Value myths scale—teacher form: a validity and reliability study

The purpose of this study is to develop the Value Myths Scale—Teacher Form (VMS-TF), designed to assess teachers’ myth-based, traditionalist, and essentialist beliefs about values education, and to examine the psychometric properties of the scale. The scale development process followed a systematic, multi-stage procedure including the establishment of a theoretical framework, item pool construction, expert review, pilot testing, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and reliability analyses. The study was conducted using data obtained from 206 teachers. Results of the EFA indicated that the scale has a four-factor structure. These factors were labeled as: Traditional and Family-Centered Conceptions of Values , The Role of School and Teachers in Values Education , Developmental and Experience-Based Conceptions of Values , and Positioning Values Outside Formal Education and Beliefs in Immutability . CFA results demonstrated that the four-factor model yielded acceptable fit indices and showed an adequate level of fit to the data. Reliability analyses revealed that Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the subscales ranged from.70 to.78, while the coefficient for the overall scale was.77. These findings indicate that the scale demonstrates satisfactory internal consistency both at the subscale level and as a whole. Overall, the findings provide initial evidence supporting the validity and reliability of the VMS-TF. The scale may be considered a promising instrument for assessing teachers’ beliefs about values education, although further validation across independent samples, different educational contexts, and larger populations is recommended.