Teaching beliefs: a comparison between Italian primary and secondary school trainee teachers

This paper reports research which compares the teaching beliefs of primary and secondary school trainee teachers. Participants were 177 trainee teachers, 92 enrolled in a primary school teacher degree course, and 85 enrolled in a postgraduate teacher training course specifically for music teaching at secondary school level (middle and high school). A questionnaire with closed questions was employed for assessing beliefs. By performing factor analysis, the following four dimensions were extracted: innovative teaching and cooperative learning, teacher centred approach, learner centred approach, and working collaboratively. Data were subjected to ANOVA for each factor of the questionnaire. Significant differences between primary and secondary trainee teachers in the way they think about music teaching were found. The relevance of these factors and differences were discussed considering how to improve the education of teachers.