Pre-service to In-service Changes in Beliefs: A Study of Intention to Become a Democratic Practitioner

Abstract

This study investigated the degree to which beliefs about democratic theory and practice taught in a social studies methods course would persist after the transition to in-service teaching. The 27 participants were pre-service teachers at initial data collection and first-year in-service teachers at final data collection. Data were collected through bipolar probability and evaluative scales at pre-service and in-service stages and through interviews at the in-service stage. In-service teachers' scores on scales of all seven major variables were as high, or higher, than they had been in the pre-service stage. The study's results have implications for integrating practice with theory taught in the social studies methods course.