EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS AND DIGITAL CULTURE: EXPLORING PRESERVICE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES ACROSS TRAINING CYCLES

Abstract

The present study explores the personal epistemological beliefs of candidates for the positions of high school teacher and primary school teacher. The present study involves a survey of 114 future secondary school teachers in Morocco, which was then analyzed using SPSS to produce descriptive statistics. The findings indicate that the type of digital tools used exerts a significant influence on the beliefs of prospective teachers. The content disseminated through social media, the personal blogs of instructors, and institutional portals is commonly regarded as straightforward and readily available. However, the study highlights the need for critical examination of such content due to occasional contradictions with foundational scientific principles. Future educators demonstrate pronounced autonomy in their knowledge construction process. Additionally, the study shows that these future teachers place significant value on ideas and knowledge derived from experienced sources. Differences in epistemological beliefs and cognitive judgment between primary and secondary cycle future educators were noted only in the "Justification of Knowledge and Understanding" sub-dimension.