The Young Learners’ Project: mapping preschool
teachers’ beliefs, theories and practices.
Janet Scull
The University of Melbourne
2009 AATE/ALEA National Conference
Chief Investigators:
Associate Professor Margaret Brown (Principal Investigator), Professor Field
Rickards, Professor Bridie Raban, Associate Professor Esther Care, Mr Terry
O’Connell (Australian Scholarships Group)
Research team:
Associate Professor Brown (Team leader), Ms Emelie Barringer, Dr Anna Bortoli,
Mr Robert Brown, Dr Linda Byrnes, Associate Professor Care, Ms Esther Chan, Dr
Amelia Church, Ms Jan Deans, Ms Lucy Jackson, Dr Anne-Marie Morrissey (now
at Deakin University), Dr Andrea Nolan (now at Deakin University), Dr Louise
Paatsch, Professor Raban, Dr Maria Remine, Dr Janet Scull, Ms Lena Tan, Ms
Jessica Taylor and Dr Linda Watson (Birmingham University, UK)
Funding Support:
Australian Scholarship Group (ASG); Australian Research Council (ARC): Linkage
Projects funding scheme (Project number LP0883437); Melbourne Graduate
School of Education, The University of Melbourne
Research Design
Longitudinal study (2007-2012) that tracks
children’s literacy development and
outcomes in the 4-year-old pre-school
year (phase 1) through to the first year of
primary school (phase 2) and the factors
that impact on these including individual
characteristics, families and teachers
Mixed methods
For phase 1 participants will be recruited
from up to 40 funded preschools (urban &
rural) and the study will track a minimum of
300 children and up to 30 preschool
teachers
Teacher research project
Develop up to 30 early childhood teacher profiles that:
a) identify theoretical constructs that underpin teacher practices
in the preschool and first years of schooling.
b) identify distinct literacy teaching strategies/practices.
c) investigate congruence and connectedness
between teacher and family literacy beliefs and practices.
d) correlate literacy outcomes of children, tracked through to the
first year of school, with teacher profile characteristics.
Teacher research project
Research indicates that teacher/child interactions are a key factor in early literacy
development. (Siraj-Blatchford & Sylva EPPE Study 2004). Despite this research there
are strong indications that teachers are unclear about how to intrepret literacy and
how to translate contemporary strategies into practice. (Dickinson & McCabe, 2001)
Teacher beliefs are central to how teaching is conceptualised and enacted. (Kantor,
1992; Crawford, 1995, Green 2005)
Factors that inhibits teachers’ abilities to adopt new literacy practices include
entrenched belief systems and conceptualisations that are resistant to change.
(Carvalho, de Lautour & Kumar, 2006)
Through guided reflection teachers can be supported to articulate and re-evaluate
long standing theories in relation contemporary views on pedagogy and literacy
practices. (Raban, Nolan, Waniganake, Brown, Deans & Ure, 2007)
Research into teacher beliefs and practices has focussed on survey and
interviews and general theorising with little attention to mapping interpretations to
observations. (Green, Peterson & Lewis, 2006 (Survey), Bracken & Fischel 2006 (Q-sort)
Connor, Morrison & Slominski, 2006 (Observations)
Phase one - Profiling Teacher Practice
Research into the role of the teacher has investigated several main themes
including: pedagogy and practice, teacher beliefs and teacher knowledge. The
Young Learners teacher research aims to bring together these lines of inquiry
through in-depth, descriptive and multi-faceted profiles of early childhood
teachers.
What beliefs and knowledge do early childhood teachers have in relation to
literacy in the preschool?
How are teacher beliefs and knowledge about literacy translated into practice?
Teacher
practice
Teacher
beliefs
Teacher
knowledge
Constructing Multi-dimensional Teacher Profiles:
Beliefs, Knowledge and Practices
• Teacher survey (Beliefs and Knowledge)
• Practitioner self assessment (Beliefs)
• Video recordings of teacher-child literacy practices - book reading,
writing and drawing, teacher selected literacy event (Practices)
• Literacy audit materials (Practices)
• Video-stimulated teacher interviews
(Beliefs, Knowledge and Practices)
Raban & Ure, 1997; Stannard, 1997; Louden & Rohl, 2003;
Raban, Nolan, Waniganayake, Ure, Brown & Deans, 2007
Data analysis
Dominant pedagogical beliefs
The teaching practices and concepts prioritised
Insights into how teachers attend to children’s interests
in literacy and identifies pedagogical issues,
challenges and continuities between literacy
interpretations and practices.
Teachers’ beliefs
Literacy is:
•
•
•
•
Communication(n=4)
Understanding or gaining meaning (n=3)
Interaction (n=2)
As a way of knowing, understanding, doing (n=1)
• Language, reading and writing (n=4)
• Encompassing a range of semiotic modes enabling
plurality of expression and interpretation (n=2)
Teachers’ beliefs
How do children learn?
•
•
•
•
•
Play (n=5)
Hands on experiences (n=5)
Constructing, testing, problem-solving, experimentation
Through interactions (n=3)
Teacher directed learning and instruction (n=4)
Teachers’ beliefs
What is your role in children’s learning / fostering children’s literacy
development?
• Identifying and interpreting children’s interests and needs (n=6)
• Scaffolding and facilitating learning (n=6)
• Instructing, informing, modeling and developing skills (n=4)
• Planning for and providing opportunities and resources that allow
children to explore and develop concepts and knowledge, both
independently and with an enabling other (n=7)
Theoretical Orientations Underpinning SAM
Theoretical
Paradigms:
Maturational
Biological
Models of
Development
Behaviourism
Social Learning
Theories
PsychoDynamic
Psychoanalytic
Theories
Developmental
Developmental
Psychology
Theories
SocioConstructivist
Socio-Cultural
Theories
Ecological
Systems
Bio-ecological
model
Major
Theorists:
Gesell 1925
Skinner 1957
Bandura 1986
Erikson 1963
Fischer &
Bidell 1998
Piaget 1950 &
1952
Vygotsky 1978
Rogoff 2003
Bronfenbrenner
1979
Bronfenbrenner &
Morris 1998
The Role
of the
Professional:
Manage:
Monitor and
intervene
only where
necessary for
safety
Direct:
Assess and
provide what is
necessary in
response to
children's
behaviour
Discuss:
Acknowledg
e & draw on
children’s
feelings &
thoughts
Guide:
Observe, assess
& support chn’s
development
with reference to
developmental
milestones
Engage:
Scaffold &
transform
learning in
response to
children's prior
understandings
Frame:
Monitor, review,
evaluate, determine
actions & future
progress of children,
in partnership with
others
Outcomes
for Children:
Maturation:
Grow &
develop in
their own
time
Acquisition:
Gain attitudes,
skills &
knowledge with
practice
Personal
Growth:
Achieve
autonomy
through a
growing
sense of self
Developmental
Appropriateness:
Build
independently
knowledge in line
with age & stage
of development
Co-construction:
Create their
worlds through
interactions with
more
knowledgeable
others
Cultural
Embeddedness:
Experience
knowledge being
shaped in the
context of cultural
expectations &
societal roles
Teachers’ theoretical orientations
Developmental - 18%
The role of the teacher: Guide
Observe, assess & support children’s development with reference to
developmental milestones.
Socio-constructivist - 40%
The role of the teacher: Engage
Scaffold & transform learning in response to children's prior
understandings.
Teacher practice
Book reading
Drawing, Writing
Oral language
Reading to children
Inviting children to read with him/her
Using oral cloze
Providing opportunities for children to
read
Discussing the meaning of texts
Prompting retelling/recall of text details
Prompting children to examine the
pictures in texts
Predicting/requesting predictions
Directing children’s attention to print
concepts
Directing children’s attention to the
sounds of language/words
Assisting children to identifying new
and/or known words
Assisting children to identifying new
and/or known letters
Introducing texts to children
Responding to children's comments
Establishing a purpose for writing
tasks
Encouraging drawing to
extend/elaborate text meaning
Invites children to compose a text
Composing texts with children
Encouraging students to record texts
Providing models (words)
Writing for students
Spelling words
Sounding words
Reading texts produced
Assisting children to write their names
Providing ‘wait time’
Asking closed questions
Asking open questions
Repeating responses
Extending/elaborating responses
Using/introducing new/advanced
vocabulary
Exposing children to written text
structures/stories
Encouraging imaginative responses
Providing explanations
Literacy practice - Reading to children
Literacy Analysis
Teacher 6 (Sophie)
00:03:22
00:03:42
A8
Predicting/requesting predictions
00:03:42
00:03:47
A9
Directing children’s attention to print concepts
00:03:47
00:04:01
C6
Using/introducing new/advanced vocabulary
00:04:01
00:04:04
A1
Reading to children
00:04:04
00:04:29
A8
Predicting/requesting predictions
00:04:29
00:04:34
A9
Directing children’s attention to print concepts
0:04:34
0:04:53
C6
Using/introducing new/advanced vocabulary
0:04:53
0:04:59
A2
Inviting children to read with him/her
Reading and discussing texts
Reading to children
12.8%
Predict/anticipate events in texts
Recall text details
Using pictures to elaborate text meaning
Text discussions
Responding to children’s comments
1.8%
0.9%
1.4%
3.5%
4.2%
(Combined interactions around interpretations of meanings of texts 10.4%)
Vocabulary development
1.4%
Attention to print concepts
Concepts about print
2.2%
Attention to new/known words
Attention to new/know letters
0.8%
5.5%
Drawing and writing
Comments to encourage drawing
4.9%
Assisting children to compose messages
Recording children’s dictated texts
Providing models for children to copy
3.9%
4.9%
2.1%
Spelling words for children
Sounding words for children
0.5%
0.2%
Attention to phonological awareness
Teachers’ programs detail songs and rhymes to shared
children.
Directing children’s attention to the sounds of
langauge
Sounds within words
0.1%
0.2%
Oral cloze
0.6%
Attention to phonological awareness
Teacher 7 (Keira): Reading - Mr McGee and the Blackberry Jam
1.
Teacher reading He put two sugars in his tea, then split the lot and burnt his É
2.
Children
Knee.
Teacher 2 (Leah): Reading - Green Eggs and Ham
1.
Teacher reading I do not like them in a house.
I do not like them with a É
2.
Children
Mouse.
3.
Teacher reading I do not like them here or there.
I do not like them É
4.
Children
Any where
Literacy practice - Teacher selected activities
Early findings
Congruence between teacher’s beliefs, understandings
and practice.
Teacher
practice
Teacher
beliefs
Teacher
knowledge
Early findings
In contrast to studies of preschool teaching (Hannon & James, 1990; Raban & Ure,
2001; Fleer & Raban, 2006; Lynch 2009) the teachers demonstrated understanding
of literacy and a preparedness to actively stimulate and support children’s
literacy learning.
The teachers in this study attended to a range of literacy practices that arguably
equipped children well for the transition to formal schooling. These included
engagement with a wide variety of texts; making meaning using a range of media,
and; interpreting symbols and pattern-systems.
Alignment with principles of emergent literacy “Today conditions and situations are created and activities initiated within the
[preschool] classroom that allow children to approach the written word through
actions that have meaning to them and clear purpose and communication”
(Tafa, 2008 p.168)
Early findings
Phonological awareness
A large body of research evidence suggests the importance of phonological
awareness for children’s later literacy learning (Adams, 1990; Bryant &
Bradley, 1985; Ehri, 1998; Goswami, 2000). The data in this study indicates
that preschool teachers tend to emphasise children hearing rhyme and
perhaps larger sound units (syllables and onset and rime) with the explicit
teaching of phonemes left for when children learn to read and write through
more focussed school-based instructional processes (Clay, 1991; 2001;
Goswami, 2000).
Notwithstanding this outcome, Phillips, Clancy-Menchetti and Lonigan state
with reference to phonological awareness instruction, “it is likely that many
preschool teachers are lacking in clear pedagogical understanding of the
relevant constructs as well as lacking in appropriate curricular materials”
(2008, p.14).
Future directions - Bridging Divides
The Draft Australian Early Years Learning Framework Belonging, Being, Becoming
(2009) notes the significance of early literacy development and key literacy
outcomes, though it has yet to detail the specific roles and pedagogies of early
childhood teachers in relation to facilitating children’s early literacy learning.
The achievement of continuity between prior-to-school and school contexts requires
a movement away from generalisations and assumptions to a fuller understanding of
the types of activities children engage in, supported practices adopted by teachers
and beliefs that influence how literacy is interpreted and enacted.
Through the development of detailed and multi-dimensional teacher profiles, this
study aims to provide insight into the what, how and why of early literacy
teaching. It will continue to profile another 22 preschool teachers, and will also
survey the beliefs and theories of primary school teachers in Victoria. In doing so,
the study aims to draw attention to common and contrasting pedagogies and the
influence these have on early literacy development and transition from pre-school to
school.
Teacher Project: Research Design
•
Research indicates that teacher/child interactions are a key factor in early
literacy development. (Siraj-Blatchford & Sylva EPPE Study 2004).
Despite this research there are strong indications that teachers are unclear
about how to intrepret literacy and how to translate contemporary strategies into
practice. (Dickinson & McCabe, 2001)
•
Teacher beliefs are central to how teaching is conceptualised and enacted.
(Kantor, 1992; Crawford, 1995, Green 2005).
•
Factors that inhibits teachers’ abilities to adopt new literacy practices include
entrenched belief systems and conceptualisations that are resistant to change
(Carvalho, de Lautour & Kumar, 2006)
•
Through guided reflection teachers can be supported to articulate and reevaluate long standing theories in relation contemporary views on pedagogy
and literacy practices (Raban, Nolan, Waniganake, Brown, Deans & Ure, 2007)
•
Research into teacher beliefs and practices has focussed on survey and
interviews and general theorising with little attention to mapping interpretations
to observations (Green, Peterson & Lewis, 2006 (Survey), Bracken & Fischel 2006 (Qsort) Connor, Morrison & Slominski, 2006 (Observations)
Future Directions
The long term goals of the research include are to:
•
Enable teachers, as reflective practitioners, to
conceptualise and justify their beliefs, informed by
theory, and enact these in practice
•
Investigate and illustrate how key learning theories
are interpreted in practice
•
Articulate characteristics of teacher profiles linked to
high literacy outcomes for young children
•
Correlate dominant teacher literacy beliefs and
practices with family literacy beliefs and practices
•
Refine and develop tools for researching teacher
beliefs and literacy practices