A comparison of inter-professional education programs in preparing prospective teachers and speech and language pathologists for collaborative language–literacy instruction

Ensuring teacher and speech and language pathology graduates are prepared to work collaboratively together to meet the diverse language literacy learning needs of children is an important goal. This study investigated the efficacy of a 3-h inter-professional education program focused on explicit instruction in the language skills that underpin early reading and spelling acquisition. The combined program incorporated student teachers and student speech and language pathologists (SLPs) working together on case-based instructional planning supplemented with structured opportunities for the groups to share their respective expertise in curriculum and linguistic knowledge. Student teachers (n = 18) and student SLPs (n = 27) were randomly assigned to this combined intervention or a comparison intervention that replaced the structured opportunities to share curriculum and linguistic knowledge with spending time together focused on non-language/literacy based activities. Before-and-after comparisons indicated that only the students in the combined condition increased their linguistic/curricular knowledge (p < 0.05). However, neither of the interventions improved students’ case-based instructional planning for children’s literacy learning over and above what they could achieve working individually. Implications for the pre-service preparation of teachers and SLPs are discussed.     

Fostering Collaboration with Families of Children with Disabilities: Online Professional Development for K–12 Teachers

Technology has reshaped conceptions of professional development by increasing access to information, enabling sustained follow-up efforts, and fostering teacher reflection and collaboration. Drawing on theoretical models of parent involvement and an ethic of caring, this study examined the perceptions and attitudes of educators toward collaborating with parents of children with disabilities. This inquiry utilized a digital documentary and online curriculum for inservice K-12 special education and general education teachers' professional development in a rural school district. Results indicate that teachers who participated in the online professional development showed increased recognition of the importance of collaborating with families. Limitations and implications for future research and practice are addressed in the article.     

Learning to be Literate in Andhra Pradesh (Southern India) and Punjab District (Pakistan)

Two education projects, one in Southern India and the other in the rural Punjab, Pakistan, have as their focus the shift of the curriculum from a rote learning of text books to an active, experiential and child centred approach to learning. Achieving literacy is a key element in the success of these projects. In these two areas the drop out rate from education can be particularly high from the first year in school, where learning to read is seen as learning complex letter shapes in a de-contextualised way which does not build on early language experience. Class 1 children are not exposed to texts in any form until they have mastered letter formations. Further reading is often rote learning of the text books and book materials can be almost non existent in public schools. The question has to be raised of how easy it is, in reality, to implement active approaches to learning to become literate in conditions where lack of training and inadequate materials make the task difficult for teachers. Are there aspects of recent research and understanding of language acquisition and children learning to read that might be generalisable even in very different pedagogical and cultural conditions? Experience suggests that there are language resources available to teachers at little or no cost and that once they have experienced using these materials they can become enthusiastic and inventive teachers of literacy. The ubiquitous ‘action song’ is a popular element in early education, enjoyed by both teachers and children. Encouraging teachers to produce a written version of the action song to be learned can give access to a text right from the earliest time in school. Common rhyme and letter patterns in the songs can be identified and high lighted and children have shown that they can quickly identify these written elements in the text. Versions of stories derived from pictures and told to the teacher for writing down have resulted in simple Big Books being used for shared reading with children in Class 1. Teachers have been surprised at how detailed and accurate these children's drawings can be. Both these simple, low cost literacy approaches can be undertaken by teachers of large classes without them needing to change very much in the way that they manage the class. Even so the focus of learning shifts from the teacher to the learner and the methodology is based on sound, relevant and up to date research in language acquisition. Examples that are given show that active learning approaches can be successful if teachers are given training and support that takes account of their previous understanding and classroom conditions.     

Interdisciplinary and Introductory Studies in Teacher Education

This paper examines the development of the two first‐year core units in a teacher education course over the decade of the 1980s in one of Australia's largest teacher education institutions. The two units were interdisciplinary in nature, and involved around 1000 students per year, prompting a major structural and pedagogical reorganisation. The unit development used Basil Bernstein's analytical framework to trace the various aspects of that period of development: the construction, the constraints, the possibilities. Key questions are posed about the constraints, and possibilities for building on this expertise in future course development in teacher education are discussed. It is argued that there is a nexus between pedagogic and social structures and that much of the resistance to interdisciplinary programs comes as a result of resistance to alternative social and organisational structures.