How well prepared are Australian teachers to meet the challenge of raising standards of English literacy?

Abstract

This paper draws on the most recent national, census style study of Teachers in Australian Schools (Dempster, Sim, Beere and Logan, 2000), to examine the preservice and inservice training that teachers have experienced in three important aspects of literacy education. First, the study is contextualised in relation to contemporary education policy and initiatives, then the data analysed, bringing to light marked variability in the provision of professional development in literacy. The analyses provide an opening for considering the scope of such development and the implications of any discontinuities that exist between current literacy education policy and practice. Throughout the discussion, we ask readers to consider the extent to which the findings about professional development in literacy education resonate with their individual experiences at system and local levels.