ Beliefs about Cultural Diversity: Problems and Possibilities. Chapter 26. Teachers’ Beliefs about English Language Learners. Chapter 27. Teachers’ Beliefs about Students with Special Needs and Inclusion.