Teachers Professional Knowledge and the Teaching of Reading in the Early Years (original) (raw)
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What are the sources of teachers' professional knowledge for the teaching of reading? This paper reports findings from a study that investigated the role of teachers in the current Research-Policy-Praxis Nexus (RPPN). This was achieved by a specific focus upon constructions of reading in the early years in Victoria, Australia. All of the teacher participants either implemented or coordinated the Victorian Early Years Literacy Program (EYLP) in the primary school setting. These teachers were interviewed in order to hear their views on reading development and reading pedagogy and to identify the sources of this professional knowledge. The findings from this study are important for all teachers and teacher educators as they have implications for teaching practise, teacher education and teacher professional development programs.
Unpacking the Code: Exploring Teachers’ Professional Development in Reading
Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 2020
Teaching reading requires considerable knowledge and skill acquired over several years, and while communities and families contribute to students’ reading success, teachers are the most influential forces for delivering high-quality reading programs. Professional development opportunities in reading enable teachers to augment their current curriculum content and pedagogical knowledge and can have a powerful effect on their practice and, ultimately, on student learning. We conducted a qualitative study exploring teachers’ perceptions of reading development and instruction with nine elementary educators enrolled in a targeted professional development course. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted: once prior to the start of the professional development course and once following the professional development course. An inductive approach to analysis resulted in four main themes: seeking out new knowledge, evolving definitions of reading, transformative learning moments, and incre...
Teachers' professional development in the context of a nation-wide project on reading literacy
Mainly as a response to relatively low achievements of Slovenian 15-year olds in PISA 2009 measurements of reading literacy, a 2-year project Empowering learners through improving reading literacy and access to knowledge has been launched. The main goals were to improve motivation and reading literacy, especially reading comprehension in students of 9-year school, and also to reduce the gap in reading literacy of students from different SES. To achieve this, classroom and subject teachers in the participating schools were encouraged and trained to use more appropriate and varied teaching strategies and also to increase school-wide cooperation and responsibility. In the final evaluation of the project, mainly »visible« results were observed and measured, especially the use of varied methods and student reading achievements. But for the sustainability of the project it is also important to know to what extent the cooperation in the project contributed to teachers' professional development. To get some insight into this, we carried out a series of interviews with focus groups of 3-4 teachers from eight of the participating schools. We had two key questions in mind: Has the project brought about any significant changes in acting and thinking about teaching, learning, relationships with students and collegues that can be interpreted as signs of professional development? Which characteristics of the project could these changes be attributed to? In the interpretation of answers, we applied Korthagen's »onion model« of levels of change. The findings enable us a formulation of some guidelines for the management of similar projects in the future.
More than Standardisation: Teacher’s Professional Literacy Learning in Australia?
Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2017
Current policies guiding literacy and teacher professional learning in Australia, tend to foreground the importance of standardised practice and assessment in classrooms and schools. However, enactments of print-oriented literacy and professional learning in alignment with this emphasis stand in contradiction with contemporary approaches, which implicate consideration of diversity and contextual relevance. This paper positions teacher problematisation and negotiation of this contradiction as key for broadening literacy learning horizons. Incorporating multiliteracies, Cultural Historical Activity Theory and sociocritical perspectives on policy and professional learning, the authors propose a multidimensional framework for exploring and supporting dynamic and conflictually sensitive teacher learning processes. Such visioning is important if teachers, school leaders, pre-service educators and researchers are to enable learners with adaptable literacy repertoires with relevance to rapidly evolving twenty first century communications and social interactions.
Teachers’ professional development: Awareness of literacy practices
South African Journal of Education, 2015
This article draws upon our experiences of participating in a Literacy Hub in South Africa. The aim is to describe and analyse how dialogue among Grade Eight teachers in a Literacy Hub around literacy teaching practices might lead to professional development and deepen teachers' understanding of literacy practices and teaching. Interviews and observations with eight teachers were conducted to understand their literacy practices. The result indicates that sustainable development is a process that takes time. Furthermore, the study shows that the teachers relate to students' context and own experiences as a means of introducing a topic. While some teachers try to give the students access to cognitively demanding tasks, most tasks and events in the classrooms are cognitively undemanding and context-embedded. The importance of offering teachers examples of varied literacy practices and of making classroom literacy practice visible is noted.
The Teacher's Role in the Research-Policy-Praxis Nexus
Australian Journal of Education, 2008
What kinds of relationships exist between educational policy, research and the professional knowledge of the teachers that implement these policies in practice? This article reports research that examined the role of teachers working in an environment formed by links between research, policy and practice. By adopting a contextual focus upon the Victorian Early Years Literacy Program, its research and teachers who implement the program, the study analysed how early years reading is being constructed. Critical issues are identified about the impact of policy and research upon the teaching profession and the links that are present in the research-policy-praxis nexus.
Teachers' professional development: Awareness of literacy practices
2020
This article draws upon our experiences of participating in a Literacy Hub in South Africa. The aim is to describe and analyse how dialogue among Grade Eight teachers in a Literacy Hub around literacy teaching practices might lead to professional development and deepen teachers' understanding of literacy practices and teaching. Interviews and observations with eight teachers were conducted to understand their literacy practices. The result indicates that sustainable development is a process that takes time. Furthermore, the study shows that the teachers relate to students' context and own experiences as a means of introducing a topic. While some teachers try to give the students access to cognitively demanding tasks, most tasks and events in the classrooms are cognitively undemanding and context-embedded. The importance of offering teachers examples of varied literacy practices and of making classroom literacy practice visible is noted.
2020
Research demonstrates those who fail to learn to read well face unfair and lifelong societal disadvantage (Allington, 2011; Castles et al., 2018; Frontier, College, 2018). The number of children who fail to learn to read proficiently remains unacceptable and persists even as research suggests practices to help struggling readers (Allington, 2011; Castles et al., 2018). Building upon dismal findings from literacy networks and evidence from empirical research this study addresses this problem by exploring how contextual factors influence teachers' learning and practice and student early reading achievement through two research questions: 1) How do contextual variables at the school, board and provincial level influence the planning, delivery and uptake of early reading professional learning opportunities? 2) How do teachers perceive the relationships between (a) their professional learning experiences, (b) their classroom early reading practices, and (c) student reading outcomes? This complexivist multiple instrumental case study explores the role of context upon teachers' (N = 6) perspectives in three diverse schools (rural, urban and suburban) in one school board with the voices of principals (N = 3) and board-level reading experts (N = 3) providing additional layers of context. Within-case findings