CHANGES IN TEACHERS’ CONSTRUCTIVIST BELIEFS FROM TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS INTO THE FIRST YEARS OF TEACHING IN CHILE

Teaching effectiveness can be improved by understanding what shapes teachers' beliefs and attitudes. This study focuses on constructivist beliefs, which are considered to foster quality, student-centered instruction. The study analyzes the extent to which early career teachers hold constructivist beliefs and how these beliefs may change from when they are studying in their teacher education programs to when they begin teaching in Chilean schools. The study uses a mixed-method explanatory sequential design with a sample of 101 beginning teachers in schools. They were surveyed twice: once when they were in the final years of their teacher education programs, and again in their first years of teaching. Their orientation towards constructivist beliefs decreased, but there are differences in the results depending on the background characteristics of the teachers, the teacher education program characteristics, the teachers' beliefs, and the characteristics of the school where they started teaching.