Beliefs Acceptance Model (BAM): A Tokenistic Approach to Reconceptualising Knowledge in Teacher Education Programmes (TEPs)

This paper argues that issues related to pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning can no longer be limited to research findings. There is an urgent need for such findings to inform curricular choices in teacher education programmes. The existence of these beliefs can no longer be ignored in the choices that shape the teacher education curricula. There is a need to acknowledge the important role they play in pre-service teachers’ professional identities, and thus require integration into the formation of future teachers’ being. Thus, the paper argues that persistence in ignoring pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning may continue to produce unreflective, unprepared graduates who lack confidence both in themselves and in the institutions that produce them. Hence, this theoretical paper proposes the beliefs acceptance model (BAM) which combines elements of the metacognitive and attribution theories as a framework for understanding why it is essential to foreground the beliefs of pre-service teachers in teacher education programmes. The primary aim of this paper is to examine how both theories, conceptualised as a model, can be used to engage with pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning in teacher education programmes. This paper will not only contribute to knowledge in the teacher education programmes, but can also be useful for curriculum planners and other stakeholders in higher education institutions in general. Keywords: Attribution theory, teaching and learning, Metacognitive theory, Pre-Service Teachers, teacher educators, academic developers, beliefs acceptance model