Investigating Student Teachers’ Presentations of Literacy and Literacy Pedagogy in a Complex Context
Abstract
The field of literacy and primary literacy education is patterned by multiple discourses and this raises challenges for those educating the next generation of primary literacy teachers. In England, the last 15 years have seen considerable levels of prescription in the primary literacy curriculum and compliance by the school and teacher education sectors has been enforced through demanding accountability regimes. In this paper, the authors draw on findings of a small scale interview study to consider how understandings of literacies associated with different contexts may or may not inflect student teachers’ orientations towards literacy provision in school. The authors explore how five student teachers presented their experiences of literacy within and beyond the classroom and how they seemed to position themselves in relation to literacy pedagogy. The authors focus particularly on continuities and discontinuities between literacies in the student teachers’ personal and professional lives, and on tensions they identified between the teachers they felt they wanted to, and were expected to, become. Reflecting on this work, the authors consider how they can best equip pre-service primary and early years teachers to develop as critical reflective literacy practitioners in the current context.
Reference
Burnett, C., Daniels, K., Gray, L., Myers, J., & Sharpe, S. (2015). Investigating student teachers’ presentations of literacy and literacy pedagogy in a complex context. Teacher Development: An International Journal of Teachers' Professional Development. 19(3), 275-293.
Journal
Teacher development
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
- Narrative Inquiry
- Qualitiative
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
- student teaching placement schools
- University
Preservice Participants
- Undergraduates (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
5
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
Data Analysis Tools
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
Research Questions
How do student teachers present "their use of literacy in relation to their everyday professional
and personal lives," (p. 5).
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Combination
How do student teachers position "themselves in relation to
enacted literacy pedagogy in schools," (p.5). "We were interested in how they described literacy teaching in school and the kinds of literacy teachers they wished to be," (p. 5)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Combination