Examining the Variables Affecting Primary Teachers’ Teaching and Learning Approaches with a Structural Equation Model

Despite the efforts to adopt a learner-centered approach in education, teacher-centred activities are still in use in classroom practices. Practices during primary school years are of critical importance in order for students to be learners who can take their own responsibility. For this reason, it is significant to examine the teaching methods employed by primary school teachers together with their teaching learning approaches and the variables related to these approaches. The aim of the present study is to examine a structural equation model consisting of the variables of epistemological beliefs, general self-efficacy, individual innovativeness and experience specified to explain primary school teachers’ teaching approaches and to determine the moderating role of gender in this model. While primary school teachers’ teaching approaches and the relationships among these variables have been examined separately by various studies, no holistic study has been found to look into all of them over a single model. Such a study is considerably important both for its contribution to the literature and for planning and offering the support required by teachers for their professional development. Data were collected from 300 teachers within the scope of the study. The results of the path analysis show that the constructivist approaches of primary teachers are directly and positively correlated with the effort dimension of epistemological beliefs and individual innovativeness. Traditional approach sub-dimension, on the other hand, has a direct and positive relationship with the ability and one truth sub-dimensions of epistemological beliefs. Among the variables examined, “effort” has the strongest relationship with the constructivist approach. Moreover, individual innovativeness, which is both directly and indirectly related with teaching-learning approaches, has a stronger relationship with the constructivist approach compared with the traditional approach. Based on the results of the present study, taking these variables into consideration is significant to offer the support required by teachers who have a key role in putting the changes in education system into practice effectively and to plan professional development programs in line with their needs. It could be recommended that these variables be considered in studies concerning the efficiency of professional development programs and that change be monitored in longitudinal studies.