whether the beliefs teachers hold will allow them to use the new books
according to the specifications of the new curriculum or will they use them
according to the way they themselves consider appropriate.
Questions such as the ones stated above are considered crucial, as there seems
to be a common belief among educators not only that the beliefs teachers hold affect
their behaviour in the classroom but, also, that an understanding of these beliefs is an
essential first step towards the improving of the teachers’ professional preparation and
teaching practices (see Ashton, 1990; Buchmann, 1984; Munby, 1982 and 1984;
Goodman, 1988). According to Pajares (1992: 316), there is a general agreement
among theorists that beliefs are created through a process of enculturation and social
construction. As far as teachers’ beliefs are concerned, Carless (1998: 20) claims that
they are derived from their own experiences as learners, their interaction with
colleagues, and the values of the society they work in. However, in this way, the
beliefs teachers hold are implicit to them rather than explicit and, as such, they are
resistant to change (Brown and Cooney, 1982; Buchmann, 1984, Clark, 1988; Wilson,
1990). Therefore, as according to Ellis (1999: 2) ‘…it is only when principles are
made explicit that they can be examined with a view to amending or replacing them.’,
an essential aspect in investigating the teachers’ beliefs is to make explicit what
implicitly lies behind their practices.
Another characteristic of beliefs, which differentiate them from principled
knowledge is, according to Nespor (1987), that they lack internal consistency.
Karavas-Doukas (1996), investigating the secondary English teachers’ attitudes to the
communicative approach within the Greek context, found that the beliefs teachers
held made them not only respond inconsistently to many statements, but that there
was also a great disparity between what teachers believed, and what they actually did
in class.
What has been referred to so far has a number of implications concerning the
effective implementation of a curriculum. Johnson (1989: xiii), defines a coherent
curriculum as ‘…one in which decision outcomes from the various stages of
development are mutually consistent and complementary, and learning outcomes
reflect curricular aims’. O’ Brien (2000a, Unit 0: 8), stresses the fact that a coherent
curriculum cannot result unless it is ‘…implemented by teachers who are fully aware
of it, and in agreement with, the stated aims of the designers and planners’. When
there is disparity between what teachers believe happens in the classroom and what
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