Development in Student Teachers' Pre-Existing Beliefs during a 1-Year PGCE Programme.

Abstract We report one aspect of a naturalistic inquiry into development in student teachers' beliefs on language teaching and learning. The purpose of the inquiry was to test the widespread view that these beliefs are inflexible. It was also to explore the nature of belief development, if observed to occur. Twenty students on the 1997–1998 PGCE Secondary (Modern Languages) course at the University of Reading participated in a sequence of three in-depth interviews. Their accounts of their beliefs and perceptions of development in them were analysed, focusing on the nature of development processes. In all but one case, participants' beliefs showed some development. A set of change process categories was observed. Programme variables which might be associated with belief development are discussed.