Investigating Prekindergarten Teachers’ Beliefs About School Readiness Skills Using Q Methodology

• In Event: Poster Session 2
  In Poster Session: Analyzing In-Service and Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge, Identities, and Agency

Abstract

Teachers’ beliefs influence their instructional goals and classroom practices. Traditional variable-oriented approaches of studying teachers’ beliefs treat beliefs as discrete and fail to take into account the within-person context of beliefs. In contrast, Q methodology uses a person-oriented approach in which beliefs are treated as components of larger, within-person perspectives, rather than as discrete items. This analysis approach identifies belief factors, or perspectives, that can consist of different combinations of beliefs, and that characterize teachers’ beliefs holistically. This study will present Q data representing 80 prekindergarten teachers’ beliefs about skills associated with school readiness, identifying patterns of beliefs that emerge within individual teachers, as well as belief patterns that are shared by different groups of teachers.

Authors

• Cathy Yun, Vanderbilt University

• Dale C. Farran, Vanderbilt University

• Mark W. Lipsey, Vanderbilt University

• Carol Bilbrey, Vanderbilt University