The influence of Institutional Epistemological Beliefs and Teachers’ Epistemological Dispositions on Classroom Practices

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 3:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Bourdieu and Teacherly Dispositions

Abstract

Teachers’ epistemological beliefs (EBs) influence classroom practices, but research often overlooks contextual factors essential for understanding this impact. I investigated how EBs shape everyday classroom practices through long-term anthropological fieldwork across three Steiner-Waldorf schools. These practices were shaped by teachers’ tendencies of interpretation, appreciation, and action regarding knowledge learning – epistemological dispositions (EDs). These EDs were primarily informed by EBs institutionalized as core EBs of Steiner education with corresponding pedagogical principles and methods. Studying EDs and institutional EBs necessitates addressing contextual factors crucial for understanding how EBs affect classroom practices, offering new directions for bridging the gap in this research field.

Author

• Thomas Gennen, University of California, Berkeley