Abstract
Recent government initiatives have required universities to include specific literacy and numeracy targets for the students. The authors – both members of the English discipline at Charles Sturt University – were invited to develop and run a two-semester program for all students studying to become early childhood, primary, and secondary teachers. This article outlines the nature of the two subjects which comprise the program: the first focused on reading and comprehension, the second on writing and composition. These subjects were conceived from collegial dialogues between academics in education and the humanities, and then developed from these different assumptions and starting points. Over the last five years, the shared experiences of teaching these prospective teachers has grown into a strongly coherent first year of study. This article seeks the describe the experiences of teaching literacy to first-year education students, and it is by turns hypothesising and speculative, reflective and qualitative, in its approach. In the process, this article offers colleagues across the country a reflection on the hypotheses of literacy education, some new ideas for teaching literacy, and some optimism for the future of the teaching profession, and the dignity of those who aspire to be a part of it.
Highlights
In 2013 the Australian Government introduced new literacy and numeracy standards for initial teacher education degrees
Minimum standards were set for entry to teaching degrees, and students would be tested against these standards on graduation by the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students (LANTITE)
Minimum standards were set for entry to teaching degrees, and students would be tested against these standards on graduation by the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students (LANTITE): Entrants to initial teacher education will possess levels of personal literacy and numeracy broadly equivalent to the top 30% of the population
Summary
In 2013 the Australian Government introduced new literacy and numeracy standards for initial teacher education degrees. The authors of this paper – both members of the English discipline at a regional Australian University – were invited by our Faculty of Education to create a foundation literacy program for students taking teacher education degrees. Set by the group collegially, was not to ‘teach the test’ This was partly because we instinctively felt that it would be a pedagogically impoverished approach, and because we didn’t yet have any idea of what would be in the LANTITE. The more we taught our subjects, the more we found ourselves refining our ideas, questioning different approaches, trying things out and testing hypotheses on each other and in the classroom. We contend that we have learned some things, and we claim too that we offer a usefully orderly presentation of hypotheses about literacy and about literacy development
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