Pre-service teachers' epistemological beliefs and concepts about teaching and learning: A case study in the Hong Kong cultural context

A survey was conducted with 604 pre-service teacher education students in Hong Kong to examine their epistemological beliefs, conceptions about teaching and learning, and the relationships between these beliefs and conceptions. For epistemological beliefs, the students tended to conceive knowledge as tentative, attained by effort rather than given by authority or limited by ability. They endorsed the constructivist conception more than the traditional conception about teaching and learning. Structural equation modeling and path analysis showed that epistemological beliefs predict students’ conceptions about teaching and learning. Helping teachers understand their epistemological beliefs would subsequently facilitate them to adopt appropriate instructional approach.