The Nature of Social Studies Teachers’ Beliefs About Teaching

Abstract

This article reports on teachers’ beliefs about teaching and the implications of these beliefs in the teaching of Social Studies. A case study design was adopted using a beliefs tool that was administered to a sample of 21 Social Studies teachers in junior secondary schools and five in-service Social Studies teachers enrolled at the national university. Data were analyzed against the Luft and Roehrig (2007) belief categories and the South African Norms and Standards for teaching. The findings showed that teachers have different beliefs about teaching: as a knowledge-based profession and as a community, citizenship, and pastoral responsibility.