The Australian Journal oj Education, Vol. 25, No.2, 1981
A Study of Teacher Epistemologies!
R. E. YOUNG
Teachers' views of knowledge, their epistemologies, are likely to affect the way they
organize and transmit information in the classroom. After ethnographic study had
revealed that teachers' epistemologies varied greatly in their degree of formalization, a
theory of the practical implications of teacher epistemologies was developed based on
Basil Bernstein's account of visible and invisible pedagogies. Epistemology and curriculum code, assessment approach and control ideology were operationalized in four
Likert scales. A survey was conducted and analysis of the data lent strong support both
to the Bernstein theory and its extension to include the role played by epistemology.
The views teachers may have concerning the nature of knowledge and the
methods of obtaining it are of clear importance for any adequate understanding
of teaching. 2 This importance has been underscored by recent developments in
the sociology of teaching and curriculum (e.g. Young, 1971; Musgrave, 1974;
1978) as epitomized by Michael Young's 1971 statement of the perspective
adopted by the contributors to his volume Knowledge and Control:
They do not take for granted existing definitions of educational reality ... they are
inevitably led to consider . . . 'What counts as educational knowledge' as problematic. The implication of this is that one major focus of the sociology of education
becomes an inquiry into the social organization of knowledge in educational institutions. (p. 3)
Historical studies in the curriculum have revealed the crucial role played by
conceptions of knowledge in the process of the social organization and distribution of knowledge (Layton, 1974; Musgrave, 1974; McCann, 1977). The
debate between proponents of 'open' and 'traditional' education (whatever those
terms may mean) has also been characterized by the crucial importance placed
on epistemological issues (Petrie, 1975; Morgan, 1976; Nyberg, 1975).
Until recently, however, there has been little attempt to study teachers' conceptions of knowledge systematically and empirically. Those few attempts
which have been made have been marked by a virtual absence of theory, by the
complete absence of ethnographic work to establish the nature of teachers'
views about knowledge, and by inadequate and clearly faulty research design
and/or measurement techniques.
The first type of research which we will examine might be labelled the
'philosophical' tradition, studies in this tradition attempt to test philosophical
'theories' about teacher epistemologies. Typically they identify four major types
of ideology by means of 'conceptual' analysis: realism, idealism, pragmatism
and existentialism. Items are then written to construct checklists such as the
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Ross Epistemology Inventory (Ross, 1970) and the instruments are administered to teachers to see if their epistemological beliefs are consistent with
other educational beliefs, measured by similar instruments (e.g. Abbas, 1949;
Erlich, 1963; Tesconi, 1965; Thomas, 1968; Ross, 1970; Smith, 1971; Starkey
and Barr, 1972).
A common finding is that the degree of consistency in teachers'
epistemologies is low; they typically select items from checklists which represent several of the four different types of epistemology. The pattern of correlations which results is difficult to interpret and there appears to be only a limited
relationship between 'epistemologies' measured in this way and other areas of
teachers' philosophy. An alternative explanation for the pattern of findings is
that the categories used in instrument construction are not very useful
categories for describing teacher epistemologies, and that there are other
differences between teachers about epistemological questions which might be
more important than those identified by conceptual analysis of philosophical
viewpoints.
The implicit assumption of most of this research, of a simple congruence between one set of beliefs and another, or between beliefs and actions, does not
advance our understanding of the complex situated nature of the relationship
between beliefs and behaviour. An approach of this kind also ignores several
decades of research into the relationship between attitudes and actions.
When one steps outside the 'philosophical' tradition of research just discussed, only a few isolated empirical studies remain. Silvan Tomkins (1962;
1965), a psychologist, included a number of epistemological items in a 57-item
scale for measuring what he believed to be basic polar orientations in western
thought. Basing his item content on the history of ideas, he created items to
measure beliefs about mathematics, philosophy of science, metaphysics,
epistemology, political ideology, jurisprudence, and art. While Tomkins's
results, which showed a weak but consistent pattern in answers to items, are
suggestive of the possible existence of global ideological preferences or styles,
the level of generality of the items and their method of derivation does not allow
us to rule out the alternative hypothesis that the weak pattern of correlations
found may be an artefact of respondents' capacities to adopt a response set due
to a recognition of indexical cues in the item content.
A more systematic attempt to produce a theory and measure of
epistemological style was made by Royce (1959; 1964). After interviews, Royce
identified, by 'impressionistic' interpretation, four distinct epistemological emphases: 'rationalism-thinking', 'empiricism-sensing', 'intuitionism-feeling',
'authoritarianism-believing'. Thus Royce's work was at least based on an attempt to discover the epistemological beliefs which respondents actually
possess. However, the four postulated ways of approaching reality were not
found to be distinct and separate emphases. Royce had his students and experts write items reflecting these four ways. The items were then presented to
samples of respondents in a Likert format. Respondents, as in earlier
'philosophical' research, tended to display a mixed response. Again, in the procrustean style of previous research, Royce switched to a rank order method in
which respondents were forced to assign statements to o~e of four ranks rather
than question the appropriateness and mutual exclusiveness of his categories.
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A weak scale was produced, but in the process the 'authoritarianism' dimension
was dropped. Studies of the scale construct validity and reliability were not encouraging (jones, 1963).
There was no room in the scale for respondents to adopt a mixed view, such
as 'logical-empiricism', a view which many writers such as Radnitsky believe to
be characteristic of much of western thought (Radnitsky, 1969;~Schutz, 1973,
pp. 229-50; Habermas, 1974). For instance, under a forced ranking system, a
response in which Rank 1 was given to 'Rationalism', 2 to 'Empiricism' and 3 to
'Intuitionism', etc. could represent a view of knowledge in which both
rationality and empirical evidence were considered to be very important and in
which intuition was seen to be much less important.
The development of an adequate 'technique' for identifying particular
epistemologies would appear to require a more careful study of the nature of
the epistemological beliefs, values and attitudes of the group concerned.
Similarly, the development of a useful theory of the role of different
epistemologies would appear to be likely to be facilitated if an ethnographic exploration of these epistemologies were undertaken prior to further theory
development.
RESEARCH STRATEGY AND ETHNOGRAPHIC FINDINGS
The research strategy adopted in the present study was a multi-stage approach
in which decisions concerning each subsequent stage of the research were
dependent upon the results of the previous stage. An initial ethnographic stage
of the research aimed to identify and describe teachers' epistemologies; this was
to be followed by theory building; then, in the light of theory and the
ethnographic findings, a decision was to be made about an appropriate method
for testing some of the central hypotheses of the theory.
First, it is necessary to ensure that the ethnographic data upon which theory
development is to be based are sufficiently representative to ensure that no
perspective held by a significant minority of the target population is overlooked. Second, the data must be generated in sufficient depth to ensure that
errors which arise from shallow interpretation, from the contexts in which any
one body of data is gathered, and from failure to exhaust participant category
systems, are avoided.
Randomly chosen sub-samples of the staff of five secondary schools, each of
which represented a different type of school (boys, girls, technical, 'comprehensive', government, private, etc.) were split into two random halves. Quotas
were also balanced for science and maths teachers as against others, since a
preliminary review of the literature suggested that this difference could be
relevant.
With the first half of the sample, semantic taxonomy interviews were conducted. The semantic taxonomy interview, a technique borrowed from
cognitive anthropology, is a non-directive interview technique in which structural and attribute questions are asked about categories provided not by the
researcher but by the respondent (Spradley and McCurdie, 1972). With the
second half of the sample, a series of written paragraphs on broad
epistemological questions was collected and respondents were asked to carry
out a classification task involving the free grouping of 14 subject names
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(physics, woodwork, ethics, psychology, music, etc.) representing the major
domains of subject type along most of the available common-sense dimensions
of classification (e.g. manual/non-manual, scientific/artistic, dealing with
things/dealing with people, etc.). In addition, general ethnographic work was
carried out over a period of three months, with classroom observation, corridor
'interviews' and group discussion, mainly to provide a general background to
assist in the valid interpretation of data more systematically gathered.
The result of extensive analysis of teachers' epistemic vocabulary, category
systems, classification behaviour and general discussion in groups, and the
mutual support found between separate bodies of data, indicated that a single
major issue dominated teachers' consciousness and divided teachers' views.
Teachers either accepted a logical/empiricist view of the physical sciences as an
epitome of knowledge, or adopted a view which gave epistemic priority to more
'subjective', 'intuitive' or 'personal' ways of knowing (called here 'hermeneutic'),
or, in the case of a small minority, adopted a dualistic system in which both
types were recognized, called here the 'forms of knowledge' approach because
of its resemblance to the view of Hirst (1965). About 10 per cent of teachers expressed views of knowledge which were irreconcilable with this basic typology. 3
It was found that the major differences between'teachers in the way they
talked and wrote about knowledge could be described using a model of rules for
describing symbolic systems in which there were rules for defining the boundaries of entities, rules for articulating entities, rules for the permitted mode(s)
of epistemically valid reference to experience, and rules concerning the accent
of objectivity or doubt attributed to symbolic systems which met the criterial
rules just mentioned (Young, 1978).
For instance, a logical/empirical view of science stresses the value of precise
and clear entities, defined through some form of semantic empiricism, articulated by logical or mathematical rules and related to experience by sensory
observation, providing a symbolic system regarded as objective, even if
possibly incomplete or subject to change if better data become available
(Young, 1979).
This finding was consistent with one of the main currents of sociological
thought about epistemologies in society; both Durkheim (1977) and Weber
(1948) identified an opposition between a scientific epistemology and an
associated scientific view of the world, on the one hand, and a hermeneutic
view on the other. More recently, Habermas has placed this opposition at the
centre of his analysis of modern, technological society. He calls the belief that a
logical-empirical view of science is the only valid path to knowledge, 'scientism'
(Habermas, 1968), and the associated view that it is only action based on this
view that is effective may be called 'technicism'. These theorists and others have
associated scientism with the role of education systems, bureaucracies and the
knowledge-based professions in modern, technological societies (cf. Ellul,
1965; Habermas, 1968; Radnitsky, 1969; Friere, 1972).
Scientific knowledge has come to occupy an increasingly important place in
modern, industrial societies. Hand in hand with the growth of scientific
knowledge has been the 'rationalization' of government and private
bureaucracies and their extension into wider and wider spheres oflife. The key
roles in bureaucracies have increasingly been occupied by professionals or ex-
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Australian Journal of Education
perts. More and more occupational spheres have been subject to professionalization, the adoption of specific courses of training and certification, the
identification of a particular sphere of expertise and/or appropriate 'scientific'
knowledge base, and the organization of the profession to maintain these standards and to enhance its status in the wider community (Parsons, 1958; Clark,
1962; Halmos, 1970; Johnson, 1972).
The growth of bureaucratic organizations and professionalism has been bidirectional. In addition to a quantitative increase in these social forms, there
was a lateral extension of them to areas of life previously thought to be beyond
the sphere of efficacy of either rational decision making or a professional
knowledge base. Much of the growth, then, can be accounted for by the spread
of rational-scientific modes of thought and action from the technologies of the
physical sciences to the 'humanities' and the 'people' professions, such as
teaching (Halmos, 1970; Clark, 1962).
Education systems, in turn, have been increasingly integrated with the occupational structure, and the rise of higher level vocational and specialized
courses and qualifications has meant that integration has become increasingly
functionally related to curricula and teaching (cf. Clark, 1962; Musgrave,
1968; Cosin, 1972). Teaching has followed the same trend, with the introduction and development of more and more elaborate courses of professional training and the increasing influence of the behavioural sciences in pedagogy.
Schooling, too, has become more and more instrumentally related to vocational aspirations (cf. Musgrave, 1968, p. 139). Similar analyses have been
made by many others: positivism or 'logical empiricism' is increasing its
influence, while hermeneutic views of knowledge are in decline (Ellul, 1965;
Radnitsky, 1969).
EXTENSION OF BERNSTEIN'S ANALYSIS
The findings of the ethnographic stage of the research were then related to
Bernstein's theory concerning the forms of teachers' pedagogical and curricular
ideologies. Bernstein's approach was essentially a 'structuralist' one. He dealt
with the form of 'transmissions in educational agencies'. His analysis had 'little
connection with any institutional or ideological features outside the school' and
the concepts of 'classification' and 'framing' which he employed were 'defined
without reference to content' (Bernstein, 1975, pp. 8-9). In the course of the
present study, the links between the form of educational transmissions, the institutional location of schooling systems, and what Bernstein calls 'dominant
cultural codes', were explored. It was argued that the formal properties of the
curriculum codes Bernstein identifies were present in particular societally
dominant epistemologies and were supportive of a particular sort of institutional relationship between schooling and society in general. Thus, particular
ideological content and particular institutional relationships were found to be
present and to possess the appropriate formal properties Bernstein (1975)
identifies.
'Classification' and 'framing' relate respectively to the degree of separation or
boundary maintenance which occurs between school subjects and to the 'control over the selection, organization and pacing of the knowledge transmitted
and received in the pedagogical relationship'. In an integrated curriculum code
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weak classification and weak framing result in 'the subordination of previously insulated subjects or courses to some relational idea' (Bernstein, 1975, pp. 231,
235). A collection curriculum code, however, involves strong classification and
strong framing which result in the separation of distinct subjects and in a high
degree of teacher control over how these subjects are taught.
While the view of knowledge of a teacher is not the same thing as the view of
curriculum, it is clear that one possible grounding of curriculum organization
is in the teachers' view of the way human knowledge, in general, is organized.
There are, moreover, additional reasons for a close link between a teacher's
view of knowledge and his or her view of curriculum. If, as has been argued
above, a particular view of knowledge has become part of society's 'dominant or
dominating cultural code' (Bernstein, 1975, p. 20), a form of curriculum
organization consonant with it will be more likely to be viewed as legitimate
than otherwise. In addition, such a view of knowledge, if manifestly linked to
the curriculum, can provide legitimation for wider spheres of pedagogical activity, such as assessment processes. Other corollaries of any particular view of
knowledge, such as the account of what it means to know and the identification
of particular persons as knowers may also be related to the pedagogical processes. The relationship between epistemology and curriculum code is examined first and the analysis is then widened to explore the further implications of
epistemology for other aspects of pedagogical ideology.
EPISTEMOLOGY, CURRICULUM CODE AND
PEDAGOGICAL IDEOLOGY
In this section it is argued that teachers' epistemologies are related to curriculum codes both because they support the forms of encoding which take
place, and, in the case of the most common views, because they have wide
societal support, thus conferring legitimacy on certain ways of organizing the
school curriculum. It will further be argued that similar connections occur between epistemologies and two crucial areas of pedagogical style: assessment
processes and teachers' approach to pupil control. Taken together,
epistemologies, curriculum codes, assessment approach and approach to pupil
control constitute elements of a coherent pedagogical ideology.
The formal properties of both scientism and the 'forms of knowledge' approach meet the requirements of a collection curriculum code in respect of
strict boundary maintenance between entities (concepts, ideas, etc.); in addition, epistemologies of this type suggest, by their emphasis or strict logical
rules for the grammar and syntax of the articulation of propositions, that such a
curriculum code would display preferences for 'logical' discourse (cf. Hirst,
1965, p. 115). Both scientism and the forms of knowledge approach also emphasize 'objectivity' (Hirst, 1965, p. 115). The hermeneutic approach does not
meet these requirements, focusing instead on the dimension of personal
preferences, on the problematics of the individual's own projects, and hence
meets the requirements for an integrated curriculum code with its problemcentred organization.
The area of 'framing' may be more complex than the area of 'classification'
since it refers to the selection, organization and pacing of knowledge transmitted, in short, to the complexities of pedagogical processes. If a teacher's ap-
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AustralianJournal of Education
proach to curriculum were based on the teacher's epistemology, it is clear that
some aspects of epistemology could he related to framing as well as to classification. For instance, a preference for logical relations between propositions
would be likely to influence a teacher's style of presentation of material, choice
of textbooks, certainly organization of material, and finally, assessment (cf.
Esland, 1971). Again, a teacher's preference for certain modes of experience
would affect the teacher's assessment of particular sorts of evidence and particular lines of argument. This is because the image of knowledge acquisition in
particular epistemologies - the image of primary knowledge acquisition we
might call it - is likely to affect teachers' images of secondary knowledge acquisition, the communication of previously discovered knowledge to others. In
this way, for instance, a hypothetico-deductive model of scientific discovery
could result in a discovery-oriented pedagogy in say, science classrooms, and
thus profoundly affect the selection, organization and even pacing of the
knowledge transmitted.
But in this process of secondary acquisition the teacher is likely to carry over
the same set of rules for doubt and certainty, the same epoch!, or taken for
granted dimension as in the original context of discovery. The epoch! of the
logical empirical view of science, as outlined by Schutz (1973), is an epoche
which brackets the subjectivity of the knower and the relationship of the
knower to the knowledge. The personal concerns, projects, feelings, the whole
inner dimension of the knower, are bracketed in the scientistic approach to
knowledge. The implications of this for pedagogy and for the role of pupil insights, feelings and intuitions in the various processes of pedagogy is obviously
an important area of concern.
Thus, as Bernstein argues, pedagogical styles should be studied in terms of
approaches to control and assessment, as well as in terms of curriculum codes.
In what he calls a 'visible' pedagogy, the teacher has explicit control over the
child. This control is enhanced by the existence of an 'objective' grid which provides clear criteria for assessment and an appropriate procedure of measurement (Bernstein, 1975, p. 130). The presence of a grid of this kind dearly
enhances the presentation to the public of the school's role in social reproduction as an 'objective' and independent one.
A crucial feature of this assessment process is its ability to distinguish between pupils in standardized ways for the regulation of access to scarce status
positions in society, and at the same time to provide the teacher with an overt
measure of the acquisition of knowledge. Assessment in 'invisible' pedagogies is
more frequently 'covert' and based on individual growth and development
rather than competitive comparison (Bernstein, 1975, pp. 129-33). In practice,
however, the constraints which operate on classrooms and teachers may enforce a degree of competitive assessment (Sharp and Green, 1975).
Overt control is consistent with the models of the child and oflearning which
occur in a 'visible' pedagogy. In a visible pedagogy learning is seen as the acquisition of skills and knowledge by the student, in collection-type secondary
schooling it is essentially the mastery of 'subjects'. This is an approach to learning which is subject-centred (Barker-Lunn, 1973). The curriculum which
accompanies it is organized on a subject basis and on the assumption of progression through a cognitive hierarchy. The student, in turn, must be con-
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trolled in such a way as to conform to the externally paced and structured task.
The assessment process is geared to measure the degree of achievement of the
pre-defined cognitive goals and skills.
Bernstein's visible pedagogy is related to the collection curriculum code and
its characteristics are consistent with strong framing. It is also more likely to be
associated with strong classification, since the assessment process is simplified
by the employment of distinctive subject-derived criteria and is more easily
legitimated and presented as objective if tied to the external demands of a subject rather than to criteria derived from the student's own problematic.
In an 'invisible' pedagogy, the model oflearning is a tacit one. The student]
capacity for exploration of the environment and active participation in its own
cognitive development is emphasized. This is a child-centred approach to
learning. The curriculum which accompanies it is problem-based and childbased, allowing integration of approach. The assessment process is covert and
individual. There is less pressure on the teacher to induce the child to conform
to externally-derived criteria of task.
Bernstein's visible pedagogy is probably still the most common one in our
schools. The reasons for this may be many. Firstly, it is an approach which
facilitates the socialization of new teachers 'both at the level of role and at the
level of knowledge' (Bernstein, 1975, p. 108). This pedagagy is 'likely to be continuous with the teacher's own educational socialization' (Bernstein, 1975, p.
108).
Secondly, given certain assumptions about the typical features of contemporary classrooms, e.g. the one-to-many relationship, the medium of instruction, the instrumental rather than intrinsic motivation of parents and children
and the problem of control which looms larger than any other in the consciousness of most teachers, it seems reasonable to see a formal and objectivist
view of knowledge such as scientism, and a related view of curriculum as providing an effective coping strategy for teachers.
Australian secondary schools, like most secondary schools throughout the
world, are characterized by the external constraints of the examination, the
syllabus, and the instrumental goals of status-maintenance and statusachievement. Such systems present teachers with three demands. They must
cover the work, ensure that students master it and manage or control classroom
conduct and conditions so as to achieve these goals (cf. Westbury, 1973). The
adoption of a view of curriculum characterized by strong classification and
framing greatly assists in these tasks. It allows material to be organized into a
clearly demarcated domain, the subject, which in turn allows easy identification and collection of materials (frequently textbooks). Materials of this kind
minimize teacher preparation and allow the teacher to specify, especially in the
case of textbooks, kits, reading laboratories, and the like, the activity that each
pupil should be engaging in at anyone time. They both facilitate control and
demand it, because the processes the student should be engaged in at anyone
time are specified in the learning material and the teacher can continually
monitor the level of coverage and mastery (cf. Westbury, 1973).
But in addition to allowing the teacher to justify a collection organization of
curriculum, the image of knowledge which is embodied in such a coping
strategy must draw upon widely accepted epistemological views in order to
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legitimate, to parents and children, teacher claims to cognitive privilege and
the outcome of assessment processes; and it must provide a basis for a definitive
approach to the content of instruction (framing) which is compatible with
assessment and overall curriculum organization. A science-centred image of
knowledge based on a logical-empiricist view of science simultaneously performs all these functions, as does to a lesser degree the traditional 'forms of
knowledge' approach.
Thus, granted the way schools function in social reproduction in modern,
technological society, and granted that scientistic views of knowledge are
replacing more traditional approaches to knowledge, it appears that the visible
pedagogy in schools has become allied with a scientistic image of knowledge
and a technological image of practice (cf. Fay, 1975). It is appropriate then to
call this type of pedagogical ideology (containing a visible pedagogy),
'technicist' and the other, rarer, invisible pedagogy because of its alliance with
an hermeneutic epistemology, 'interpretive'.
If such pedagogies exist, at least at the level of teacher beliefs, it should be
possible to construct attitude scales based on them and it should be possible to
show that a scientistic epistemology is associated with a preference for collection curriculum organization, an external, comparative and 'objective' approach to assessment, and a preference for a high degree of teacher control over
pupils and what goes on in the classroom. And conversely, that a hermeneutic
epistemology, with its stress on purposeful meaning and interpretation, is
associated with an integrated curriculum code, an 'epistemic' or personal/developmental approach to assessment and a preference for active pupil
participation in many areas of classroom decision making."
Clearly many implications may be drawn from this theoretical position and
there are many ways in which one might go about exploring the usefulness of
this perspective, only one of which is pursued below. It is sufficient at this point
to mention several other lines of empirical and theoretical development which
are currently being pursued. Work in the style of 'discourse analysis' has begun
to map the situated accomplishment of classroom life (McHoul, 1978; Mehan,
1973; 1979; Edwards, 1980). In this vein, some aspects of the epistemic work
teachers do in classrooms has been examined in respect of Australian data
(Watson and Young, 1980). Further theoretical work concerning the general
role of asymmetrical structures of communication has also been proceeding
(Young, 1980a, c). The present article reports the results of a survey of
teachers' views of epistemology, appropriate assessment procedures, preferred
curriculum organization and pupil control ideology (PCI).
EPISTEMOLOGICAL TEACHERS' PEDAGOGICAL IDEOLOGIES:
A SURVEY
The four areas of teachers' pedagogical ideologies identified in the foregoing
discussion were operationalized in the form of four Likert scales. Three of these
scales were developed for the present study, and very careful attention was paid
to validity" as well as to metric criteria such as factorial structure, size of item
score/total score correlations, alpha coefficient and the like. The vocabulary
and indeed the phraseology of all items were derived from frequently used
vocabulary and phrases of teachers. At all stages of development interviews
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and content analysis of critical comments on items were employed as a check
on respondent perceptions of item meanings. Shifts in the relative emphasis of
summated ratings scores due to shifts in item mix, as items were deleted from
the original pool, were controlled, as was the possibility of semantic shifts due
to the substitution of researcher vocabulary and phrases for those of teachers.
All scales were balanced to avoid positive response bias. The four scales had
final alphas in use of 0.73 (16-item Epistemology) (Young, 1980b), 0.69
(8-item Curriculum Code), 0.58 (4-item Assessment Approach) and 0.81
(17-item Pupil Control Ideology).
But it is interesting to note that the original item pools of two of the three
scales developed for the present study ran as scales with alpha coefficients
greater than 0.8 on the first trial. The assessm&it scale had only four items to
begin with and was not shortened. The fourth scale was a balanced adaptation
of the existing Pupil Control Ideology Scale, which was already based on an appropriate theoretical rationale and contained appropriately worded items
(Willower and Jones, 1967; Anderson et al., 1973; McArthur, 1975).
Examples of items from the four scales are given:
(i) Epistemology: 'Knowledge is always personal and subjective.'
(ii) Curriculum: 'School subjects should be based on the existing forms of
knowledge, each with its own characteristic concepts and methods.'
(iii) Assessment: 'Pupils are not generally capable of sharing in the assessment process.'
(iv) PCI: 'Teachers should consider revision of their teaching methods if
these are criticized by their pupils.'
The four scales were given to teachers in five Australian secondary schools (a
different group of schools from those employed in the ethnographic study). A
total of 152 teachers completed questionnaires, representing a response rate of
68 per cent. It was not possible to estimate non-response bias, although it is
unlikely that this was large enough to affect interpretation ofthe results. School
by school analysis of the data showed that the observed relationships obtained
in all schools and that there were no statistically significant differences
(p < 0.05) in the mean scores of the four scales obtained for samples of teachers
in each school.
In general, the variable scores met the requirements of normality,
homoscedacity and linearity of interrelationship for product moment correlation and linear regression and factor analysis. First, pairwise correlations were
examined (Table 1) and then the overall factor structure and multi-variate relationships were examined (Table 2).
It is clear from the results set out in Table 1 that the variable epistemology is
implicated in teachers' views about curriculum organization, assessment and
pupil control and that further analysis of teacher ideology will have to take this
variable into account. It should also be noted that the relationship between curriculum code, assessment approach and PCI, predicted on the basis of Bernstein's work, is even stronger.
The variables were also examined by multi-variate analysis (Table 2). Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis (ML) was employed to examine the
ideological coherence which the theory suggested would exist between the
various areas of teachers' pedagogical ideology identified. The null hypothesis
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Table 1
Correlation * Matrix for Epistemology, Bernstein Curriculum Code, Assessment Approach,
and Modified PCI, Corrected for Attenuation
(Two-way"): Raw Correlations in Brackets
Epistemology
Curriculum
Assessment
Curriculum
Assessment
PCI
(0.325) 0.460
(0.360) 0.360
(0.472) 0.750
(0.412) 0.540
(0.575) 0.770
(0.554) 0.810
* p<0.01
• The two-way correction ftsed with alpha as a measure of reliability probably
results in an overestimate of true correlation, so the correlations probably
lie somewhere between each pair of correlations.
was that more than one statistically significant factor would be required to explain the linear co-variance between the four variables. This hypothesis was
rejected.
The SPSS ML program (SPSS Version 6.5 Supplementary Handbook)
yielded a single factor solution with an X of 0.3677 with 2 degrees of freedom
and a probability of 0.832. This indicates that the observed scores may be accounted for by only one statistically significant factor. Application of Kaiser's
eigen value criteria also lends support to this conclusion since only the first factor generated an eigen value greater than unity (Kaiser, 1964).
INTERPRETATION OF SURVEY RESULTS
The results of this survey indicate, first, that teachers' epistemologies are an important part of their pedagogical ideologies and are therefore likely to be involved in the shaping of teachers' pedagogical practices and, second, that Bernstein's account of curriculum codes and pedagogies provides useful insights into
the pedagogical ideologies of teachers. In passing, the evidence from this
survey, and from the results of the ethnographic stage, does not support the
view that teacher ideologies may best be described in terms of a conflict between traditional and progressive or open educational beliefs, but that at the
very least a third ideological perspective exists, which is quite close to what
Hoyle (1971) describes as 'nomothetic conservatism' and which in the present
Table 2
Variables
Epistemology
Curriculum
Assessment
PCI
ML Factor Analysis: Factor Matrix, Factor 1"
Loadings
Communalities
0.50
0.69
0.68
0.82
0.20
0.37
0.36
0.46
Eigen values: Factor 1 =2.36; F2=0.71; F3=0.73; F4=0.40
• The common factor explained 59.1 per cent of the total variance.
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A Study
of Teacher Epistemologies
205
study has been called 'technicism'. Technicism differs from 'traditional' views
(cf. Kerlinger, 1967) in the area of epistemology while tending to coincide with
it in its level of emphasis on control of pupils. There is a much greater coincidence between 'interpretive' views and those usually attributed to proponents of 'open education' (cf. Barth, 1972). If we were to look for theoretical
enlightenment concerning technicism we should, perhaps, be looking in the
direction of Ellul (1965) or Habermas (1968).
CONCLUDING REMARKS
It is clear that the inclusion of the variable 'epistemology' in both theory and
research reveals aspects of teachers' ideologies which would not be so readily
apparent without it. It also provides the theoretical possibility of an exploration
of connections between societal ideologies and institutions, on the one hand,
and the unfolding of reality construction processes in classrooms, on the other.
Although, for reasons of brevity, the analysis presented above has been very
schematic, and cast in terms of dichotomies, it is obvious that productive
developments in classrooms must somehow break out of such antinomies.
When should teachers be 'visible' and when 'invisible'? What role should student knowledge play in the curriculum? How can the classroom prepare pupils
to cope with an epistemically pluralist world? These are but a few of the questions which research of this sort raises, but perhaps the central question
educators must face, and this is a question which in some sense underlies all the
others mentioned, is the question of moving towards a new and more useful
definition of teacher authority - not an authority which manifests itself in a
concern for control which is so overwhelming as to swamp the potential of the
classroom for the creation of discourse, but an organic, functional and
democratic authority with which individuals can be engaged in a dialogue and
which progressively yields to their autonomy.
NOTES
The research reported in this article was carried out as a PhD project. I would like to record
my gratitude towards the many people who helped me in the course of this study, and in particular to Professor Peter Musgrave, my supervisor, for his advice and criticism.
2 The study of teacher epistemologies is not, of course, the same thing as the study of
epistemology or the implications of epistemology for education, that is a fundamental
philosophical enterprise.
s It should be noted that the identification of these epistemological views in the ethnographic
research does not constitute an endorsement of any of them by the researcher. The researcher's
own epistemological position is much closer to that of Habermas (1968).
4 Demonstration of the existence of a coherent set of attitudes (an 'ideology') is not, of course,
the same thing as demonstration of a coherent set of practices. Research on classroom
discourse which is at present underway (Young, 1980a) tends to indicate that the ~ap between
theory and practice is likely to be greatest for teachers with hermeneutic views since the dominant form of classroom communication seems ill suited to these views and the view of
knowledge which is most powerful in society at large appears to contradict the hermeneutic
view. It should also be noted that the four elements of ideology examined in this study are not.
intended to be exhaustive of teachers' ideologies. Clearly such elements as images of human
nature may be of importance too.
S Written statements of respondents' views of knowledge were also collected. Content analysis
was employed to assign scores to the data and these were correlated with summated rating
scores on the scales yielding, with one-way correction for attenuation, a correlation coefficient
of r = 0.88, thus providing support for the validity of the scale.
1
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206
Australian Journal of Education
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AUTHOR
Dr Robert Young is a senior lecturer in the Department of Education, University of Sydney.
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