Investigating the predictive relationships between prospective teachers' professional knowledge course achievement and educational beliefs

This research aims to examine the academic performance and educational beliefs of pre-service teachers regarding professional knowledge courses from the perspective of different variables and to determine the predictive relationships between these two variables. The study employs a causal-comparative model and a predictive research model. The study population consists of third and fourth-year students enrolled in the Faculty of Education at Kütahya Dumlupınar University. Data were collected through student transcripts and the "Educational Beliefs Scale" (Yılmaz, Altınkurt, & Çokluk, 2011). For data analysis, descriptive statistics, the Kruskal-Wallis H Test, independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation analysis, and simple linear regression analysis were utilized. The study found that pre-service teachers achieved high levels of success in professional knowledge courses and predominantly adopted existentialism and progressivism while showing less preference for perennialism and essentialism. It was concluded that gender, grade level, and the department of study significantly differentiated the success in professional knowledge courses. At the same time these variables also significantly influenced some dimensions of educational beliefs. The type of high school graduated from, parents' education levels, frequency of reading books, and involvement in a project did not create significant differences in professional knowledge course success and educational beliefs. It was also found that the success of pre-service teachers in professional knowledge courses had a significant but low correlation with the educational belief dimensions of essentialism, existentialism, and progressivism. Furthermore, it was determined that professional knowledge courses, albeit at a low level, only predicted existentialism and essentialism.