The emergence of reading literacy in post-primary teacher education: from the background to the foreground

Abstract

While recognising the fact that historically teacher education and adolescent literacy are two fields that have had limited intellectual contact, the development of reading literacy is increasingly now accepted internationally as a core responsibility of all teachers and teacher educators. Adopting a socio-cultural perspective, this paper, drawn from the Learning to Teach Study, focused on the beliefs, knowledge and experiences regarding reading literacy of Irish post-primary student teachers on one initial teacher education (ITE) programme. The data were collected through three interviews with each of 17 student teachers. Results suggest that the surveyed student teachers had some concerns about their own literacy, had narrow conceptions of literacy, tended not to see it as their responsibility, held a minimal threshold view of literacy and viewed new digital technologies as a resource and motivator for their students' literacy learning. Results are discussed in terms of how student teachers' knowledge of literacy in ITE programmes could be reframed, extended and deepened.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Literacy Development Possibilities in Initial Teacher Education

“…-The ability to engage with, identify, interpret, and use both existing knowledge and new learning from printed text, spoken language, broadcast and digital media to construct and communicate meaning, and develop knowledge and potential, to enable the achievement of goals and the participation in community and society. Murphy, Conway, Murphy & Hall (2013) suggest that a high percentage of PSTs had what may be considered a 'traditional understanding' of literacy. They also suggested that the defining of 'literacy' can differ significantly, depending on the context of social practice.…”

“…It is now well established by a variety of policy makers, including the Department of Education and Skills (DES), the Teaching Council (TC) and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), that ITE is a key component in improving the literacy standards of Ireland's young people. Murphy et al (2013) discussed the lack of responsibility taken by post-primary teachers, they had studied in this regard, suggesting a belief that literacy was "taken care of" in primary school. The Junior Cycle reform, whereby the methods of assessments are changing, will enable the development of literacy competencies to have a more natural place within the curriculum.…”

“…With the DES emphasising that "all teachers should be teachers of literacy" (DES, 2011, p. 47), there was a significant culture shift for teachers of subjects other than the core English and Irish subjects (Burke & Welsch, 2018). Traditionally literacy would not have been considered the remit of the post-primary teacher (MacMahon, 2014;Murphy, Conway, Murphy, & Hall, 2013). However, literature has shown that technical-subjects promote literacy, problem-solving, critical-thinking and higher-order learning (DES, 2011).…”

“…One finding that emerged from this study was a PST's awareness of the responsibility of all teachers in developing literacy competency in the classroom, regardless of the education level. Murphy et al (2013) discussed the lack of responsibility taken by post-primary teachers in this regard. Interestingly, when the PSTs (no=69) in this study were asked to indicate the stage of their education that they most developed their literacy competencies, 29 responded "primary" and 27 responded "post-primary", indicating an awareness of the shared responsibility of both primary and post-primary teachers.…”

Teachers’ academic training for literacy instruction

“…The broad array of teachers' professional knowledge may be acquired in multiple ways and in several contexts (Al-Barakat and Bataineh 2011;Grosemans et al 2015;Murphy et al 2014;Scheerens and Blömeke 2016;Seashore Louis and Lee 2016;Smagorinsky 2018). University teachers' education programs and in-service teachers' training provide structured and intentional training, while schools are socialization contexts where teachers usually get most of their unstructered and unintentional professional knowledge (DeGraff, Schmidt, and Waddell 2015;Grosemans et al 2015).…”