Research (ir)relevance for student teachers: the impact of epistemic beliefs, epistemic emotions and demographics

This survey study (n = 376) investigated student teachers’ views about educational research, taking a social-psychological perspective in employing the conceptual frameworks of epistemic beliefs and epistemic emotions. Drawing on a cross-sectional sample, the study investigated relationships between epistemic beliefs (beliefs individuals hold about knowing and coming to know), epistemic emotions (resulting from appraisals about congruence between new information and existing beliefs and knowledge structures) and demographics. It also examined whether distinct person-centred profiles of student teachers emerged through latent profile analysis. The findings revealed statistically significant influences of gender, age and student teachers’ chosen pathway in initial teacher education (university-led or school-led initial teacher education): males had epistemic beliefs and emotions that were broadly receptive to research but wished to acquire knowledge quickly; mature students were unlikely to have epistemic beliefs and emotions that led to negative views about research; undergraduates perceived less utility of research for practice than postgraduates; and students in initial teacher education on university-led courses had more receptive epistemic beliefs and emotions for research than those on school-led courses. The latent profile analysis revealed four distinct profiles of student teachers, differentiated by particular clusters of epistemic beliefs and emotions. The article considers the implications of these findings for pedagogy of initial teacher education.