Initial teacher education for teaching literacy: Phase 3 Report for the Review of Literacy Teaching, Training, and Practice in Government Schools

This report is the fourth in a series for the Review of Literacy Teaching, Training and Practice in Government Schools conducted by the Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment and commissioned by the Department of Education Tasmania (hereafter also referred to as DoE or the Department). The research team is supported by a project reference group drawn from the Department.

The report presents and discusses the research findings for Phase 3, investigating the current preparedness of pre-service teachers (PSTs) to teach literacy following Initial Teacher Education (ITE) at the University of Tasmania (UTAS or the University).

The fieldwork was conducted in the second half of 2017 (interviews with beginning teachers and experienced school staff for Phase 2) and the second half of 2018 (all other data collection) and involved three data sources:

• documentation provided by the University - primarily unit outlines for 10 relevant units in the four-year undergraduate Bachelor of Education (BEd) and the twoyear postgraduate Master of Teaching (MTeach) programs;
• semi-structured interviews with 59 participants - nine academics from the Faculty of Education, 11 beginning teachers, and 39 experienced classroom practitioners who participated in Phase 2 of the research; and
• online surveys with 70 beginning teachers and eight final year initial teacher education students.

The report outlines findings in relation to four contexts of initial teacher education (based on Adoniou, 2013), followed by overall findings in relation to perceptions of pre-service teachers’ preparedness for teaching literacy, and suggestions for improvement and change. Key findings from those six sections are provided below.

(This volume follows on from Literacy Teaching Practice in Tasmanian Schools: Stakeholder Report - Phase 2 of the Review of Literacy Teaching, Training, and Practice in Government Schools and precedes Literacy Teaching in Tasmania: Teaching Practice and Teacher Learning - Final Report for the Review of Literacy Teaching, Training, and Practice in Government Schools.)