Philippine E-Journals

This paper discusses the pedagogical beliefs of practicing teachers in two countries—Indonesia and Australia. It investigates what teachers deem to be important in planning and implementing teaching for effective student experiences in the classroom. Pedagogical beliefs are directly related to teachers’ decision-making in planning and implementing their teaching; thus, they are directly relevant to attempts to understand and reform practice. In this study, pedagogical beliefs are constructed along the dimensions of Productive Pedagogy, a teaching framework developed in Australia and is increasingly used as research and professional development tool in a variety of educational settings. This paper argues that the main benefit of this type of research is not the measurement of teachers’ beliefs but the potential of leading to action to improve teaching. It is hoped that further research might not only look at measuring beliefs but understanding of the contextual factors that give rise to these and to conduct interventions to change these towards improving practice. This study points to the observation that a universal program that is designed to reform teachers’ beliefs and actions in teaching cannot be one-size-fits-all. It has to take local conditions into account.