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University and School Partnerships: Literacy and Students with Additional Learning Needs. Future Directions Conference September 3 rd , 2010. David Evans PhD | Associate Professor of Special Education Criss Moore | NSW Department of Education and Training, Sydney Region. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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FACULTY OF EDUCATION& SOCIAL WORK
University and School Partnerships: Literacy and Students with Additional Learning NeedsFuture Directions Conference
September 3rd, 2010
David Evans PhD | Associate Professor of Special EducationCriss Moore | NSW Department of Education and Training,
Sydney Region
Historical Background
› Children’s Centre
- Need to change
› University and School Partnership to …
- enhance learning outcomes for pre-service teachers for teaching reading through research and practice.
- improve learning outcomes for students experiencing difficulties in learning to read
Historical Background
› 1000+ pre-service teachers have worked with a mentor to reflect, organise, and analyse knowledge their professional knowledge
› 1000+ children in schools experiencing difficulties in reading provided with 1:1 instruction
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Presentation Aims
› Highlight the benefits of a collaborative, school-based project for pre-service teachers in developing and enhancing their professional knowledge about quality literacy programs for students identified with additional learning needs
› Reflect on the benefits for students with additional learning needs
› Highlight the responses from schools and their communities to this collaborative program
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What does research tells us?
› Reading is an essential skill for success in our society
› In NSW 15 to 20% of students are two or more years behind at any one time (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005)
› Students who are experiencing difficulties in learning to read in Year 4 will still be experiencing difficulties in Year 9 unless strategic intervention occurs (Juel, 1988)
› Research has shown that programs to assist students catch up are unable to achieve this goal; further research required (Vaughn et al., 2010)
The Challenge
› How do we ensure that all students succeed in learning to read by their fourth year of school - including Indigenous students, those from low socio-economic backgrounds and students who have disabilities (Melbourne Declaration, 2008)
› To prepare pre-service teachers for teaching reading to students with language related learning difficulties, and those with unspecified reading problems (Commonwealth of Australian, 2005; NSW Government, 2010a, 2010b)
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Commonwealth Report
› 34 Australian teacher educational institutions were surveyed and reported that:
- Less than 10% of time in compulsory units is devoted to preparing pre-service teachers to teach reading.
- Less than 5% of total instructional time during pre-service teacher preparation is devoted to teaching reading (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005)
› Further, pre-service teachers report:
- they are not well prepared to teach reading
- even less prepared to address the needs of diverse learners (Rohl & Greeves, 2005)
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Research Recommendations
› The teaching of reading requires teachers to have expert knowledge and practical skills for working effectively in the classroom (Snow et al., 2005)
› Research provides recommendations for what to teach and the need for pre-service teachers to learn how to teach reading. Minimal research on “how” is available (Evans et al., 2006)
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Research Recommendations
› Can be achieved through field-based experiences, receiving regular feedback from an expert in the teaching of reading, and the opportunity to reflect (Darling- Hammond & Hammerness, 2005)
•Partnerships between schools and universities offer ideal opportunities for pre-service teachers to gain a comprehensive experience in research to practice while being mentored by experts (Dawkins et. al. 2009)
•Problems in finding suitable placements in schools (Top of the class: Report on the inquiry into teacher education, 2007)
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Framework for Professional Learning
› Declarative knowledge
- Able to recall knowledge about the teaching of reading
› Situated, can do knowledge
- Becoming cognizant of the differing big ideas of reading
› Stable procedural knowledge
- Aware of how this comes together to formulate procedural knowledge
› Expert, adaptive knowledge
- Sophisticated level of professional knowledge
› Reflective, organised, analysed knowledge
- Well versed in research, master teacher, responsible for learning professional development activities in school or department
Teaching Reading (Snow et al., 2005)
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Reading Components
› … big ideas of reading were addressed:
- Phonological awareness
- Alphabetic principle
- Decoding fluency
- Vocabulary
- Comprehension
- Sight words
- Text reading
… including a modeled reading and explicit instruction …
Within a literacy framework …
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University and School Partnership
› Eight teachers who had been involved in the unit of study, volunteered to participate and were interviewed. The semi-structured interviews investigated the conceptual and procedural knowledge beyond pre-service teacher training in their role as classroom teachers.
› Completed questionnaires investigating the knowledge and skills used when teaching reading
Data Collection
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Results
› highlighted the value of linking theory to practice;
› valued having a highly skilled mentor to scaffold their in-school experience;
› were positive about the course overall;› acknowledged the merging and interaction of the knowledge from this course and what was learned throughout their teacher training;
› described their current reading program as balanced and detailed the elements for reading and how they were integrated and inter-dependant on one another; and
› talked about interaction between decoding and comprehension strategies.
The Teachers:
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Results
› Value of being able to identify specific needs of students through assessment and designing focused reading programs;
› Having knowledge on how language disorder impacts on literacy learning; and
› Having the opportunity to discuss with peers and mentors strategies and skills for teaching reading.
Themes from the interviews:
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School Side of the Partnership
› Students learning to read
› Excitement and Engagement
› Examination of current practice through observation
and discussion
› Whole school change in the teaching of literacy requested by experienced teachers
Feedback from a partner principal:
Take Home Message:
The Partnership between the University of Sydney, Sydney Region Learning Assistance Team and DET schools impacts on:
how well pre-service teachers are prepared for teaching our students
how well students with language disorders and reading difficulties recieve additional assistance
parents and community members