Teachers and Teaching

theory and practice

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How do primary education trainee teachers

perceive educational psychology?

Ibis M. Alvarez, Crista Weise, Berta Vall, Montserrat González & Andy
Morodo

To cite this article: Ibis M. Alvarez, Crista Weise, Berta Vall, Montserrat González & Andy
Morodo (2018) How do primary education trainee teachers perceive educational psychology?,
Teachers and Teaching, 24:1, 81-94, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2017.1379388

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Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 2018
VOL. 24, NO. 1, 81–94
https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2017.1379388

How do primary education trainee teachers perceive

educational psychology?
Ibis M. Alvarez , Crista Weise, Berta Vall, Montserrat González and Andy Morodo
Departament de Psicologia Bàsica, Evolutiva i de l’Educació, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra,
Spain

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Educational Psychology makes a significant contribution to the Received 28 July 2016
development of skills to research the effectivity of teacher practices Accepted 27 June 2017
in class. However, there is little agreement on what educational KEYWORDS
psychology concepts are most relevant for teacher training. This paper Primary education trainee
reports on trainee teachers’ self-perceived mastery of, and attributed teachers; pre-service
importance to, the syllabus content of the Learning & Development teachers; educational
module taken as part of the BA Primary Education programme at psychology; learning
a university in Barcelona (Spain). Data were collected through a expectation
questionnaire answered by all the participants (N = 561) and a focused
interview conducted with a representative sample (n = 24). Results
showed that students attributed greater importance to syllabus
topics related to socio-emotional development and teaching roles
in the classroom. Theoretical topics, such as conceptual frameworks
for development and learning, were less rated. Students reported
deficient mastery of the syllabus topics and significant gaps between
attributed importance and self-perceived mastery of contents were
confirmed. Implications of our study results for teaching psychology
to primary school pre-service teachers are discussed.

Introduction
Early positive approaches to the inclusion of psychology in education, such as Hume’s (1897)
and Thorndike’s (1910), laid the basis for accepting psychology as part and parcel of teacher
training. Since then the importance of psychological knowledge hasn’t been challenged but
sadly there has been little agreement on the psychological concepts that are most relevant
for teacher training.
Learning and Development modules, which deal with the psychology of education, are
expected to help pre-service teachers to understand how children develop and learn; what
motivates them; why social context, interpersonal relationships and emotional well-being
are all important factors in learning; how classroom can be best managed, and finally, how
teachers can assess student progress (American Psychological Association [APA], 2015;
Daniels & Shumow, 2003; Emmer & Stough, 2001; Slavin, 2009; Spencer, 2005). Additionally,
educational psychology knowledge is expected to considerably foster the development of

CONTACT Ibis M. Alvarez [email protected]

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
82  I. M. ALVAREZ ET AL.

research skills to assess the effectivity of teaching practices (Santrock, Woloshyn, Gallagher,
Petta, & Marini, 2010; Woolfolk-Hoy, 2000).
Most of the studies published to date acknowledge the importance of this subject mat-
ter; however, they also highlight deficiencies in its teaching, pointing out that syllabi are
usually too theoretical and too focused on concepts (Asay & Orgill, 2010; Balson, 1974).
Traditionally, educational psychology syllabi comprise a variety of theoretical perspectives
to explain main concepts, instead of teaching general ideas that share a common basis.
Thus, students are forced to deal with theoretical complexities that are more relevant for
researchers than for trainee teachers (De Corte, 2000).
Moreover, several studies have shown that trainee teachers struggle to learn psycho-
logical concepts adequately, and they attribute this deficiency to the way in which they
are being taught; namely, using instructive models that do not promote communication
between students and the teachers (Spector & Strong, 2001; Tan, 2006). Students report
that comprehending content is difficult and that they are not sufficiently motivated to learn;
therefore, long-term application of the knowledge in educational contexts becomes less
feasible (Hofer, 2001; Langer, 2009).
Students come to classrooms with knowledge based on their everyday experiences, social
interactions and intuitions, and with what they have been taught in other settings in the
past. This prior knowledge affects how they will incorporate new learning because what
students already know interacts with the material being taught (Johnson & Sinatra, 2014).
For most students, codified academic knowledge has not been liberated from its original
academic source and is unlikely to be ready for transfer unless there is special provision
through problem-based learning or seminars whose prime purpose is to link prior the-
oretical knowledge with reflections on personal experience in the workplace (Wilson &
Peterson, 2006, p. 11).
Teachers can be instrumental in developing both conceptual growth and conceptual
change in their students. ‘Accordingly, learning consists of either adding to existing student
knowledge, known as conceptual growth, or transforming or revising student knowledge,
known as conceptual change’ (APA, 2015, p. 7). As Woolfolk-Hoy (1996) states, what trainee
teachers need from educational psychology modules is the means to understand, value and
apply the knowledge acquired through a teaching process that somehow involves teaching
practices. Many teaching practices implicitly assume that conceptual knowledge can be
abstracted from situations in which it is learned and used. This assumption inevitably limits
the effectiveness of such practices. Unfortunately, students are too often asked to use the
tools of a discipline without being able to adopt its culture (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989).
When we acknowledge that students interpret – and do not automatically absorb – the
information, ideas and theories they bring to class, the links between learning and teach-
ing become more complicated. Consequently, educational psychology modules shouldn’t
be limited to ‘equipping’ future teachers with theoretical knowledge (Anderman, 2011;
Francis, 1996). In order to effectively contribute to professional development, the teach-
ing of educational psychology should be reframed through the re-construction of trainee
teachers’ previous beliefs about the teaching process, reflexive practice and the promotion
of self-efficacy (Schön, 1983).
Educational psychologists frequently ignore the fact that teachers worry more about the
usefulness and efficacy of their teaching practices than about the comprehension of research
and/or psychological theory (Emmer & Stough, 2001; McCaslin & Hickey, 2001). Therefore,
 TEACHERS AND TEACHING: THEORY AND PRACTICE  83

trainee teachers are interested in transferring acquired knowledge to their practice (Barnett
& Hodson, 2001; De Corte, 2000; Hanich & Deemer, 2005). Trainee teachers are thus able to
gain a wider re-conceptualisation of their own practice which doesn’t overlook the require-
ments and the vertiginous changes that currently take place in social and multicultural
contexts, in which future teachers will practice (Poulou, 2005).
As Bransford, Brown, Cocking, & National Research Council (U.S.) (1999) argued:
to develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must: (a) have a deep foundation of
factual knowledge, (b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework,
and (c) organise knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application. (p. 16)
This approach is in line with the notion of situated learning, which promotes the teaching
of educational psychology through the development of authentic tasks (Santrock et al.,
2010; Slavin, 2009).
Furthermore, involving future teachers in self-evaluation of their competences allows
them to identify, on the one hand, the (new) competences they have acquired or developed
and, on the other, what competences they still need to work on to develop further. This
process also helps teachers in training to gain confidence in their own learning, as evaluation
is considered key in facilitating timely interventions in order to improve teaching practices.
(European Commission/Education & Training, 2013).
With the above considerations in mind, this study aims to explore students’ appreciation
of the relevance of the contents, and to explore their perceptions on contents mastery of
Learning & Development topics. Moreover, previous knowledge and learning expectations
on these modules were also explored.
The information gathered will help us understand possible gaps between the importance
attributed to contents and the level of self-perceived of competences, in relation to concep-
tual command and/or abilities that are required and promoted during the course develop-
ment. Such gaps can be understood as learning needs. Furthermore, obtaining information
on previous knowledge and on learning expectations will allow us to situate students’ assess-
ment of the relevance of contents and their self-perceived level of competences. Perception
of previous knowledge is thus related to the assessment of self-perceived competence, and
learning expectations have a bearing on students’ assessment on the course contents.
Taking the above premises into consideration whilst designing the syllabus should not be
seen as a restriction but as useful guide to adapt the course design to the students’ abilities
and interests, which will presumably translate into greater motivation and fuller appropri-
ation of the learning opportunities offered to students (Grant, 2002).
The ultimate purpose of systems of teacher education and professional development
must be to support teacher learning and all learning has the development of the learner’s
potential as its aim (Hatano & Oura, 2003).

Method
Context and participants
This study was conducted over the span of one academic year at the Faculty of Educational
Sciences of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The participants were 561 students
of the bachelor’s degree in Primary Education, who were enrolled in the Learning and
Development (I) and (II) modules. These semester-long modules are worth 10 ECTS credits
84  I. M. ALVAREZ ET AL.

each, and are taken in the second and third year. The sample represents 90% of the total
number of students in these modules, with 50.3% (n = 252) from the second year, and 49.7%
(n = 249) from the third. In terms of gender, most of the sample consisted of women (88%
from the second year, and 90% from the third; the mean age is 21 years old (age range from
18 to 42 years old). A survey was administered to the n = 561 students and then a randomly
chosen sample of students was selected (n = 24). This subsample included students from
all the class groups that took part in the research, four from the second year (who were
enrolled in Learning and Development I) and four from the third year (enrolled in Learning
and Development II). Three students from each group were invited to participate in a first
semi-structured interview to explore their learning expectations and previous knowledge
of these modules’ contents. The same students took part in a second interview intended to
gain more information after the students had completed the modules.
The bachelor’s degree in Primary Education aims to provide basic training needed to
work as a teacher in the 6–12 year age group in compulsory education. Both modules
are linked – the second module (third year of studies) complements and consolidates the
learning goals of the first module (second year of studies), and this is achieved through the
completion of study tasks that are geared towards educational intervention in the classroom.
That is why we contrasted the results obtained by both groups in the initial and final eval-
uations performed. This analysis also allowed us to identify crosscutting topics in the two
modules and thus carry out any modifications needed in the syllabi, taking into account
the study results and aiming to ensure consistency and continuity, particularly avoiding
any unwelcome gap between conceptual issues (the basis of psychological development)
and practical elements (educational intervention).

Techniques and procedures

Questionnaire: to assess the importance attributed to Learning and Development (LD)
modules and the students’ self-perceived mastery of the module contents. The questionnaire
was adapted from the survey instrument proposed by Tan (2006). It includes 66 items out
of which 33 refer to conceptual knowledge (e.g. Understand pupils’ language development),
and 33 refer to skill (e.g. Promote pupils’ language development). These items are linked to
the syllabi of the LD courses, 28 items refer to Developmental Psychology contents (LDI)
(topics related to conceptual basis of development; and physical, cognitive, and socio-af-
fective development), 31 refer to content of Educational Psychology (LDII) (topics related
to teachers’ role, knowledge of pupils’ development, interpersonal relationships and com-
munication, and classroom management) and 7 items refer to research skills, which are a
common topic for both modules (sample item: reading and understanding scientific papers
published in psychology or education journals). Answers were placed on a 5-point Likert
scale (5: very important; 1: not important at all). Both items were answered twice; one
answer referred to the importance attributed and the other to self-perceived mastery. For
the 66 items referring to importance attribute, the Alpha Cronbach coefficient was .95 and
for the items referring to self-perceived mastery the coefficient was .98. Questionnaires were
administered by the teachers of each group on the first session. Participation was voluntary,
and students had the option to use a nickname if they preferred to keep their identity secret.
The interview protocol was divided into three different aspects:
 TEACHERS AND TEACHING: THEORY AND PRACTICE  85

(1) What should a future teacher know about Psychology: the a priori attributed impor-
tance to the contents, knowledge and skills included in the module syllabus was
explored. Questions aimed to promote reflection on the value of syllabus contents
for future teachers. Additionally, self-perceived mastery on the knowledge and
skills was also explored.
(2) Module learning expectations: expectations on the knowledge, both conceptual (e.g.
what do you expect to learn?) and procedural (e.g. what activities do you expect
to undertake? How do expect learn?), were explored.
(3) Research related competences: students’ previous knowledge and ideas about learn-
ing through research and inquiry-based learning were explored. Questions focused
on the usefulness of research methods for both the students’ learning process and
their future work.
These aspects were also taken into account in the final interview, although retrospectively.
To avoid biased answers, the interviews were not conducted by the module teachers but
by a research assistant. Interviews lasted around 20 min and participation was voluntary,
via invitation. All students accepted the invitation, and with their consent, interviews were
recorded and transcribed for their subsequent analysis using Atlas Ti V6. Two members of
the research team read the transcribed interviews in detail, and structured the analysis in
terms of the research topics (importance of the contents, self-reported mastery and expec-
tations). These two research members analysed 25% of the data independently (six inter-
views independently chosen) in order to construct the system of categories that emerged
from the content of the interviews. Coding was discussed and repeated until agreement of
82% was reached between the two researchers. Then the remaining interviews were codi-
fied. Codes, categories and themes were then negotiated between us (the authors involved
in the research), based on the principle of ‘interpretive zone’ as a ‘place where multiple
viewpoints are held in dynamic tension as a group seeks to make sense of fieldwork issues
and meanings’ (Wasser & Bresler, 1996, p. 6). Thus, for all team members, who were also
active researchers, team participation increased the complexity of such issues as access,
confidentiality and trust.

Results
Pre-service teachers’ attributed relevance of syllabus contents
As shown in Table 1, the topic that students attributed more importance to is Pupils’ Socio-
Affective Development. In second place was Teachers’ Role, followed by Knowledge of
Pupils’ development. The ANOVA test for group comparison (second and third years) didn’t
show any significant difference on the less rated topics: Conceptual Basis of Development;
Conceptual Basis of Learning, and Physical Development. Finally, in the topic related to
Teachers’ Role the difference found among both groups was marginal.
A more detailed analysis of the results shows the topics that were more rated in each of
the dimensions. We will now briefly review the most relevant ones; firstly, the most rated
dimensions and then, the least rated ones.
The three most rated topics were:
86  I. M. ALVAREZ ET AL.

Table 1. Attributed Importance to contents of the syllabus of the Psychology course (LD).
Topic Module Second year (n = 252) Third year (n = 249) p
Socio-affective development LDI 61.25 (6.9) 62.93 (6.3) .008
Teachers’ role LDII 55.49 (5.15) 56.37 (4.74) .051
Knowledge of pupils’ development LDII 35.11 (2.77) 36.02 (2.65) .000
Cognitive development LDI 28.31 (3.58) 29.16 (3.47) .006
Interpersonal relationships and communication LDII 25.48 (2.59) 26.19 (3.47) .002
Classroom management LDII 21.98 (2.22) 22.75(1.84) .000
Research skills 20.25 (3.74) 21.37 (3.19) .000
Conceptual basis of development LDI 18.94 (2.75) 19.06 (2.74) .634
Physical development LDI 14.43 (2.9) 14.15 (2.73) .283
Conceptual basis of learning LDII 11.4 (1.89) 11.66 (1.83) .117
Note: The table shows average scores for the items in each topic, arranged from higher to lower. Standard deviation is indi-
cated in brackets. The data in the last column refer to a comparison between second- and third-year students’ answers via
an ANOVA test. (LDI: Developmental Psychology contents, LDII: Educational Psychology contents).

(a) Socio-Affective Development: the most rated topics were learning to identify prob-
lems related to prejudices and discrimination; knowing the influence of the family’s
educational style on students’ psychological development; understanding the devel-
opment and functioning of young pupils and adolescents. The mean score of these
items (for both modules) was higher than 4 (scores ranged from 1 to 5). All these
items were categorised as conceptual knowledge (Know).
(b) Teachers’ Role: the most rated items in this topic were helping students to enjoy
learning; assessing/helping students with serious learning difficulties; understanding
students’ attitudes, and helping students overcome simple psychological problems.
Mean of these items scored more than 4.5 (very important). The majority of these
items were categorised as skills (Know to do).
(c) Pupils’ Learning and Development: in this topic the most rated items were motivating
pupils and promoting creative and critical thinking. The mean score of these items
was higher than 4.5. The majority of these items were categorised as skills (Know
to do).
The less rated topic was Conceptual Framework of Psychological Development. Students
considered it was rather important to learn about pupils’ development. However, learning
about theoretical perspectives on psychological development or on the education was rated
as non-important. The Research Skills dimension was not highly rated; however, in a more
detailed analysis, results show that the item ‘Doing research to assess the efficacy of our own
teaching methods’ was the only one rated as important in this dimension.
In relation to the attributed importance to Learning & Development topics (syllabus con-
tents of psychology modules), in the interviews most of the students state that socio-affective
development and understanding emotions are a fundamental factor for effective teaching.
In addition, they consider that being able to regulate students’ emotions and behaviour is
also very important.
Students’ accounts highlight their willingness to get to know their pupils, understand
how they learn and provide them with a meaningful learning experience which is differently
shaped depending on pupils’ age. Along these lines, students point out that developmental
and learning theories are crucial tools for their future practice.
From their point of view, educational psychology allows them to have basic knowl-
edge of pupils’ development and their developmental stages, thus enabling them to tend
 TEACHERS AND TEACHING: THEORY AND PRACTICE  87

to pupils’ needs, taking into account their individual differences and the characteristics of
each learning stage. Furthermore, educational psychology allows them to better understand
pupils’ behaviour, their motivations and possible causes of their learning difficulties, most
of which usually arise from discrepancies between the teacher’s educational actions and
students’ needs.
All the interviewed students highly rated the importance of psychology and have great
learning expectations; however, it seems difficult for them to point out what concrete ele-
ments psychology can offer for their future work. This is more evident among second-year
students, who obviously have a less precise representation of the modules. Some of their
comments exemplify these perceptions:
(the teacher)…has to learn to empathise with the pupils; therefore, he/she has to have some
idea about what happens with emotions, for example. He/she has to have some ideas on how
pupils learn. So basically, these two aspects.
(…) apart from transmitting knowledge and all that, it’s all about treating people; he/she (the
teacher) has to know about psychology so as to regulate each pupil’s behaviour.
Third-year students are better at describing the importance of connecting educational
psychology input (theories and approaches) and their future practice as teachers.
The basic theories regarding education and educational psychology are important because you
can apply them in different ways and they can influence your teaching. You have to know your
students’ needs and to select which theory or approach is better, be it a more constructivist or
a more cognitivist approach depending on the class.
I believe that a teacher should know how to interpret his/her pupils’ attitudes, taking into
account, for instance, the family context; learning how this can affect the child psychologically.
Also, a teacher should know about children’s learning stages, such as Piaget’s stages, so as to
know what to expect and not demand more than children can give.
… learning theories are important; I consider them interesting and it’s important to know
about them (…) Taking these theories as a starting point, we teachers draw ideas from them
and we come up with new ideas and devise better ways to teach and understand how pupils
learn. This is all very useful.

Pre-service teachers’ self-perceived mastery of psychology content

As shown in Table 2, it is worth noting that students reported little mastery of syllabus
content. Significant differences between second- and third-year groups were found in all
the dimensions. Third-year students had taken the first module (LD I) in their second year;
therefore, they reported higher self-perceived mastery on some contents. Moreover, those
students rated research skills higher.
This result, contrasted with the high mean values of the attributed importance, may be
considered as learning needs reported by the students. Thus, for example, when comparing
a low score on self-perceived knowledge on a specific content with the highly attributed
importance to it, that topic is understood as a student learning need. The highest learn-
ing needs identified in both groups relate to the topics Socio-Affective Development and
Teachers’ Role.
Moreover, maximum and minimum values and the standard deviation highlight differ-
ences among students in terms of previous knowledge and interests. Such student diversity
88  I. M. ALVAREZ ET AL.

Table 2. Self-perceived mastery on the syllabus contents.

Topics Module Second year (n = 252) Third year (n = 249) p
Socio-affective development LDI 38.97 (8.23) 43.05 (6.75) .000
Teachers’ role LDII 28.59 (7.58) 31.22 (6.56) .000
Knowledge of pupils’ development LDII 22.53 (4.73) 25.31 (4.06) .000
Interpersonal relationships and communication LDII 15.71 (4.1) 17.93 (3.66) .000
Classroom management LDII 12.73 (3.37) 14.74 (2.88) .000
Cognitive development LDI 11.98 (3.74) 14.35 (2.93) .000
Research skills 11.19 (4.06) 14.09 (3.36) .000
Conceptual basis of development LDI 10.05 (3.62) 12.57 (3.34) .000
Physical development LDI 8.15 (3.08) 9.28 (2.71) .000
Conceptual basis of learning LDII 6.45 (2.28) 7.73 (1.83) .000
Note: The table shows mean scores for the items in each topic, arranged from higher to lower. Standard deviation is indicat-
ed in brackets. The data in the last column refer to a comparison between second- and third-year students’ answers via an
ANOVA test. (LDI: Developmental Psychology contents, LDII: Educational Psychology contents).

is not surprising but it is something that needs to be taken into account when designing
any syllabus.
In general, second-year students consider that they have low mastery of psychology
contents. When prompted to elaborate on this issue during the interviews, they report
very little previous experience, which is mainly based on personal therapeutic experiences
or contents studied at High School, which they can’t remember or master. Below are some
examples of their comments:
I remember very little; I remember some of the authors. I kind of recall something but I could
not tell you what exactly.
I don’t think I master much of the contents. I don’t know exactly what is the focus of the module,
I think it is about language development and that it focuses on children at different ages, but
I don’t know much about this at the moment.
(I know) very little about psychology; just some self-help books and not much more.
Third-year students’ interviews showed significant progress. Many of them are able to
use psychology-specific terminology to define their mastery level. They clearly point to the
second-year module (LDI) as the basis of their knowledge, the module that gave them the
basic notions, and they are able to remember concrete topics and discuss them with the
appropriate terminology.
Above all I learned about the process of learning about emotional development, in the sense
that, firstly, I must be able to identify emotions, and then I must communicate them and
finally regulate them. We also learned about development theories from a social perspective;
we then focused on Vygotsky, and then, with all the other modules we have also learned about
constructivism.
Above all, I now know about Vygotsky, the zone of proximal development, the different learn-
ing/teaching contexts, such as formal, informal and non-formal. Mainly the topic of emotions,
the various phases to understand emotions. Well, also about the different levels: cognitive,
psychomotor, affective and well, all about the development of an individual, from when he/
she is born until he/she gets older.
The aspects that students highlighted the most are the emotional dimension and devel-
opmental theories, establishing a link to their own future work.
Students state that learning psychology is something new to them, but it is also motivat-
ing, and useful for their training. As they progress through the modules, they gain a clearer
 TEACHERS AND TEACHING: THEORY AND PRACTICE  89

understanding of the benefits of learning psychology for teaching and they rate this as a
positive and relevant experience for their future practice.

Students’ learning expectations

Students reported a high level of expectation about learning psychology, whereas their level
of previous knowledge of the syllabus content, the importance attributed to it, and their
self-perceived mastery, presented divergent results.
Probably due to their little previous experience and knowledge, second-year students’
expectations focused on general aspects of psychology. In some cases, for example, they
referred to brain functioning, regulation of pupils’ behaviour or getting to know the child.
Therefore, these students had less concrete expectations than third-year students. Below
are some examples of students’ answers:
I would like to learn about children’s emotional development. I don′t know … it is something
that has always caught my attention.
I have expectations to learn, to learn just about this topic. I think that sometimes we lack infor-
mation. Teachers should make us do research in order to gain deeper knowledge of psychology.
Third-year students’ expectations concern expanding their knowledge they already have,
learning more about emotions and socio-affective development, and learning more about
developmental stages. It seems important for them to be able to link that knowledge to their
future practice. Below are examples of third-year students’ answers:
… based on theory, (I expect to learn) how to treat different students, how to deal with them
when there is a problem. (I expect) to be able to perform well, learn some strategies and teach
better depending on pupils’ age.
I am interested mainly in expanding the knowledge we already have, but also on applying this
knowledge to real situations, so that we are then able to transfer these skills to what we will be
required to do on a daily basis in our future jobs.

Discussion and conclusions

Firstly, regarding the syllabus content included in the Psychology modules, results indi-
cate that the most important topic for pre-service students is socio-affective development.
Secondly, content related to teachers’ role and the learning and developmental process of
students also seemed to be rated as important. Learning how to manage the class, under-
standing pupils’ behaviour, organising cooperative activities, integrating students with spe-
cial education needs, are all key concerns for these students, which match their learning
expectations on Educational Psychology modules. This result confirms other studies’ results
(Emmer & Stough, 2001; Slavin, 2009; Spencer, 2005; Tan, 2006), and it highlights the need
to teach psychology in a way that enables pre-service teachers to understand, value and
use the knowledge through a teaching process that is closely linked to the context of their
future professional practices (Woolfolk-Hoy, 1996).
The Learning and Development module seeks to increase the professionalisation of pri-
mary education trainee teachers. Its learning goals are to ensure that trainee teachers are
able to (a) identify the different conceptions about development, and its implications for
teaching practices; (b) integrate cognitive and socio-emotional development of primary
90  I. M. ALVAREZ ET AL.

school pupils into a personal vision about the student which allows the tutorial action to
be undertaken and (c) reflect on the experiences of professional practice in the classroom
in a critical and constructive way, in the light of the content worked with. If we succeed in
teaching topics of interest to the students in creative and motivating ways and in imple-
menting situated learning around problems that are highly relevant in professional practice,
then teaching psychology would effectively contribute to the professional development of
future teachers. We, psychology teachers, have a real opportunity in our hands to achieve
this aim and thus contribute to redefining a place for the theory of psychology within our
educational practices.
On the other hand, it is worth noting that our study also evidenced that the conceptual
basis of both the developmental and the learning process are less appealing topics for these
students. This result confirms findings from other studies (Asay & Orgill, 2010; Balson, 1974;
Wilson & Peterson, 2006), and it seems to suggest that pre-service teachers don’t rate the
theoretical–conceptual content that is usually abundant in modules such as Developmental
Psychology and Educational Psychology. This is probably linked to a perceived resistance
by lecturers to renounce traditional academic discourses, which focus on theoretical
approaches and pay little attention to the needs of future professionals (Johnson & Sinatra,
2014; Quinn, 2012). Thus, lecturers are encouraged to reflect about their own practices, so
that academic discourses may be replaced by more dialogical discourses, focused on the
professional context and tending to pre-service teachers’ learning needs and expectations
(Mälkki & Lindblom-Ylänne, 2012).
The place for the theory of psychology has within educational practice and vice versa
should be defined through a critical analysis of the various conceptual approaches and
through continued debate of our interpretations. Because theories vary in their quality and
rigour, it seems imperative that teachers be well informed, sceptical consumers of ‘new’
educational ideas or reigning theories (Phillips, 2000). As Brown et al. (1989, p. 33) state:
‘to learn to use tools as practitioners use them, a student, like an apprentice, must enter that
community and its culture. Thus, in a significant way, learning is a process of enculturation’.
With regard to self-mastery on syllabus content of psychology modules, results show
that students have low mastery. This should be taken into account in the teaching process,
as it is important that students go through a process of progressive and gradual appropri-
ation (Francis, 1996). In this regard, it seems worth it to implement ‘learning as a process
of active engagement’, creating opportunities for students to learn in a significant manner,
by means of authentic tasks (Wilson & Peterson, 2006). In this view of teaching, teachers
become responsible for diagnosing students’ interpretations and helping them alter, edit
and enrich them.
Lastly, learning expectations also coincide with attributed importance. Moreover, stu-
dents highlighted the need to learn psychology in a contextualised manner, focusing on
professional practice. This is a promising result given that Learning and Development is
part of the Basic Formation that pre-service teachers receive during the first few years
of their degree. Initial Teacher Education needs to be considered as a starting point for
this ongoing process of professional development. Teachers should be able to develop and
maintain a mindset and a practical approach which are based on reflection and inquiry,
and focused on ongoing professional development (European Commission/Education &
Training, 2013, p. 33).
 TEACHERS AND TEACHING: THEORY AND PRACTICE  91

In sum, our results support the need to renew Psychology teaching programmes for
pre-service teachers, as Letamendia (1989) had stressed long ago in his study about initial
teacher training in Spain. Psychology for teachers shouldn’t focus on teaching concepts
but on helping students to establish links between theoretical approaches and the concrete
challenges of their future practice. In this regard, learning through research is an appealing
strategy for expanding on the theory but also for learning about the contexts of practice. In
line with Anderman’s (2011) and APA’s (2015) proposals, more emphasis should be placed
on situated learning, as it is important that students understand the value and meaning of
the conceptual basis for their future practice.
Thus, the study of psychology should allow pre-service teachers to acquire a solid basis
that allows them to understand, from the perspective of psychology, the diverse reality of
the class and to develop competencies to face the real challenges in their practice (Barnett
& Hodson, 2001; De Corte, 2000; Hanich & Deemer, 2005; Woolfolk-Hoy, 1996). It is thus
important to implement teaching methods that would allow pre-service teachers to learn
about the main concepts of Educational Psychology, but that would also motivate them to
continue learning throughout their professional life (either through quality information
sources, or by analysing real cases of their classes) (Santrock et al., 2010; Patrick, Anderman,
Bruening, & Duffin, 2011).
These results are useful in improving the design of psychology modules in teacher train-
ing programmes. They demonstrate that pre-service teachers’ specific needs must be taken
into account in order to better connect theory with practice and to increase their awareness
of the importance of psychology contents for their educations as future teachers. Thus,
pre-service teacher training in psychology will be more adjusted to their expectations and
their future context of professional practice. Teaching processes centred on learning needs
involve paying attention to individual differences and thus pre-service teachers are able to
expand their individual set of professional competencies.
Previous evaluation of the knowledge that students are meant to acquire throughout the
course, as well as their perception of their initial command of such knowledge, are useful
indicators that help steer the teaching and learning process towards content that links in with
the students’ previous knowledge and their expectations, thus increasing their motivation
for learning. Furthermore, having this information allows teachers to make informed deci-
sions about the support needed by students so as to facilitate their completion of authentic
learning activities. Teachers are also able to identify the issues that are causing students
more difficulties or that may have a greater impact on their achievement of significant and
progressive learning in the two Learning and Development modules.
In future research, it will be worth ascertaining true mastery based on learning results
and contrasting it to self-perceived competence. Learning about discrepancies between
the two would offer valuable information that would enable trainers to foster students’
conscious involvement in authentic learning activities. These activities will also allow for
progressive development of the students’ competencies, and their continued evaluation
and self-evaluation.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
92  I. M. ALVAREZ ET AL.

Funding
This work was supported by the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca under Grant
[2014 ARMIF 00019].

Notes on contributors
Ibis M Alvarez is a senior lecturer in the Department for Developmental and Educational Psychology,
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her research interests focused on cultural aspects of learning
and psychological development.
Crista Weise is a lecturer in the Department for Developmental and Educational Psychology,
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her research interest focused on teaching and learning strate-
gies, identities in education and cultural aspects of learning.
Berta Vall is a research fellow at the Faculty of Psychology at Ramón Llull University. She holds a PhD
in clinical psychology. Her research interests have focused on two main areas: identity construction
of students, and identity construction within the clinical context.
Montserrat González is an associate professor in the Department for Developmental and Educational
Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. After completing her MA studies in Psychology, she
obtained a PhD in Education and Theater. She has finished the studies in Directing and Dramaturgy
at the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona. Her research interests focused on Drama teaching and crea-
tivity development.
Andy Morodo is an associate professor in the Department for Developmental and Educational
Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. His interest focused on inclusive education and
teachers’ training.

ORCID
Ibis M. Alvarez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3250-3214

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