Teacher Educators' Epistemological Beliefs and their Implications for Teacher Education

Research has consistently shown that teachers' epistemological beliefs have a significant impact on their teaching and teacher effectiveness in the teaching- learning process. This study investigated epistemological beliefs (EBs) of teacher educators in higher education institutions and teacher education institutes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The study aimed at identifying teacher-centered and learners' centered EBs, examine the relationship of EBs and gender, find out the relationship of teachers' qualification with the EBs of teacher education, and explore differences between the EBs of teacher educators of public universities and RITEs. Of the 212 teacher educators of the study population, the data were collected through stratified random sampling from 145 respondents. Epistemological beliefs questionnaire (EBQ) and a scale for demographics were used for gathering data from the research participants. Percentages, Mean, One way ANOVA and Pearson r was used for data analysis. Findings of the study show that a majority of the teacher educators believed that the structure of knowledge is simple, half of the teacher educators believed that knowledge is certain. Similarly, a majority of the teachers did not believe in authority as a source of knowledge and considered that the ability to learn is not innate. A majority of the respondents did not agree that learning is a quick process. There was no significant difference in the EBs of male and female teacher educators; there was no significant difference in the EBs of teachers from universities and RITES, except in the dimension of the stability of knowledge, wherein educators from RITEs have unsophisticated beliefs and there is no significant effect of experience on the epistemological beliefs of teacher educators.