How do University Teachers Learn to Teach? An Approach to Building Beliefs About Teaching

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. This study aimed to understand how the student trajectory of university professors contributed to the construction of beliefs about teaching and how these benefited learning to teach. The relevance of studying beliefs lies in the fact that they provide confidence in the knowledge believed,  therefore they contribute to planning and conducting teaching. METHOD. With a qualitative focus on grounded theory and theoretical sampling, professors with different professional backgrounds, years of experience and teaching areas in Mexican public and private universities were interviewed. The data was analyzed and coded for the creation of categories. RESULTS. A central category was found related to the scope of university teaching in the construction of beliefs, this category comprises three subcategories: the expository class, self-regulation and the creation of a personal teaching style. These categories describe that having mastery of knowledge, promoting the participation of students and applying knowledge are pedagogical skills. These beliefs associated with the development of self-regulation originated in some professors a teaching style different from the one they experienced, while others incorporated some characteristics from their  professors. DISCUSSION. The findings provide knowledge about how professors  learned to teach, motivated by reflection and use of the beliefs that worked for them to learn, as well as their teaching expectations. The role of beliefs as guides in teaching is also confirmed, it is consistent with research results in this avenue of avenue of inquiry into teacher thinking. It is concluded that professors create teaching styles different from those learned by direct experience, which constitutes for them a reference of what it means to know how to teach, their ways of learning, and the belief in the results of their own learning.