CHANGE OF TEACHER’S SUBJECTIVE THEORIES ABOUT VALUES TEACHING AND LEARNING
(Draft version)
PABLO JAVIER CASTRO CARRASCO
Universidad de La Serena, Chile
ABSTRACT
The object of study of this investigation is the change of subjective theories within the framework of a learning situation. Approach to this problem was the reconstruction of teacher’s subjective theories (who were following an in-service training program) about values teaching and learning and about its own process of change, from its own explicit recognition and from external reconstruction. Through a qualitative investigation with longitudinal design, 12 teachers with qualification in education in values answered 35 episodic interviews in different phases of data collection. Moreover, personal documents made by participants in the in-service training program were analyzed. The qualitative analysis of the collected verbal data was made by content and process analysis. Obtained results allow to understand and to interpret the implied contents and organization in the processes of change of teacher’s subjective theories, with respect to learning and educational of values, besides contributing to the theoretical development about subjective change. These results also illustrate changes in teachers' subjective theories, characterized by the attainment of more autonomy, protagonism, and a perception of more efficiency concerning the possible actions they may carry out for transversal value teaching. On the other hand, the analyses performed with regard to their own explanation of their change process reveal a distinction between external and personal factors, according to the teachers, as the cause of their changes. The findings are discussed by interpreting the transformation of their subjective theories based on several representational change models. Finally, we present conclusions about the contribution of these results and of the methodological strategy employed, both for the study of subjective change in general and for teachers' professional change.
INTRODUCTION
In synthesis, the question that orientates this study is: how changes the contents and organization of teacher’s subjective theories with respect to education and learning of values from an in-service training program in education in values?
THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL ANTECEDENTS
This is a synthesis of the presented theoretical antecedents, in relation to its possible contribution to our investigation purposes.
We synthesized here most relevant antecedents previously presented, as far as its contribution for the analysis of our object of study, the change of subjective theories within the framework of a learning situation.
It is of our interest in this investigation to analyze the change of subjective theories within the framework of a learning situation, as far as the degree of subjective appropriation (meaning, sense and identity) and autonomy acquisition of teachers in their use of new interpretative models and the conciliation with its old meanings. Under the foregoing, and since the education process under study was based on personal reflection, we can say that the experiential learning, the revision of subjects own perspective and their self observation (Valoras UC, 2008), are also characteristics that are present in the psychotherapeutic processes. For this reason, the concepts presented by Krause (2005) in her theory of the subjective change contribute to our object of study. Specifically because the slight knowledge with respect to reaching and newness integration modifications of the new subjective theories constructed by the people, will contribute to analyze the increase of complexity in the interpretations of teachers, when incorporating with greater or smaller joint the contents of the Diploma and of their experience in their pedagogical practices associated to these. So it will be constituted into an important dimension for the study of its transformations of representations
Since this study is centered in the analysis of a change process that occurs in an educational context, like most of the learning explained by models of conceptual change, teachers could be faced to values educational perspectives that are epistemologically incompatible with their own meanings and forms to represent this field of their professional task. Thereby, taking a perspective on subjective change as a conceptual change phenomenon in relation to values learning and the education, it seems to contribute to the understanding of this aspect.
In relation to the study of epistemological beliefs, we have exposed how investigations have shown the existing relation, for teachers, between this type of conceptions about knowledge and their pedagogical practices. In addition, studies about the relation between different types of epistemological beliefs, that go from absolute positions (Perry, 1970) to more relativistic ones (Mason, 2004; Schommer & Walker, 1995; Schraw & Olafson, 2003), finally constitute an analysis model since it seems reasonable to assume a relation between these teachers world visions and the their general conceptions about education in values. Specifically, teachers epistemological beliefs categorization in levels, from ingenuous to sophisticated beliefs and the relation of these levels with quality of the educational performance (War, 2008), are elements that contribute to the relations that we will establish between contents and change of the subjective theories of teachers about education in values (viewed as knowledge) and the vision that derives from this about teachers educational practices.
The lines of investigation about conceptual change phenomena constitute an explanatory contribution to the process that we’ve studied, particularly in their description of conceptual reconstruction processes understood as sequential processes of transformation, from modification of theories on particular domains to transformation of generalized subjective theories. This helps us to distinguish between weak reconstruction changes (Carey, 1985) in which domain theories change but with maintenance of implicit assumptions and, on the other hand, processes of radical conceptual change in which it is possible to observe some processes of deep reconstruction, mainly of assumptions relative to values education.
We believe that for the case of subjective theories, particularly on domains related to the field of values and in the context of the present study, it is possible to observe how nuclear elements of representations maintained by teachers operate with respect to determined pedagogical practices. Some of these elements belong to the central nucleus of certain representations present in teachers. Also subjective theories will be identified, which are in smaller or greater agreement with these existing representations, probably determining their possibilities of change. For this purpose, the theory of the central hardcore of social representations (Abric, 1993, 1996, 2001), contributes in setting out that representations can be transformed as certain social practices influence them, first in the peripheral contents of representation, for soon if they persist, modifying their nuclear contents. Consequently, the meaning and organization of the ideas elaborated around a determined social object will be modified.
In a similar way, Kelly`s personal construct theory(1955, 1996) and its explanation of change in the meaning that people attribute to their experience, contributes to us with the notion of nuclear and peripheral constructions, that for our organization of the teachers meanings it contributes to the identification of elements hierarchically superior to others within the personal meaning systems of studied teachers.
In a study like this one, that gives account of processes of subjective change from a longitudinal approach, the proposal of the cycle of experience of Kelly (1977) allows us to identify and analyze different stages, in each teacher, of revision processes of their sustained subjective theories in relation to new information coming from environment or from its new experiences lived during the period of time in which we studied them.
Furthermore, and returning to the theory of social representations, we believe that the principles and functions of objectification and anchoring processes (Moscovici, 1974) can illuminate the explanation of change in subjective theories, this is shown in that, after a possibly implicit process of personal negotiation between the preexisting subjective theories (“objectified”) and the new information and experiences of teachers, is possible that consolidation processes take place or the “anchoring” of different forms of personal representation, in our case, about the education and the learning of values.
Finally, the integration of the presented theoretical models with purpose of our study will give us the possibility of investigating our research questions as follows: What subjective theories teachers have about education in values and how these subjective theories change? Which are the factors that influence change of teacher’s subjective theories about education in values? From their own subjective vision and from our perspective as investigators and which are teacher’s visions -and subjective theories eventually- about their own learning process or transformation as effect of the diploma course?
OBJECTIVES AND GUIDING QUESTIONS
3.1. General Objective:
To reconstruct the subjective theories of teachers while taking a training program, about values education and learning and also about their own process of change from external reconstruction and their own explicit recognition.
3.2. Specific Objectives:
1. To reconstruct the subjective theories of teachers in training, that are relative to education and values learning, specifically on their requirements, facilitating factors, actions and processes, obstacles and outcomes.
2. To determine the changes of subjective theories of teachers in training, that are relative to education and the values learning, at three different moments of time in order to establish its evolution.
3. To reconstruct the subjective theories of teachers in training about their own process of change, from their subjective vision.
We presented in form of questions, those aspects that seemed more relevant to investigate and that therefore oriented the searching and analysis of information.
1. How is the evolution of the conceptions about values learning in the teachers, along their participation in the Diploma?
2. What factors make possible or hinder the subjective change of the teachers in this curricular area?
2.1. How does this change get organized?
2.2. Which are its elements and which is its structure?
3. How teachers perceive their own capacity to educate in values?
3.1. How this perception changes through their permanence in the Diploma?
4. Can we observe changes in the outcome expectations of their actions related to the education of values, during the Diploma?
METHOD
Participants
The sample was made up by 12 teachers who worked in schools in the Atacama and Metropolitana regions, and who were taking part in a diploma course in education in values. Table 1 describes the characteristics of the participants included in the sampling process.
Table 1. Sampling table
Participant
/Years of experience (expressed as over 15 or less than 15)
/Level in which the person works
/School dependence (municipality, private)
/Region
/Commune
(or city)
I
/Over 15
/High School
/Municipality
/III
/Diego de Almagro
II
/Over 15
/Primary School
/Municipality-funded private school
/III
/El Salvador
III
/Over 15
/High School
/Municipality-funded private school
/III
/El Salvador
IV
/Over 15
/Primary School
/Municipality-funded private school
/III
/El Salvador
V
/Over 15
/Primary School
/Municipality-funded private school
/III
/El Salvador
VI
/Less than 15
/Primary School & High School
/Municipality-funded private school
/RM
/Conchalí
VII
/Less than 15
/Primary School
/Municipality-funded private school
/RM
/Puente Alto
VIII
/Over 15
/Primary School
/Municipality
/RM
/Lo Barnechea
IX
/Over 15
/Primary School
/Municipality
/RM
/Lo Barnechea
X
/Less than 15
/High School
/Municipality-funded private school
/RM
/Conchalí
XI
/Less than 15
/Primary School
/Municipality
/RM
/Lo Barnechea
XII
/Less than 15
/Primary School & High School
/Municipality-funded private school
/RM
/Puente Alto
Information Collection Procedures and Type of Data
The data employed were verbal, obtained from the interviews performed and from documents prepared by the teachers studied, in the context of the Diploma course.
Episodic Interviews. Here, we decided to integrate narrative-episodic elements to the interviews, as this would grant us access to the subjects' narrations which may be determined by subjective theories, but which may not be accessible to them as theories (Hermanns, 1995). Yet, the content of the narrations hints at aspects that may be reconstructed by the researcher as subjective theories; also, we must consider the "assumption that subjects' experiences [sources for the formation of their subjective theories] of a certain domain are stored and remembered informs of narrative-episodic knowledge and [not only] semantic knowledge” (Flick, 2006, p. 181). This springs from the interest that led us to attempt to not only access teachers' semantic arguments; following Correa Rodrigo “… it is not enough to know what people think about (…), but also how this knowledge is mobilized to provide answers for the various situations which they face” (2001, p. 62).
Personal Documents. After the first interview, each stage of the interview was preceded by a revision of personal documents[1] preparedby the teachers taking the Diploma course, and which were available at that point.
Table 2 presents a summary of the sequence of interview-document analysis phases in this study.
Table 2. Phases of the Longitudinal Design
Moment
/Interview length
/Information collection techniques used and personal documents analyzed
First moment: / 5 months after the beginning of the Diploma course / First episodic interviewInitial Questionnaire for teachers
Second moment: / 12 to 14 months after the beginning of the Diploma course / Second episodic interview
Reading guide number 2
Third moment: / 17 to 19 months after the beginning of the Diploma course / Third episodic interview
Final Questionnaire for teachers
Reading guide number 3
Data Analysis
This study proposed a qualitative analysis of the interpretive type, aimed at seeking elements and exploring their connections, regularities or irregularities, their origin and organization (Tesch, 1990).
Specifically, the results sought are descriptive, due to the intention of obtaining typologies of the subjective theories, and analyticrelational, in that they aim at generating explanatory models of the phenomenon studied (Krause, 1998).
This study employed, for the most part, qualitative content analysis in their descriptive and relational varieties.
Procedures
Document Analysis
The first analysis performed was made on the basis of personal documents Questionnaires for teachers parts I and II (initial and final) and “Reading guides number 2 and 3”, from 8 cases. The analysis of the questionnaires consisted in reconstructing subjective theories implicit in teachers' answers, extracting some relevant quotations, and comparing their answers at the beginning of the Diploma course with those they gave in the final questionnaire. This was followed by the elaboration of preliminary relational results that illustrated the existence or absence of differences with their beliefs, separately for parts I and II of the instrument. The logic was the same for the Reading guides, comparing teachers' answers with those given in the Questionnaire and with the interviews.
Open coding of the Interviews
The second stage of the analysis was developed by examining the interviews transcribed using the open coding technique (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), aided by the ATLAS.ti software (Murh, 2003-2008). The next step was to analyze the 35 interviews after each of their three moments had concluded. As the interviews were analyzed, the concepts generated were employed both in the case they appeared as well as others in which they could be pertinent. Simultaneously, preliminary relational results were prepared in this phase. In this analysis, the researcher received support from five research assistants[2], who, having been previously trained, coded interviews from five of the twelve cases, based on the coding system and in the categories created by the researcher in the open coding of the other interviews; also, the assistants could propose new codes. The new codes and categories created by the assistants were discussed in group sessions in which the researcher and the research assistants took part, before including them permanently.
Elaboration of Thematic Structure
The codes elaborated in the open coding were grouped into categories as they were identified as belonging to similar phenomena, thus completing a thematic structure (Flick, 2006) that was representative of all cases.
Elaboration of Short Descriptions of Case
In parallel to open coding and guided by the preliminary versions of the thematic structure, the analysis of the Questionnaire for Teachers and of the “Reading guides number 2 and 3”, we prepared short descriptions of case (Flick, 2006). Specifically, teachers' central conceptions and their changes were described and interpreted through the three moments of inquiry in this study. In these descriptions, a differentiation was made between the interviewee's textual words, concepts or interpretations, and the researcher's interpretations.
Construction of explanatory models
After completing the description of the 12 cases, and with the aim of describing and interpreting teachers' subjective theories, we begun to elaborate, through inter-case analysis, explanatory models based on the thematic structure created. Thus, models were elaborated for two subjective theories: teachers' subjective theories about the teaching and learning of values, and their subjective theory about change in themselves.
Both analyses of the theories consider the contents of the case descriptions, and, in the models about subjective theories about teaching and learning values, theoretical and empirical antecedents used to structure the analysis were included. There are four models, three for the subjective theories about the teaching and learning of values, elaborated on the basis of a temporal analysis through the three moments of inquiry in this study, and one for teachers' subjective theory about their own change.
In order to make it possible to compare the findings about the phenomenon of subjective theories about teaching and learning values, through the three interview phases, it was decided to organize the reconstruction of teachers' theories following a single logic proposed by the researcher. As a result, the models of Moments 1, 2 and 3 have the same categories.
As opposed to the models of subjective theories about the teaching and learning of values, the model about the teachers' explanation of their own change is completely emergent from the interviewees' meanings. In this analysis, the researcher discussed preliminary versions of the model (diagram number 2) with a qualitative researcher[3] experienced in the study of change processes in psychotherapy.