Epistemological beliefs of students of Pedagogy: validation of the questionnaire and analysis of differences

This study describes epistemological beliefs from students in the Degree of Pedagogy at the University of Barcelona (Spain), and analyzes differences in these beliefs according to their year of study, gender, and age. To do so, the psychometric properties (construct validity and internal consistency) of Schommer Epistemological Questionnaire (1990) were estimated. 229 students participated. Results show that the reliability of the instrument is moderate (a = .653), and the factorial structure revealed validates the epistemological model proposed by Schommer. Furthermore, the results indicate that final year student beliefs are more sophisticated than first year student beliefs in respect to learning ability and to the structure and certainty of knowledge. Differences were also found owning to the student’s gender, but not to age.