Teacher Educator and In-Service Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Professional Literacy Knowledge in the Context of the Science of Reading Era

Abstract

Debates over the impact of preservice literacy teacher education on teachers’ professional knowledge have found new life inside of contemporary disagreements over what constitutes a Science of Reading. Drawing on understandings of literacy teachers’ self-efficacy as influenced over time and through experiences, we conducted two surveys to determine the self-efficacy and professional knowledge of preservice literacy teacher educators and early-career in-service teachers. Findings indicate that both groups had relatively high self-efficacy, as well as alignment between the theories and practices they promoted and valued. However, teacher educators reported a higher value of phonics instruction than did in-service teachers.