The latest NAPLAN results show one in three students fell short of the proficiency benchmark, an issue shared by every Australian state and territory where at least 30% of students fall below the benchmark on average across year levels and tests.
Unfortunately, teachers, too have been struggling under the weight of immense and unsustainable workloads, and many new teachers are not receiving the support they should in order to help students achieve their best.
In July 2023, a report by Teacher Education Expert Panel noted that: “too many beginning teachers have reported that they felt they needed to be better equipped for the challenges they faced in the classroom on starting their teaching careers.”
In South Australia, a new reading initiative is helping pre-service teachers gain valuable insights about how to build students’ reading and literacy skills from experienced teachers on the job.
A suite of authentic and interactive videos – developed by UniSA in partnership with the South Australian Department for Education and teachers in South Australian schools, show exactly how a working teacher engages their students with reading.
From deciphering the meaning of new words, to understanding inferences within a text, the videos reveal how experienced teachers progress through a class book or novel with a group of students, highlighting the strategies for reinforcing learning, checking understanding, and assessing progress.
The videos – which cater to children in years two, six and eight, as well as kindergarten-aged children - are now embedded in the University’s Initial Teacher Education programs.
Dr Jill Colton, Program Director of Secondary Programs at UniSA’s Education Futures is working with fellow teacher educators Sarah Forrest, Therese Lovett and Amy Farndale to design and teach the English and literacy courses at UniSA (Secondary, Primary and Early Years).
Dr Colton says pre-service teachers must interpret real classroom data to plan and evaluate teaching, but often lack opportunities to access authentic data during their training.
“The capstone Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment [GTPA] requires PSTs to apply knowledge of ways to collect, interpret, analyse and use literacy data in their planning,” Dr Colton told The Educator, adding that this was identified in a recent internal review as an area requiring improvement in the GTPA’s submitted by final year students.
“In order to learn how to use data in their planning for effective teaching and assessing in schools, pre-service teachers need to be guided as they engage with authentic data about reading and literacy.”
Dr Colton said there has been “extremely positive” feedback from the pre-service teachers who have engaged with these videos.
“What the pre-service teachers found useful was the links they were making between what they were learning in their courses and actual professional practice,” she said.
Teacher testimonials
“in class…we were talking about feedback…and understanding how to do it in different ways…I really found [the videos] enlightening in terms of how to give students the opportunity to…think about the feedback, reflect on the feedback…it gave me insight into how to give the onus of feedback to the students…and having a partnership almost with students in the feedback”
“…like in so many of my other classes, across the last couple years, I feel like have almost been redundant, unless you can see it practically, like on placement. This is the first time I personally have actually got to experience…. this classroom insight that wasn't on placement. And I just thought it was so helpful with my assignment, but also just learning in general.”
Dr Colton said the pre-service teachers also found that having a model of practice was helpful as they reflected on their own experiences on placement.
“when I did placement…it was difficult for me because, well, I didn't really know how to approach [a teacher conference] at the time. I guess in terms of how to ask the right questions…I think like seeing that in action kind of helped me think like, Okay, the next time you have to do this, this is what I - these are the kinds of questions I'll need to [ask]”
“because they are actual real teachers… and what they actually do. I mean, that teacher that we saw, I think she's very, very good teacher. I was very impressed with her whole approach…. You can actually learn by what teachers are actually doing, rather than just from a textbook.”
Understanding the ‘why’, while engaging with the ‘how’
Dr Colton said the use of authentic and interactive videos made with practising teachers and their students enable PSTs to connect what they learn at university with their current and future professional practice.
“One of the most important elements is to make links between theory and practice. It is essential to understand the rationale that underpins what teachers do and to connect that with the strategies and approaches they take,” she said.
“The interactive elements in the videos make links to theory by identifying terms and concepts at key reference points in the illustrative examples. One of the most promising elements is that PSTs will be able to understand the ‘why’ of their practice as they engage with the ‘how’.”